China
holds the key to saving Africa’s wildlife.
Just
25 years ago, the convention on international Trade in Endangered species
banned the worldwide trade in ivory products. This agreement marked the first
coordinated international effort to stop the slaughter of endangered elephants
and rhinos in Africa. Yet despite a fall in poaching levels in the nineties,
they have risen once more fuelled by demand from the Far East for medicinal
products.
According
to a recent UN reports, nearly 25000 rhino remain in the wild and more than
10000 were killed in South Africa along last year. Prices for horns and tusks
have never been higher. Between five and 10 percent of Africa’s remaining
400000 elephants are killed each year. If something is not done, they could be
extinct within two decades.
These
stark figures form the backdrop to the conference opening today in London, when
ministers and wildlife campaigners from 50 countries will gather in an attempt to
crack down on this grotesque trade a trade so lucrative that it has wider
implications than wildlife preservation. The knock on effects cause political
instability in the countries concerned, with
international criminal networks, rebel militias and terrorist groups
drawn to the profits that can be made. The human cost in high too with more
than 10000 rangers killed in recent years trying to stop the poachers.
What
can be done? It is hard to deter poachers by force, given the money that can be
made even lengthy jail sentences fail to deter, since few prosecutions are ever
mounted. No the really key to ending this despicable trade is to tackle the
demand side and it is to countries in eastern Asia notably China, that we must
look for urgent action.
Beijing
continues to operate a legal market in ivory as a result of a one off exemption
granted in 2008. This is stoking demand, and must be closed down if any
progress is to be made. The Chinese also need to embark on education programmes
to debunk the idea that tusks, horns and tiger bones have any useful medical properties.
