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An unregulated trade in pelargonium, a protected species, is causing environmental destruction across Lesotho. Five people were recently found guilty of illegally dealing in pelargonium. They were fined M200 (equivalent to R200). In a scathing judgment, magistrate Thabang Tapole found serious flaws in the government's permitting system and said laws should be updated to effectively deter people from breaking environmental laws. He also highlighted how local harvesters are paid "peanuts" for a product that sells at high prices internationally.

Once known as the world's elephant killing fields, Tanzania appears to have halted the worst ivory poaching within its borders, making more than 2,300 arrests of poachers and traffickers over five years.

One of the world's most infamous ivory traffickers will remain in prison in Tanzania after an appeal judge sent her case back to a lower court. The high court accepted there were anomalies in the original written judgment against Yang Fenglan, but declined her attorney's application for her release. Between 2009 and 2014, poachers reduced Tanzania’s elephant population by 60%, according to a government census. In response, Tanzania developed a strategy of intelligence-led investigations.

The most comprehensive data on poaching of African elephants comes from the Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) program, which reports numbers of illegally killed carcasses encountered by rangers. Recent studies utilizing MIKE data have reported that poaching of African elephants peaked in 2011 and has been decreasing through 2018. Closer examination of these studies, however, raises questions about the conclusion that poaching is decreasing throughout the continent.