SADC’s unity pays dividends at CITES conference

Agree to introduce clear engagement strategy targeting Asian, South Americans

Botswana and the regional economic blocSADC registered numerous victories at the ongoing Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species ( CITES) COP 19 in Panama City.

SADC, which has the largest population of elephants and diverse mega flora and fauna, stood its ground - arguing their case against big shots and as a result have been able to keep the Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia elephant populations as opposed to the proposal by some of the Influential West African countries.

SADC members are of the opinion that West African countries supported by Kenya and international NGOs’ proposal to have CITES stop their sustainable utilisation such as hunting is concerning.

They argue that these proposals have no scientific data backing and disregard proven conservation efforts and successful governance of wildlife. Countries like Gabon, Senegal, Ghana have little or no wildlife at all yet they keep proposing for non- trade of southern Africa wildlife. This is frustrating to SADC.

Just to show their commitment, SADC agreed on the need to communicate their conservation story better, widely and more forcefully through documentaries and to have pavilion at CITES, as well as conduct more side events.

SADC countries say they need to have a clear engagement strategy that should target countries especially in Asia and South America who might become important in supporting the region moving forward.

Secondly, the issue regarding Southern Africa and West Africa requires more diplomatic engagements as at technical level it might be difficult as decisions are taken at country level.

What has also come out from Panama is the decision through the ballot. For a proposal to be accepted it should have a two- thirds majority.

CITES decisions are important to Botswana as they can have a negative impact on the country’s sustainable utilisation model that has proved successful over the years. Of particular importance to Botswana are the decisions around elephant management and ivory trade.

Botswana has the single largest African Elephant population in the world and therefore it is critical that as part of their management sustainable utilisation must be accepted by the parties.

Botswana and other range states in Southern Africa have to bear the brunt of managing such a large population and the communities living alongside these animals must receive some compensation which will motivate them to continue with the conservation of species.

The Botswana delegation is led by the Minister of Environment, Natural Resources, Conservation and Tourism, Philda Kereng and include among others, the Director of Wildlife, Dr. Kabelo Senyatso.

In an interview with Botswana Guardian, Kereng confirmed that there were a number of proposals which were presented at the conference that have a significant impact on Botswana’s conservation efforts.

She said Proposal 4 brought by Zimbabwe wanted to amend annotation 2 pertaining to the populations of Loxodonta Africana in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, by Zimbabwe.

Had the proposal been accepted, it would have allowed for the affected range states to have an opportunity to trade on elephant specimen even though restricted.

“Botswana supported the proposal however; it was rejected by the conference with 15 in favour, 83 against and 17 abstentions”.

She said proposal 5 tabled by Burkina Faso and other West African states was to include all populations of Loxodonta Africana in Appendix I through the transfer from Appendix II to Appendix I of the populations of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

“Had the proposal been accepted, it would have had our elephant up- listed to Appendix 1 and this would have had an effect because we would not be allowed to trade in any of the elephant specimens, meaning even hunting would not be allowed”.

Besides, the move would negatively affect the communities who currently make money through the sale of hunting quotas in their concessions.

The proposal was rejected with 44 Parties in favour, 59 against, and 13 abstentions.

Another Proposal was to retain Hippopotamus amphibious in CITES Appendix II with the following annotation: “a zero export quota for wild specimens traded for commercial purposes” proposed by Benin.

Benin and other West African States originally wanted to up list the Hippo from Appendix II to Appendix I, however, the proposal was amended to keeping the Hippo on Appendix II with a Zero export for wild specimen traded for commercial purposes. She said although Botswana does not have a hunting quota for Hippos however, the population of Hippos is steady and not threatened in anyway therefore, “we opposed the proposal as it could hurt us in future when we might want to have a hunting quota for Hippos”. The proposal was rejected with 58 in favour, 51 against and 14 abstentions.

The other proposal that was rejected was from Ivory stockpiles: calling for the implementation of Resolution Conf. 10.10 ( Rev. CoP18) on Trade in elephant specimens. The proposal was for the Conference to approve the proposal for range states with Ivory stockpiles to destroy their ivory stockpiles in order to avoid them getting into the illegal trade market. With the final vote at 34 in favour, 52 opposed and 13 abstentions.

Kereng said Kenya submitted a proposal on the establishment of a fund that could be accessible by the elephant range states to provide funding for elephant conservation. The rational from the proponents was that if funding is made available then the question of elephant of ivory trade will no longer be relevant.

Another rejected proposal was calling for the working group on engagement of indigenous and local communities to have its mandate extended in order to look more into the issues of how to engage local communities and indigenous communities in CITES decision making.

She said lack of representation of local communities in CITES decision making structure is seen by many parties as problematic because they are the custodians of the wildlife that is being discussed at CIITES, many felt that there should be a mechanism that can allow for their voices to be heard.

Kereng said the good that came out is SADC Ministers agreed to work out better ways to unite and strategise on next CITES participation to fight our case. “We will continue raise our voices and lobby more allies to elevate our voting power.”

She said “We appreciate allies who voted in our favour and rejected proposals against us such as the EU, Japan, and will lobby especially more Asian countries and those who consistently abstained from voting like South America”.

“We also have agreed to recommend through Ministries of Foreign Affairs that the divisive process of CITES be addressed at diplomatic levels through SADC and African Union. We seek to have our Heads of States and key stakeholders speak more about cites related matters in global and regional engagements.”