MOZAMBIQUE: Poachers Murder Half Mozambique’s Elephants

Poachers have killed nearly half of Mozambique’s elephants for their ivory in the past five years, the US based Wildlife Conservation Society said Tuesday.

A Mozambique government-backed survey showed a dramatic 48 percent decline in elephant numbers from just over 20,000 to an estimated 10,300, the WCS said in a statement.

“This decline is due to rampant elephant poaching in the country’s most important elephant populations,” the statement said.

Remote northern Mozambique, which includes the Niassa national Reserve, was the hardest hit, accounting for 95 percent of elephant deaths, reducing the population from an estimated 15,400 to an estimated 6,100.

The aerial survey found that in some parts of the country nearly half the elephants seen were already dead.

Across Africa, up to 30,000 elephants are estimated to be killed illegally each year to fuel the ivory trade, mainly to China and other Asian countries.

A total of 470,000 wild elephants remain in Africa, according to a count by the NGO Elephants Without Borders.

The global conference that governs wildlife trade voted Monday against proposals by Namibia and Zimbabwe to be allowed to sell their ivory internationally, in a move welcomed by many conservationists.

Namibia and Zimbabwe which boast healthy elephant populations had lobbied for the right to sell off stockpiles accrued from natural deaths and poaching seizures to fund projects in communities close to elephants.

The meeting votes in committee against proposals of Namibia and Zimbabwe to allow international commercial trade in their elephants, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) said in a statement at its conference in Johannesburg.

International trade in ivory has been banned since 1989, but legal domestic markets have continued in some countries around the world, and CITES has twice allowed sales of African ivory stockpiles to Japan and China, in 1999 and 2008.

In the two secret ballots, the proposals by Namibia and Zimbabwe were heavily defeated.

African elephants are in steep decline across much of the continent due to poaching for their ivory, and opening up any legal trade in ivory would complicate efforts to conserve them, said Ginette Hemley, head of the WWF delegation at CITES.

It could offer criminal syndicates new avenues to launder poached ivory, undermining law enforcement, and would undercut efforts to reduce the consumer demand that is driving the mass poaching.

She welcomed the votes on Monday, and urged nations to concentrate on closing domestic ivory markets and combating the illegal international trade.

A recent census showed a 30-percent decline in the savannah elephant population over seven years, and new data released by wildlife monitor TRAFFIC showed a “rising trend in large raw ivory shipments” last year.

A coalition of 29 African countries is pressing for all African elephants to be given an Annex 1 CITES listing, which bans all international trade, but other delegates believe this would fuel the booming illegal market.

The conference in Johannesburg, which ends on Wednesday, is sifting through 62 proposals to tighten or loosen trade restrictions on around 500 species.

Delegates at the weekend adopted a recommendation aimed at clamping down on domestic ivory markets “contributing to poaching or illegal trade”.

Illegal trade in wildlife is valued at around $20 billion (18 billion euros) a year, according to CITES.

Vietnam, a key consumer of rhino horn, has faced severe criticism at the conference, which is held every three years.

The CITES treaty, signed by 182 countries and the European Union, protects about 5,600 animal and 30,000 plant species from over-exploitation through commercial trade.

Delegates have already voted to ban all international trade in African grey parrots, one of the world’s most trafficked birds, and in shy, scale-covered pangolin.

CHINA; Ivory Smugglers And Traders In Trouble, China Shuts Lucrative Ivory Shops And Factories

China is closing down a third of its ivory retailers and factories on Friday before a formal ban on its ivory trade by the end of 2017.

In total, 67 carving factories and shops will be shut on Friday, with the remaining 105 to close by the end of the year, according to China's Forestry Administration.

Officials from the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species will be present to witness the shutdown.

China is the world's largest importer and user of elephant ivory tusks and the move has sparked delight among activists and conservationists.

Yet Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, has not yet followed suit despite outlining a plan last year to ban ivory trading within five years.

The price of ivory in China has dropped by almost two thirds since the country revealed plans to end the legal trade later in the year.

In early 2014, tusks cost on average £1,700 per kilogram, but by February 2017 this had dropped to less than £600.

Experts have claimed Chinese demand for tusks - at one point accounting for 70% of global demand - has driven African elephants towards extinction.

Experts estimate up to 30,000 elephants are killed by poachers each year to meet demand for ivory.

Liu Fenghai has made his fortune in the ivory trade. There was a time when he had 25 craftsmen working exclusively on elephant ivory at his factory in the northern city of Harbin.

He would buy the raw ivory and then have it turned into the pendants, paperweights and statues that once filled shelf after shelf in his shop, as well as the much larger, elaborately carved whole tusks proudly displayed on plinths of their own.

At the height of the market some of them could sell for many thousands of dollars.

Now, to the delight of conservationists everywhere, China is calling a halt to this lucrative end of a brutal and bloody trade.
But Mr Liu, as you might expect, is far from happy. "I feel sad," the 48-year-old said. "I don't feel good at all. This tradition has been carried on for thousands of years but now it will die in the hands of our generation."
"I feel like a sinner," he added. "In a few hundred years time, we will be seen as the sinners of history."

In fact, although ivory carving can indeed be traced back centuries in China, for much of that time it existed only as a niche art form and the Chinese made barely a dent in the global ivory trade.

Throughout the 19th and 20th Centuries, the mass slaughter of elephants was carried out at the hands of the European colonial powers and then later North American entrepreneurs.

Western demand for ivory ornaments, jewellery, piano keys and billiard balls helped reduce the African elephant population from more than 20 million in the year 1800 to just two million by 1960.

Then came Japan's post-war economic rise and the slaughter was propelled through the 1970s and '80s, by which time the elephant was teetering on the brink of extinction.

It was only with the international ban on the trading of elephant ivory in 1989 that the species was given a brief respite.

Once again though, it was another major shift in the global financial order that signalled further disaster - China's emergence as a major economic power.

An explosion of wealth coupled with the Communist Party's unique blend of corruption and crony capitalism made ivory the perfect repository of value, both for ostentatious displays of success and discrete gift giving.

An art form became an industry and in a few short years China began to account for up to 70% of the global demand for ivory.

Today, as a result of the surge in poaching, the elephant is once again facing complete annihilation, with estimates suggesting there are fewer than half a million left in Africa.

There may be no more wild populations within a decade.

If Mr Liu believes it is a sin to lose an ancient art, how much more of a sin to lose an ancient species in the name of the mass-produced - often machine-carved - ivory tat that makes up the bulk of the products on sale in China today?

Not a moment too soon, the Chinese government has decided which side of history it wants to be on.

This week, by the end of business hours on Friday, almost half of China's authorised, government-approved ivory factories and shops will have closed their doors for good.

A team of officials from the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) will be on hand to witness the shutdown.

The rest of China's legal trade will be gone by the end of the year - a total of 34 factories and 138 shops.

It is a deeply symbolic moment, a "game changer" according to campaigners, with one of the most high profile and vocal, the UK's Prince William, publically applauding the Chinese government's decision as "an important commitment".

No small irony, perhaps, given the role the prince's own ancestors played in promoting the trade, with more than 1,000 ivory items still held in the royal collection.

But closing China's carving workshops and retail outlets is so important, it is argued, not only for its own sake, but because this legal business acts as cover for a much bigger black market trade.

In 2008 China was allowed, under the Cites system, to buy a 62-tonne stockpile of seized African ivory.

The theory was that, with careful monitoring and a system of certificates, the stockpile would provide a controlled supply to China's factories and therefore dampen demand for illegal ivory by helping to keep prices low.

It has had the opposite effect. It appears to have in fact stimulated demand by giving consumers the green light that ivory was ok to buy. Coupled with poor enforcement, corruption and fraudulent certifications a huge amount of illegal, newly poached ivory flooded into China and on to the market, some of it under the guise of Cites authorised stock.

Demand rose further and prices, rather than going down, skyrocketed. Research suggests that the illegal stockpile of ivory in China today may stand at 1,000 tonnes or more, far in excess of that supposedly well regulated and controlled quantity purchased back in 2008.

Now, although there are undoubtedly other factors at play - not least the slowing Chinese economy and the crackdown on official graft and gift giving - the announcement of the ban on the legal trade does appear to be helping to bring the speculative frenzy to an end.

Consumers and dealers have been sent a strong signal that the game is up and prices of ivory have recently been dropping, from more than $2,000 (£1,611) per kg in 2014 to around $700 per kilo today.

Big questions remain, however. As in other markets, like the UK, the Chinese announcement appears to allow for the continued trading of antiques, which campaigners fear may act as a loophole.

Meanwhile, the government has not said what it will do with the remaining stockpile of legal ivory and how it will prevent it from leaking on to the black market.

And while the new policy may well drive the illegal trade further underground, controlling it will still depend on the resources given to law enforcement agencies.

Our own research suggests a less than wholehearted willingness to tackle wildlife crime.

For more than two decades, trade in rhino horn has been completely prohibited in China. Selling, purchasing, transporting or mailing it has been punishable by harsh sentences, including life imprisonment for the worst offenders.

And yet, via a quick search on the internet, traders can be found openly offering rhino horn for sale as whole pieces, as jewellery or for use in Chinese medicine.

The risk attached to both buying and selling appears to be small.

"Trust me, I've never had any problems before," one of the online vendors said, after sending us pictures of rhino horn bracelets.

CHINA: China Bans Sale Of All Ivory By End Of This Year

China says it has decided to ban all domestic trade in ivory by the end of this year. Time to celebrate? Sort of.

“China will gradually stop the processing and sales of ivories for commercial purposes by the end of 2017,” the country's Xinhua news service reported, referring to a government statement. "The decision came after the country imposed a three-year ban on ivory imports in March this year in an escalated fight against illegal trading of wild animals and plants," it went on to explain.

"The move will affect the country’s 34 processing enterprises and 143 designated trading venues, with dozens to be closed by the end of March 2017, according to an official with the State Forestry Administration."

The rapacious demand for ivory from China has been fuelling the mass slaughter of elephants in Africa and occasionally in Asia, including Malaysia. Just a few days ago two wild bull elephants were found dead in Sabah, likely killed by poachers for their tusks. Elephant tusks can be worth a minor fortune in China, where a kilo of ivory can sell for up to the equivalent of RM5,000. Routinely, the ivory is carved into decorative items sought by the well-to-do as status symbols.

Environmentalists have celebrated the Chinese government's decision to phase out the processing and selling of all ivory products in the world's most populous nation. “This is great news that will shut down the world’s largest market for elephant ivory,” said Aili Kang, executive director of the Wildlife Conservation Society. "This action by China has come as momentum has been building to close domestic ivory markets around the globe," Kang added.

The government ban will certainly be a step in the right direction, but sadly it won't mean that demand for ivory in China will suddenly dry up. What with the lucrative nature of the trade, wildlife trafficking syndicates will likely step up their illegal operations and continue to trade in ill-gotten ivory illegally.

That is why rigorous enforcement of the ban is a must. Authorities in China and elsewhere will need to continue going after poachers and traffickers so as to stop the slaughter of wild elephants once and for all.

Last year alone some 20,000 elephants were killed in Africa for their tusks. In parts of Africa wild elephants, females mostly, have responded to the selective pressure that the constant hunt for their tusks places on them by losing those tusks and passing the gene for tusklessness down to younger generations.

However, such evolutionary tricks can't work fast enough. That is why we must do our best to save all remaining elephants, in Africa and Asia, from the ravages of poaching now.

SOUTH AFRICA: Southern Africa Holds Africa To Ransom Over Ivory Trade

South Africa, along with Namibia and Zimbabwe, will not be joining 29 other African nations in calling for a total ban on ivory sales – in fact, they are about to do the opposite.

In a proposal to be submitted at the 17th Conference of the Parties (CoP17) of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) to be held in September-October in Johannesburg, South Africa, the three nations are pushing instead to establish a process for an international trade in ivory – demanding minimal regulation of trade with limited safeguards for the continent’s beleaguered elephants.

In contrast, and in an effort to afford elephants the highest protection under international law, the coalition of 29 African countries, a body that represents over 70% of the 37 African elephant range states, will be presenting a comprehensive suite of five proposals at CoP17.

At a meeting in Montreux, Switzerland, from 24 to 26 June, the 29 concerned African countries, united as the African Elephant Coalition (AEC), have issued a manifesto asking the rest of Africa, and world, to join them in saving Africa’s elephants.

“The Montreux Manifesto shows that our message is clear,” says Bourama Niagaté from Mali, a member of the Council of the Elders for the Coalition. “We need to all pull together for the sake of Africa’s elephants.”

Among other things, the AEC countries are proposing that all African elephant populations and their range States fall under the CITES Appendix I listing, which effectively bans any commercial trade in elephant products.

About half the continental population was lost in the decade before the Appendix I listing in 1989, and a dramatic spike occurred again after a “one-off” ivory sale in 2008 to China and Japan. The sale was the second since Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe were granted a special Appendix II listing in 1997 followed by South Africa in 2000; the first “one-off” sale took place in 1999 before monitoring systems had been established.

Vera Weber, president of the Swiss-based Fondation Franz Weber, a partner organisation of the AEC, which facilitated the meeting points out that, “CITES saved African elephants from certain extinction 27 years ago by listing them on Appendix I. It ended the poaching crisis and elephant populations began to recover, until their protection under CITES was weakened, causing poaching to escalate again.”

A recently report published by National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts reveals there was a 71% increase in illegal ivory smuggling out of Africa since 2008. The “one-time legal sale of ivory stocks in 2008 was designed as an experiment,” the report states, adding that its global impact had not been properly evaluated beforehand and concludes: “We find that international announcement of the legal ivory sale in 2008 corresponds with an abrupt increase in illegal ivory production”

“The one-off sales were opposed by most African nations,” says Patrick Ormondi, Co-Chair of the AEC, “it was granted. It hasn’t worked. So now we have an opportunity to do it the other way round.”

Even Southern Africa, the long-viewed bastion of African elephants, is witnessing a steady rise in poaching with notable hotspots in northern Zimbabwe, and the surrounding area of Namibia’s Zambezi Region that includes southern Zambia and south-eastern Angola. These countries are now facing a renewed threat from criminal syndicates.

South Africa too has seen an exponential increase in elephant poaching, especially in the Kruger Park. Until 2014 there had not been a single poaching incident for a decade. In that year there were suddenly two poaching-related deaths. This increased to 22 elephants last year. Already in 2016, according to Kruger’s Chief Ranger, Nicholus Funda, “the numbers have been steadily increasing.”

Yet, despite the overwhelming evidence supporting a total ban with an Appendix I listing, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia will be submitting their counter-proposals for deliberation at CoP17 effectively calling on the CITES Standing Committee to permit unrestricted commercial exports of ivory.

“A divided message will spell doom for Africa’s elephants,” warns Patricia Awori the Secretariat of the AEC, who “longs for a time when all Africans unite to save its elephant heritage for future posterity.”

Awori fears that the opposing proposals submitted by South Africa and its near-neighbours in Johannesburg in September could block an uplisting of African elephants, and open the door for more disastrous one-off sales.

“For too long the Southern African tail has been wagging the African dog,” says Dr. Keith Lindsay, a technical expert for the AEC, “it’s time to restore the natural order.”

“Ours is a clear and simple message,” says Awori, “a vote for Appendix I is a vote for Africa’s elephants.”

KENYA: Samburu National Park First In Africa On Google Street View

Google Street View has launched its maps of Kenya's Samburu National Park, which allows internet users to take a virtual safari in the conservancy.

The initiative, launched together with the charity Save the Elephants, wants to promote wildlife conservation.

The project aims to tell the stories of the elephant families in the park.

The Google Street View car drove through the park in February 2015, assuaging any fears that the tool could inadvertently help poachers.

The route follows one of the roads through the 165 sq km (65 sq mile) central Kenyan reserve and does not let the user go off-road.

Elephants, zebra and a leopard can be seen dotted along the way.

The Kenya Tourist board says it is the country's first national park to be accessible in such a virtual way.

"We hope that by bringing Street View to Samburu, we will inspire people around the world to gain a deeper appreciation for elephants," Google Kenya's Farzana Khubchandani said.

The Samburu county governor, Moses Lenolkulal, also attended the ceremonial launch.

"The more people experience our culture, our people and the majestic elephants and other wildlife with which we co-exist, the more we are able to conserve and sustain the Samburu culture and its fragile ecosystem for generations to come," he said.

Two of the main families of elephants captured by Street View are the Harwoods and the Spice family who have been identified by the shape of their tusks.

David Daballen, head of field operations at Save the Elephants,that he could recognise more than 600 elephants.

He said he hoped the glimpse into the park would inspire people to help with the elephants' plight.

Conservationists say the ivory trade and loss of habitat are putting Africa's elephant population at risk.

According to Save the Elephants, an estimated 100,000 elephants were killed for their ivory in Africa between 2010 and 2012.