Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - In Vietnam, elephants are classified as criticallyendangered in  the Vietnam Red Book, andare included in the group with the highest conservation status, whose exploitation for commercial purposes is strictly prohibited.

Since2012, August 12 has been recognised as World Elephant Day, which has become anopportunity for people to raise awareness about elephant protection and seeksolutions to reduce conflicts between elephants and humans, as well as effortsto preserve the species in the wild.

Threespecies of elephants still exist: the African prairie elephant, the Africanforest elephant, and the Asian elephant. Vietnam is one of 13 countries whereAsian elephants still live.

Apartfrom conservation regulations, the Government of Vietnam has action plans for conservationactivities for each period.

Anational action plan on elephant conservation in Vietnam for 2023-2032 with avision for 2050 is being developed.

Therecent efforts of State agencies have also received support fromnon-governmental organisations such as WWF, AAF and USAID.

Particularly,the Vietnam Administration of Forestry and Humane Society International (HSI)has provided support for a project on protecting Asian elephants in thesouthern province of Dong Nai through solutions to reduce and prevent human-elephantconflict sustainably.

Theproject is currently piloting a Population Monitoring Programme to identifyindividual elephants with the support of Dr Pruthu Fernando, President of theSri Lanka Elephant Development Center and a member of IUCN's Asian ElephantExpert Group.

ThamHong Phuong, Director of HSI in Vietnam, said: “We are working together withthe Vietnam Administration of Forestry and other stakeholders so that theelephant population in Vietnam can self-recover and develop in nature."

HSIis working with the General Administration of Forestry to develop a NationalAction Plan on elephant conservation in Vietnam from 2023 through 2032 with avision for 2050.

Accordingto the summary report of the General Department of Forestry, the number ofelephants in Vietnam has reduced by 95%, and the species is in danger ofextinction without proper conservation plans.

In Dak Lak province alone, at least 23 wild elephants died in the period 2009-2016,accounting for about 25% of the total current herd, and in Dong Nai, about ninewild elephants died before 2014.

According to research by the Center for People and Nature(PanNature), in the 1990s, the number of wild elephants in Vietnam was about1,500-2,000 individuals. However, at present, the country has less than 120wild elephants.

Thecauses of the diminishing elephant herd lie in the shrinking habitat of theanimals and the increasing illegal ivory trade and consumption in Vietnam andsome Asian countries.

InVietnam, 105.72 tonnes of ivory were seized from 2004 to April 2019. /.