East African Standard (Nairobi, Kenya), July 2, 2007

KENYA: A VICTORY FOR THE NATION AND ENDANGERED ELEPHANTS

[Rachel's introduction: "Uncertainty demands application of the precautionary principle or approach. Decisions should err in favour of recovery of the most threatened [wildlife] populations in Africa and Asia." -- Director, Kenya Wildlife Service]

By Julius Kipng'etich

[The writer is the Director of the Kenya Wildlife Service]

Nairobi -- Two weeks ago, a landmark decision that is likely to affect tourism for years to come was made in The Hague, the Netherlands.

Delegates from 171-member countries of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (Cites) gave a nine-year lease of life to our wildlife flagship species -- the elephant.

The decision of the 14th Conference of Parties on the African elephant and ivory trade will have far-reaching ramifications, not just on the survival of other species, but also tourism.

Previous Cites meetings have been bogged down by acrimonious debates over the benefits that income from ivory sales may bring to conservation weighed against concerns that such sales may increase poaching. Recurrent debate on re-opening international ivory trade has been complicating enforcement, confusing consumers and jeopardising elephant management plans.

The beneficiaries have been poachers, traders in illicit ivory and, sometimes, the sport-hunting lobby. Losers have been tourism and local communities. But now, the trade suspension will send a strong message to consumers that buying ivory is neither acceptable nor fashionable.

It will also send a clear signal that international trade is banned, suppress demand, lower prices and remove the incentive for buying and stockpiling ivory.

In its spirited fight for the ban in ivory trade, Kenya fell back on its ecotourism model of wildlife conservation that mirrors the 'chicken that lays the golden egg' parable.

The Kenya Wildlife Service support for the setting up of community conservancies such as Mwaluganje (Kwale), Kimana (Kajiado) Ilngwesi (Laikipia) was used to show how communities can organise themselves to benefit from wildlife.

Although Kenya did not get the 20-year suspension it proposed, the nine-year ban on ivory trade and the stringent conditions attached to it work in favour of elephants and other wildlife. The suspension of trade will ease pressure from the effects of Cites decisions on ivory trade.

At the same time, it provides for the establishment of the African Elephant Conservation Fund to address the long-term issues of conservation.

Elephants are highly migratory and many populations are shared among various countries. Ivory trade and market forces driving it and international decisions in one State can affect another. Thus, a cooperative, regional approach to decision-making, taking into account the needs of the continental population, is imperative.

Yet decisions are mostly made on a national basis and policies vary considerably. By allowing the split-listing of the African elephant and different provisions concerning ivory trade from the four countries whose elephants are in Appendix II, Cites not only created enforcement problems, but favoured the perceived needs of a few States to the detriment of others struggling to protect their elephants.

Most of the challenges will be addressed through the Africa Elephant Conservation Fund that is to enhance the implementation of an action plan. It includes accessing resources to strengthen the enforcement of laws against poaching and illegal trade in ivory, control trade, enhance capacity building and manage elephant translocations. Kenya has offered to share its expertise in elephant translocation and management with the other 37 African range States.

Kenya recognises that although elephant States are the best protectors of their elephants, many lack capacity. The fund will also contribute to the resolution of human-elephant conflicts and enhance community conservation initiatives and development programmes.

The trade freeze will also help determine effects of the one-off ivory sale, establish and address factors that have been driving the expanding illegal market. It will also provide reasonable time to refine the Monitoring Illegal Killing of Elephants (Mike) programme to enable it become an instrument more capable of detecting poaching trends.

Since Mike was started in 1997, there has not been time free from recurrent discussions about re-opening trade. These can influence levels of illegal killing, affecting baseline data and preventing Mike from assessing whether trends are related to Cites' decisions on international trade in ivory.

Several major seizures in the last two years indicate that 20,000 or more elephants have been killed annually since the 2004 Cites meeting. Ivory prices have increased by between seven and eight times in China and Japan since the late 1990s (most recently quoted in March at $850/kg or Sh59,500 in Japan), raising concern that commodity speculators may be buying the ivory.

However, we cannot afford to relax our efforts since organised crime in illicit ivory trade has been known to go hand in hand with the globalisation of African markets and economic links.

There are many uncertainties and controversies associated with elephant populations and ivory trade: Uncertainty over numbers, controversy over the signal effect (whether debate on trade and one- off sales send a signal to poachers and the market), uncertainty over factors driving illegal trade and controversy over the effects of re- opening legal trade.

Such uncertainty demands application of the precautionary principle or approach. Decisions should err in favour of recovery of the most threatened populations in Africa and Asia, not populations in the few range States that want to export ivory.

The other important implication of the trade ban is that Cites can focus on other endangered species in subsequent meetings as we put mechanisms in place to address the escalating illegal killing of elephants and trade in ivory in Africa and Asia.

The danger and the neglect that endangered species such as lions, leopards, rhinos and antelopes, among others, have suffered over the years now have a chance to be addressed.

Copyright 2007 East African Standard