Country Area - 111,370 km²
Range Area - 28,950 km² (26%)
Protected Range - 34%
Information Quality Index (IQI) - 0.03
CITES Appendix - I
Listing Year - 1990
Liberia is the most densely forested country in West Africa, with two large forest blocks in the west and east of the country, including approximately 40% of the remaining Upper Guinea forest (Tweh et al., 2015). Economic development in Liberia after the end of the civil war in 2003 has led to a rapid expansion of oil palm plantations and logging concessions, meaning that natural forests are once again under great threat (Tweh et al., 2015; Wilcove & Koh, 2010).
Sapo National Park is the only national park in Liberia (Tweh et al., 2015). It is threatened by illegal farming, hunting, logging, and mining. About 5,000 illegal settlers were removed from the park in 2005 (Blanc et al., 2007). Following the eviction, Sapo NP was again occupied and by early 2010, an estimated 18,000 settlers were thought to be resident, primarily carrying out artisanal gold mining. Efforts made by the government to remove them were largely successful, and by October 2010, most were thought to have left the park voluntarily (Fauna & Flora of Liberia, 2015).
There is no current action plan or strategy for the management of African elephants in Liberia, but an elephant management planning process under the Elephant Protection Initiative is scheduled to begin in 2016.
The estimated number of elephants in areas surveyed in the last ten years in Liberia is 124 ± 99 at the time of the last survey for each area. There may be an additional 1,425 elephants in areas not systematically surveyed. These guesses likely represent a minimum number, and actual numbers could be higher than those reported. Together, this estimate and guess apply to 13,057 km², which is 45% of the estimated known and possible elephant range. There remains an additional 55% of the estimated range for which no elephant population estimates are available.
There has been an increase in the estimates for Liberia, because of a new survey for Sapo NP, which replaced a lower quality dung count, previously recorded as a guess.
There are four areas of known or possible elephant range in Liberia, divided between two major forest blocks in the east and west of the country. Only Sapo NP has been surveyed in recent years. However, recent elephant records were compiled from various conservation partners (FDA, FFI, MPI EVA, MIKE, RSPB, SCNL, WCF), and this allowed a new elephant range map to be drawn (Vogt & Forster, pers. comm., 2016). As a result the area of known range has considerably increased due to improved information; previously most areas were shown as possible range.
There is a transfrontier population between Gola Forest in Sierra Leone and Gola, Kpelle and Lorma forests in western Liberia. In the AESR 2007 this was marked aspossible range. However, camera trapping has revealed that elephants still occur on both sides of the border (Tubbs, pers. comm., 2015) and this area has been recorded as known range. A new guess of 400 (Freeman, pers. comm., 2016) replaces one of 500 elephants from 1990 (Anstey & Dunn, 1991).
There is a small population of elephants in the Wenegisi National Forest, perhaps 50 individuals (Freeman, pers. comm., 2016), which is an extension of the larger population of Ziama in neighbouring Guinea. This new guess updates one of 33 from 1990 (Anstey & Dunn, 1991).
A dung count carried out in Sapo NP in 2009 gave an estimate of 124 (25-223) elephants (Boafo, 2010). This replaces an estimate of 313 ± 304 from a dung count conducted in 1989 (Barnes & Dunn, 2002). There are also believed to be elephants in the adjoining Krahn Bassa National Forest, with a guess of 550 (Freeman, pers. comm., 2016), which replaces a similar guess of 500 from 1990 (Anstey & Dunn, 1991).
For the Grebo National Forest, in the extreme south-east of the country on the Côte d’Ivoire border, there is a guess of 300 elephants, and for the nearby Barrobo National Forest, a guess of 125. These replace guesses of 230 and 100 respectively, both from 1990 (Anstey & Dunn, 1991). It is no longer considered likely that elephants move between Grebo and Cote d’Ivoire. Many of the classified forests in Cote d’Ivoire close to the border with Liberia have been heavily forested or degraded (Chatelain et al., 2010).