Burning money

Thu, 08 Dec 2016 11:52:59 +0000

ZAMBIA has come of age by deciding that the thousands of highly valued elephant tusks and rhino horns seized from poachers and international traffickers will in future not be burnt as has been the practice all these years but will be stored for sale in the future.

Africa, especially the Eastern and Southern region, has lost a fortune through the destruction of wildlife products confiscated from poachers and illegal dealers in conformity with CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which mandated that such contraband should be publicly set ablaze and burnt to ashes to signify the world’s horror for the trade.

This particular requirement by CITES has been a cause of discomfort by many African governments who felt that they were actually burning money that could have helped to fund the local campaigns against poaching and wildlife management in general on a continent where cash is hard to come by.

It therefore comes as breath of fresh air to hear the declaration by permanent secretary for Tourism and Arts Stephen Mwansa that these horns and tusks have great value, hence the need to preserve them until such time the country can sell them.

Mr Mwansa also confirmed the widely held view in Africa that the CITES ban on the sale of confiscated wildlife products should be lifted because it has outlived its usefulness. African nations can effectively protect their vast wildlife by selling seized government trophies and use the money to pay for the gigantic task of managing and conserving the resource.

To show its commitment to wildlife conservation, the Zambian Government has stiffened punishment for poachers and anyone found guilty of illegal hunting or being in possession of Government trophy will go in for a minimum of five years.

While the selling of elephant tusks and rhino horn might be construed to mean encouraging poaching, Government is of the view that it will raise the level of wildlife protection by investing the money into security.

Zambia’s decision to part with the CITES rule, which has been the pillar of the international wildlife watchdog’s conservation strategy, comes on the heels of the recent World Wildlife Conference, referred to as COP17, in Johannesburg where several countries reportedly  pushed for the ban to be lifted or they will go it alone.

Countries like Zambia, Angola, Kenya, Botswana, Swaziland, South Africa and Namibia called for a limited and regulated trade in some of the wildlife species to raise money for conservation efforts as well as take care of the huge stocks of animal cargo seized and stored by various governments since 1990 when the CITES rule came into force.

Many of these countries were of the view that the ban was an oversight regulated by countries who have no wildlife and therefore do not understand the value of what they want to destroy. Also some of these ‘‘donor’’ countries have made wildlife conservation a huge industry to benefit their citizens at the expense of Africans.

It is quite clear that wildlife conservation has become an exclusive club for the white elite of Europe and America from which African civil society organizations are shunted away. Attempts by several indigenous organizations to get involved in conservation efforts have been blocked by a murky cabal of foreign interests who lead an opulent lifestyle anchored on African wildlife.

While illegal wildlife trade is the biggest driver of elephant slaughter in African parks and game management areas – with at least 100,000 jumbos exterminated yearly in East and Southern Africa in the 1990s – it is illogical and economically bankrupt for African countries to burn the ivory they confiscate at great cost from poachers and international syndicates.

Kudos therefore go to Zambia for insisting on doing what it thinks is good for its people and wildlife regardless of what the gurus of CITES think. We applaud this decision which we hope will spur the necessary amendments to the CITES appendices to respect the wishes of the owners of the animals this august forum wishes to protect.