A herd of elephants at sunset near Camp Khwai River Lodge by Orient Express in Botswana , within the Moremi Game Reserve Wild . SUPER ? POPULATION OF ELEPHANTS IN BOTSWANA ? LICENSE TO KILL " Excessive elephant population in Botswana is sweeping the country." It is estimated that in the early twentieth century the African elephant population was about 10 million, though some speak of fifteen . In 1970 the African elephant population was 2.5 million. In less than a decade were killed 1 million. So in 1979 there were an estimated 1.5 million. Not until 1989 when CITES trade ban decreed in elephant products because it is estimated that the number of elephants is around 600,000 . Today the dance numbers between 400,000 and 600,000 copies across the continent . This confirms that since 1989 the killing of elephants has continued despite the increase experienced in some areas. Poaching and armed conflicts have reduced the population in some countries , such as Liberia which has lost 95 % of the population in recent decades and is expected to remain a thousand . However, in other countries with greater political, economic social and elephant numbers have grown significantly . But overall the population in Africa is still more or less the same as when the ban was enacted in 1989 . Botswana is one of these countries notable for having managed to double the population of elephants since hunting was banned . It is estimated that before 1989 there were 70,000 and now there may be between 130,000 and 140,000 . And this is the excuse to authorize it now , even though the species remains vulnerable condition across the continent . CITES Secretary John Scanlon Generalde this year , in February 2012 , said the massacre of 450 elephants in Cameroon , that increased poaching was severe in the 38 states where African elephants live . We say more , because if the poachers and armed conflicts hunting we add "legal" elephant future remains as uncertain as 1989. But hunters say after the unfortunate and shameful picture of our monarch , rifle in hand with an elephant killed and stamping against the trunk of a tree? Well that excessive elephant population in Botswana is sweeping the country and , above some daring fond of this practice , the less cruel , even said that " for killing an elephant has saved twenty" . ( Informative Tele Cinco three in the afternoon of Monday April 15, 2012 ) . This last argument corresponds to the fact that it costs to kill an elephant is reinvested in the reserve and thus is helping to control and survival of the species ... And these arguments do not convince us because they are always the same , whether they hunt elephants , wolves , deer or rabbits , we respond and expose the sad and shameful reality that lies behind is proclamation of good "actions" and intentions. As for the number of elephants that were in Botswana before 1970 the only thing we know is that there were hundreds of thousands . Perhaps the same amount we have now across the continent . How is it that so many had previously territory and a population so diminished today can rampage ? According to "experts " hunters , the main causes are : agriculture and intensive farming and rising human population , which in 30 years has tripled. And therefore there is no ground for everyone or for both . With respect to livestock , if we look at the beginning of the twentieth century ( with over 10 million elephants in Africa ) , 97% of the population in this country lived in the country and every family had at least two cows. Until 71 the only wealth in this country was ranching in the Kalahari Desert , and still managed to be one of the countries that won exported to the world, especially the countries of southern Africa . How many elephants were then in Botswana ? What is clear is that since it opened as the world diamond mine at Orapa , the picture changed dramatically. The intensive livestock became and is today one of the major pillars of the economy of this country, but I must say that the major production area vaccine is given in the southeast, so it is not affected by the territories of elephants are mostly in the Chobe National Park and the Okavango Delta in the north and , to a lesser extent , in the parks that are located in the central- in the heart of the Kalahari , and the Southwest , the Nature Gemsbok . ( Both are a desert steppe allowing grazing in certain periods ) . By the way , is that factory farming is producing a rapid impoverishment of the soil fertile and demand others ... As for agriculture it is only 1.6 % of GDP, according to data from 2006-2007 . Only 5% of Botswana's land is suitable for cultivation (85% is desert ) and is in the basement where the wealth of this country as it is very rich in minerals ( second overall diamond producer after South Africa and in the quality of the diamonds , is the first in the world) and this and good management of government is what has made Botswana deal , according to the World Bank , the first location between the countries of Africa. The problem is the pressure to convert the fertile farming areas to the detriment of areas for wildlife . In the Okavango Delta have potential for agricultural development ... And population growth ? is true that there has been an evolution. In a survey of 574,094 people in 1971 (not very reliable ) is passed to one of 1,326,796 in 1991 . At present , according to 2008 data , the population is 1,842,323 . The majority of the population , 80 % , is concentrated on the eastern fringes and in cities (remember that in the first half of the twentieth century , 97 % lived in the country ) so it is kept well away from the reserves. Significantly, the number of inhabitants is 3 per km2 while in Spain is , according to 2011 of 93.51 . We are relieved to know that elephants are not crushing the inhabitants of the country