Elephant Poaching in Africa CGG3O

Why? Elephant ivory has been used by humans for millennia for various purposes In the 19th and early part of the 20th century mass demand for items like billiard balls and piano keys led to the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of elephants

Why? In the 1980s, Japan consumed about 40% of the global ivory trade; another 40% was consumed by Europe and North America The Japanese use ivory for the production of hankos, or name seals (traditionally, most name seals had been made from wood with an ivory tip, carved with the signature, but increased prosperity in the 80s saw the formerly unseen solid ivory hankos in mass production China is a now a major market as traditional Chinese medicine uses ivory and economic growth means more demand

More China problems The Chinese market demands weird products from endangered animals (tiger parts, gall bladders from bears, rhino horns, etc.) The Chinese government is either unwilling or unable to make any real attempt to control trade in these items Chinese nationals working in Africa have been caught smuggling ivory in many African countries, with at least ten arrested at Kenyan airports in 2009

The Result Between 1979 and 1989, the worldwide demand for ivory caused elephant populations to decline to dangerously low levels During this time period, poaching fueled by ivory sales cut Africa's elephant population in half In 1977, 1.3 million elephants lived in Africa; today the population is about 470,000 –Prior to the CITES imposed ban in 1989, in Kenya alone, the elephant population plummeted from over 140,000 in the early 70's to under 20,000 at the time of the ban. Some experts have predicted the extinction of wild African elephants by 2020

Stopping Poaching In 1989 the U.N.’s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), effectivly banned the ivory trade At the time an average of 200 elephants were killed every day in Africa Poaching almost ceased after the ban, but it is now on the increase once again, felling an average of over 100 elephants per day

Legal Ivory? Over the last few years, CITES has allowed several one-off sales of ivory stockpiles, mostly from elephants that died of natural causes Critics suggest that this has fed consumer demand and created opportunities for the black market to mask its operations

Legal Ivory? While some countries petition to be allowed to sell their ivory stockpiles, others burn them Kenya burned 5 tons of ivory this year (which would have been worth about $16 million on the black market), though they have about 60 tons stockpiled

Economic Arguments Ivory poaching is fuelled by poverty, political instability and civil unrest coupled with the easy availability of arms The world financial crisis has made things even worse - many African nations have had to cut back on their antipoaching operations, giving illegal wildlife traders even more incentive to profit from their operations

Is Tourism the Solution? One of the best ways to alleviate human- wildlife conflicts is to give people a reason to keep the local wildlife alive and healthy If the elephants are a big tourist draw, then it is in the country’s best interest to protect them If tourism employs locals, then the elephants put money directly into the local communities

The Ivory Ban Read case on 202 Answer all questions and then as a group agree on your position on this issue – is the ivory ban good or bad?