CONTRARY to what the governments of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe have suggested ahead of the 18th Conference of the Parties to Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species on Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), poaching and ivory trafficking continue to pose a very real threat to elephant populations in Southern Africa.
A new factsheet produced by the Environment Invesigation Agency (EIA), Eyes Wide Shut: Southern Africa’s Elephants Now in the Firing Line, highlights the threats facing Southern Africa’s elephants, argues that, strong measures are needed at CoP18, which kicked off on the 17th of tis month and runs until the 27th, in Geneva, to ensure that the situation does not spiral out of control
Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe have submitted two proposals to decrease elephant protection and restart the international ivory trade. Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe have submitted a proposal (CITES CoP18 Prop. 11) which would allow them and South Africa to sell their stockpiles of ivory.
Zambia has submitted another proposal (CITES CoP18 Prop. 10) to decrease the protection of its elephant population under CITES, also with a view to selling its ivory stockpile.
EIA is calling on world governments attending the 18th CITES Conference of the Parties (CoP18) to reject these proposals and to ensure that decision-making at CoP18 either increases or maintains existing protective measures for elephants under CITES.
This proposal seeks to amend the Annotation to the listing of the elephant populations of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe in Appendix II as the countries argue that elements of this Annotation are no longer relevant or not appropriate.
In their proposal, the countries state that, the elephant populations of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe are an anomaly in CITES. These populations comprise around 256,000 elephants or 61.6% of all remaining elephants in Africa at the time that their continental status was reviewed most recently. The populations of all four countries show increasing, stable and non-significant decline
They further state that, resources and incentives are urgently needed to support the community conservation programmes of all four countries listed in this proposal but specifically also their community conservation programmes in the KAZA TFCA. Increasing elephant (and human) populations result in escalated human wildlife conflict and the costs of living with elephants and other wildlife cannot be allowed to exceed their benefits or important elephant habitat will be lost together with landscape connectivity
They accordingly requested the CoP to approve this proposal and thus allow the proponents, who are the Parties that have demonstrably been amongst the most successful in conserving elephants, to further strengthen their conservation programmes through regulated trade in elephant products.
In their view, it is time to remove the anomaly of having 256,000 elephant on Appendix II being treated as if they are on Appendix I, against the wishes of the people who own them and who have the most to lose or gain from them.
Be that as it may, for Zimbabwe in particular, conservationists and some citizens fear that proceeds from the trade of elephant products may not be channeled to their intended purpose as, previously, high ranking government officials have been fingered for their involvement in the smuggling of ivory.
It is in their view that the opening of “flood gates” will lead to the unwanton decimation of the elephant population.
Last year, the Zimbabwe government launched an investigation into the country’s former first lady, Grace Mugabe, over her alleged involvement in an ivory smuggling ring.
The probe was opened after a three-month undercover mission by Australian wildlife photographer Adrian Steirn.
Speaking exclusively to Al Jazeera, then, Steirn said he uncovered the poaching and smuggling syndicate when he began looking into the illegal ivory trade in December.
“Ivory was being sourced either from the national park’s vault, being thieved or pilfered, or from live elephants being killed by poaching syndicates. The syndicate would then sell to Grace Mugabe’s clientele,” he said.
“She would then be able to pack that and send it out through the airport. Anything through that airport, that was the property of the first lady, was not searched or scanned in any way.”
Further, the United States’s (US) government report that says Zimbabwe is still lagging behind in terms of fiscal transparency does not inspire any confidence.
The 2019 Fiscal Transparency Report, which was prepared by the US State Department of State, assesses a country’s minimum fiscal transparency requirements and reviewed the period running from January 1 to December 31, 2018.
Zimbabwe was among the 67 countries out of a total of 141 governments that did not meet the minimum requirements for fiscal transparency.
“Information on debt obligations was publicly available in hard copy for free from the Papers Office of the Parliament. Publicly available budget documents did not include a substantially complete picture of revenue streams, including natural resource revenues. The budget included aggregate allocations to, but not earnings from, State-owned enterprises,” part of the report reads.
“Fiscal transparency is a critical element of effective public financial management, helps build market confidence, and underpins economic sustainability.
Fiscal transparency fosters greater government accountability by providing a window into government budgets for citizens, helping citizens hold their leadership accountable, and facilitating better-informed public debate.”
The outcome of the proposal of the Southern African countries will be known in the next few days.
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