‘African nations must unite to end ivory trade’
‘Take urgent steps’ warning to both Africa and Asia by SA researcher
DURBAN: A new report coinciding with World Elephant Day warns demand for ivory will continue to rise as long as African nations continue to send out mixed signals about their ivory stockpiles.
Ross Harvey, a senior researcher at the SA Institute of International Affairs, has suggested that all African nations agree to destroy their stockpiles of ivory simultaneously to send an unambiguous signal to the world that the ivory trade was over for good.
He suggested elephant range states followed the example of the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes.
In 1519, Cortes scuttled his fleet when he invaded Mexico, as a signal to local inhabitants, and his own soldiers, that return was impossible.
“So African nations should agree to dispose of their stockpiles in a manner that puts them beyond commercial use. For as long as stockpiles exist, syndicates can find ways of accessing them… most importantly (keeping stockpiles) sends an ambiguous signal to the market about whether the commitment to banning the trade is credible.”
Harvey’s report was released shortly before World Elephant Day, which aims to raise global public awareness about the future of African and Asian elephants.
According to the US-based Nature Conservancy, Africa’s elephant population has plummeted from around 1.2 million animals in 1980 to 430 000 today. Nearly 20 000 had been killed over the past year alone.
In his research paper, Harvey said almost 7 percent of the continent’s elephants were killed each year, a level far exceeding the natural growth rate of about 4 percent a year.
The most serious decline was in West and Central Africa, where upwards of 65 percent of elephants were killed in the past decade.
Once exterminated, poaching syndicates would turn their attention to Southern and Eastern Africa, starting with the weakest states.
While illegal ivory trade patterns were not fully understood, it seemed that high-end investors in China saw ivory as a “bao jia” (inflation-proof) investment, whose value would continue to rise because of its rarity.
Harvey argues that the value of ivory would increase exponentially if elephants became extinct.
“Syndicates can be viewed as speculators banking on extinction. The most efficient means of removing the incentive to bank on extinction would therefore be to reduce demand for ivory both now and in the future.”
He acknowledged that trying to reduce demand would not be easy.
“Helping consumers make the connection between their purchase and environmental consequences in a distant place is challenging psychological work. It must, however, be done if the current unsustainable trend is to be reversed.”