London conference 2014: The world wakes up at
elephants' eleventh hour
MICHAEL MCCARTHY
Sunday 9 February 2014/ The Independent / http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/london-conference-2014-the-world-wakes-up-at-elephants-eleventh-hour-9117081.html
Delegates from about 50 countries will meet in London this
week to try to end the slaughter that feeds the illegal market in ivory and
rhino horn
The world has a real chance this week to halt the soaring
slaughter of African elephants, rhinos and other animals. Over the past five
years this has built up to an unprecedented wildlife crisis, threatening not
only the existence of iconic species but the very stability of the countries
involved.
A major international conference in London is bringing
together all the key states involved in the illegal wildlife trade. Profits are
now so big – up to $19bn (£11.6bn) annually – that organised crime gangs, rebel
militias and even terrorist organisations are being drawn in, pushing the
killing to ever greater heights and posing grave new problems of national and
international security.
Across Africa, as many as 50,000 elephants are being shot
down every year to satisfy the booming ivory market, in China above all; while
rhinos are being slaughtered in record numbers for their horn, believed in some
Asian countries such as Vietnam – entirely erroneously – to have important
medical properties. The poaching rates mean that both animals are on the slope
to extinction. Meanwhile, more than 1,000 wildlife rangers have been killed
trying to stop the poachers.
The unparalleled butchery, which has been the subject of the
campaign in The Independent and The Independent on Sunday over the past two
months, has seemed during the last year to be entirely out of control, but this
week's conference will seek an international political commitment to end it.
The meeting is the brainchild of the Prince of Wales and his
son William, the Duke of Cambridge, and is being hosted by the British
government at Lancaster House in London on Thursday. It will be attended by
high-level delegations from about 50 countries, with, crucially, a delegation
from China, whose presence was not assured until recently. At least four
African heads of state will be attending: the presidents of Chad, Gabon,
Botswana and Tanzania.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, there will be a preliminary
scientific symposium at the Zoological Society of London, in Regent's Park,
involving the world's largest wildlife conservation charities, which have been
brought together in a special alliance, named United for Wildlife, by the Duke
of Cambridge.
Today Prince Charles and Prince William are releasing a
video urging people all around the world to come together to support the
anti-wildlife-trade cause. "Despite the terrible crisis that we now face,
we both continue to be optimistic that the tide can be reversed," Prince
William says in the film.
"We have to be the generation that stopped the illegal
wildlife trade, and secured the future of these magnificent animals and their
habitats, for, if we fail, it will be too late."
The Government, with the Foreign Secretary, William Hague,
leading the way, wants a strong declaration of intent to act from the countries
involved. It will also seek to make the conference an annual event to check
progress, which would be a major step forward. Currently, the United Nations
wildlife trade enforcement body, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species (Cites), meets in full only once every three years.
UK ministers have already promised £10m in funding to back
the approach, which will focus on three areas: strengthening law enforcement
and the criminal justice system; supporting the development of sustainable
livelihoods for communities affected by poaching; and reducing demand for
illegal wildlife products.
This last factor is the crux of the whole matter. All eyes
will be on the Chinese, as many conservationists believe that the only way to
end the poaching crisis effectively is for China to abolish its ivory market –
that is, not just get rid of illegal ivory but outlaw the sale of ivory
altogether.
"There's no point even talking about elephant killing
if you don't address the problem of China," said the Conservative MP and
former editor of The Ecologist magazine, Zac Goldsmith, who has been a
prominent campaigner against the ivory trade.
"And the reality is that focusing on the illegal stuff
is a side-show. The real issue is the legal ivory.
"So long as there's a legal trade, it will be possible
to disguise the illegal trade, allowing it flourish. You just have to look at
the map. The demand for ivory from China alone massively exceeds supply – in
other words, the number of elephants. It's off the scale. So, unless you deal
with the legal stuff, you can't hope to stop the illegal stuff; and unless you
do that, the elephants are going to be gone within 10 to 15 years. It's now or
never, really. "
Another long-time elephant campaigner, Will Travers,
president of the Born Free Foundation, makes exactly the same point. "The
answer is, close down the legal ivory market in China," he said. "End
the government-licensed carving factories. Get rid of the remains of the legal
stockpile that they have been drip-feeding into the market, thereby sustaining
the trade. Just get rid of it. This is their opportunity to really step up, and
they would be applauded universally for doing so."
Philip Mansbridge, chief executive of the charity Care for
the Wild, said yesterday: "We're at crisis point for key species, so this
summit is vital and timely. But we need action, not just words: the UK should
commit 0.5 per cent of its foreign aid budget annually. We must support a range
states in defending the animals, and we need China to outlaw ivory. Now."
China's chance
"Imagine," says Will Travers, president of the
animal rescue and conservation charity the Born Free Foundation, "if
Africans were creeping over to China and poaching pandas, because they thought
that wearing panda skin, or putting a piece of panda round your neck in a bag,
was going to bring you great good fortune. The Chinese would be incandescent.
"It's already the death penalty for killing pandas in
China. So I think it's important that the Chinese understand what losing
elephants means to Africa and to Africans. They are the iconic species, along
with the lions, for Africa."
Mr Travers's foundation came out of the conservation work
his actor parents Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna undertook after they
starred in the 1966 film Born Free, about British couple George and Joy Adamson
releasing to the wild in Kenya the orphan lion cub they had raised, Elsa.
And, like many conservationists, he lays the blame for the
current poaching crisis squarely at the door of China and its ivory market.
"Africa and its wildlife are being hammered by trade to
the Far East and to China in particular," he said.
"But now the Chinese have the opportunity, almost in
one fell swoop, to remove some of the ongoing and relentless criticism they
face in relation to Africa and Africa's natural resources.
"They will become the economic powerhouse of the world
within the next 10 years, and with that position comes enormous responsibility.
"They can demonstrate that responsibility by closing
down their ivory market. That would show international leadership, but it would
also show the respect that Africa is due."
Mr Travers added: "This is a true crisis for wildlife.
If we have not got it within our capacity and within our humanity to save and
protect elephants, rhinos, tigers and lions, and the great apes, then nothing
is safe, because nothing can capture our imagination and speak to our souls
like those species. If we can't protect those, nothing is safe – it's open
season on everything else."
Lucrative trade
Nobody knows precisely how many elephants are being killed
annually across Africa's vastness, but there is no doubt that it is in the tens
of thousands. The most frequent estimates suggest it is in the range of 25,000
to 36,000 a
year, but one recent estimate by Dr Sam Wasser, head of the Center for
Conservation Biology at the University of Washington, worked out from the
number of illegally traded tusks being seized, suggests the annual figure may
be as high as 52,000.
There are, however, precise figures for the explosion in
poaching of South Africa's rhinos. In 2007, 13 animals were killed; in 2008,
the figure was 83; in 2009, it was 122; in 2010, it was 333; in 2011, it was
448; in 2012, it was 668; and last year it was 1,004.
The reason is simple: in Vietnam, where it is erroneously
seen as a valuable medicine, rhino horn can be traded at an astonishing $65,000
(£40,000) per kilo. It is now worth more than gold and platinum, and is more
valuable on the black market than diamonds or cocaine.
As for ivory, the price is now up to $3,000 a kilo, so a
typical elephant could bring a poacher $30,000.
Why the upsurge?
An epidemic of elephant poaching to supply the ivory market
in the late 1980s was brought to a halt in 1989 when the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) banned the worldwide trade in
ivory products.
Poaching levels then dropped throughout the 1990s; but
picked up again in the mid-2000s, and according to a United Nations report
published last December, they have "jumped dramatically from 2009".
Many observers think the upturn was directly related to the
fact that in July 2008 China was given permission, for the first time, to take
part in a "one-off" legal sale of 108 tonnes of ivory from four
southern African countries – South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe –
whose elephant populations were regarded at the time as relatively healthy and
well-managed.
At the time, conservationists, more than 150 MPs and The
Independent – with its entire front page – warned that this would have dire
consequences, but Britain nevertheless voted in favour of the move in the Cites
Standing Committee.
It was widely assumed that the then-Prime Minister, Gordon Brown,
insisted on the vote because he did not wish to risk upsetting the economically
influential Chinese.
On February 13th, 50 heads of state SIGN UP TODAY! FIVE STEPS TO STOP THE ILLEGAL KILLING OF ELEPHANTS
and governments have been invited by David Cameron to a
conference in London to address the illegal trade in wildlife parts.
TELL THEM THEY MUST:
Train and equip wildlife rangers who risk their lives
stopping poachers.
Educate people, particularly in Asia, about the true cost of
buying illegal ivory.
Stamp down on corruption and enforce adequate laws to punish
those responsible.
Uphold the existing ban on the international trade in ivory.
Support local people in poaching hot-spots benefit from
wildlife conservation.
Help ensure our leaders stop the poaching crisis in Africa
once and for all. It’s easy, sign our petition today.
Manifesto: You donated the
money, now we tell you how it will be spent
OLIVER POOLE
Wednesday 12 February 2014 / http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/manifesto-you-donated-the-money-now-we-tell-you-how-it-will-be-spent-9124381.html
Every penny you gave will go directly into projects in the
field
The Elephant Appeal has been the most successful campaign in
The Independent’s history, raising more money for this urgent cause than any
other campaign since the paper’s foundation.
This has been due to the generosity of you – our readers –
who have so far helped raise some £450,000. The money is continuing to come in
so it is hoped to top half a million pounds before the appeal finishes.
Every penny will be spent on projects in the field through
our charity partner, Space for Giants. New teams of rangers are already being
recruited and put through rigorous training due to our readers’ donations.
This, however, is only the start. In the coming months, and
years, the money will help ensure:
1. Local communities will be brought into the conservation
fight:
The people who live in poaching areas provide the best
intelligence on poaching activity. Programmes will educate them about wildlife
devastation and its impact on local economies, not least the effect on tourism.
2. Boots on the ground:
With poaching gangs
now often working on behalf of criminal networks seeking to reap vast profits
from the illegal sale of ivory and other animal parts, conservationists face an
increasingly well-organised and well-equipped enemy.
Extra teams of rangers operating in central Kenya will help
protect animals in safe-havens.
3. More is known about elephant migration habits:
GPS tracking collars enable herds to be tracked. This not
only gives early-warning if elephants approach poaching hot-spots but helps
prevent conflict with local farmers and protects their crops.
4. The establishment of a new conservancy:
The final steps are being agreed to secure a new conservancy
in central Kenya that will have the latest high-tech security apparatus to keep
the animals within its borders safe. This will help ensure herds of elephants
will be safe, forever.
___________
As well as our readers, a generous donation was received
from the Prudential, while artists such as Damien Hirst, the Chapman Brothers
and Tracey Emin kindly donated specially created artworks to be auctioned off
for the appeal. The Gertler Family Foundation – which is the largest charitable
organisation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo – also generously backed
the campaign as part of its efforts to protect and re-introduce wildlife to
central Africa. Previously, the foundation had helped rebuild several hospitals
in the country and supported a number of schools, as well as assisting in the
supporting of an agricultural training academy to teach modern farming
techniques in Kinshasa.
Recently, however, it has also begun discussions with
Brooklyn Zoo, which has an advanced elephant breeding programme. There are at
present almost no wild elephants in the DRC as they have been poached almost to
extinction. It is now hoped they can be reintroduced into protected areas.
The foundation has also been a long-term supporter of
Lubumbashi Zoo, which had fallen into decay as the country descended into
chaos. It has been restored into a functioning zoo again with its animal
habitats and buildings rebuilt.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário