The CITES ivory quid pro quo...I.P.A. Manning

While it is good news that official ivory trading was banned at CITES COP 14 for nine years, to hear that the quid pro quo for this was to allow Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa to sell all their ivory registered before 31 January of this year, an amount unknown to CITES, is not good news; for it might, as was suggested at COP 14, be double the 70 tons which these countries had first applied to export. No one can control and regulate the ivory business in Japan and the flow of illegal ivory will join the legal. I predict that our hippo and elephant populations will, in some areas, now face eradication in the short term. From the field in Zambia, I can report a massive assault on our elephant and hippo; and elephant sport hunting of 20 bulls a year is allowed here, recently accounting for a 72 pounder, an animal of massive value to our tourist industry. Government intend increasing this number, as well as allowing the annual 150 or so animals shot on crop protection to be taken instead by sport hunters. All efforts to stop this have failed.

The only way we are going to see matters improve is if conservation and development money goes directly to villagers who share the elephant range. In some of these areas are trusts and associations which can care for the funds and see that it is not stolen. We need to support village schools, clinics and conservation agriculture as a start to encourage villagers to the view that destroying their wildlife resources will only make them poorer and more dependent on food aid. We need to make a direct connection between the conservation of elephant and hippo and development assistance. We need to prosecute the poachers. We need villagers to take responsibility for their land and natural resources.

Inquiries on conservation trusts, which are responsibly managed, may be addressed to gamefields@zamnet.zm