GAIA
How NOT to save elephants and rhinos -- part 3
Again, an African government -- in the name of "protecting" elephants and rhinos from ivory poaching -- has announced it will destroy tons of captured and collected elephant tusks and rhino horns.
As I have stated twice before over the years, this is utter stupidity and ensures the continuance of illegal and devastating ivory poaching and wealth of the criminal networks and their Lords who continue to be rich, rich, rich.
Its simply Economics 101: supply and demand.
Elephant tusk ivory has been used for millennia for fine miniature figurines and even huge, delicate carvings of great beauty, and these are still in high demand in the Far East and South East Asia.
Rhino horn powder is also a traditional Chinese medicine. With over 1 .3 billion Chinese in China, and millions more around the world, there is a huge market and demand.
The Kenyan wildlife authorities planned mass destruction of its collected ivory is to co-inside with the April 28-30 summit in Kenya on the protection of elephants.
Some 106 tons of elephant and rhino ivory is to be destroyed in a giant pyre that will last for weeks if not months until all is reduced to ashes!
Yes, ivory trading was made illegal and banned worldwide in 1989 but this has not been effective. (Any supposed pre-1989 'stock' is still allowed to be sold.)
Africa's elephant population is some 500,000 -- 1/3 of what it was in the early 1970s.
The organization, Save the Elephant, has stated that 100,000 elephants were killed between 2010 and 2012 alone.
However, Kenya's about-to-be-destroyed ivory is not only from captured poaching but also from animals that died naturally or had to be culled in some area or were endangering human life.
So there are many 'sources' in this upcoming bondfire and it will all be a total waste and ludicrous display of 'principle'.
A much better solution, as I have previously argued, is to make ivory legal, under local government or UN control.
Using such 'supplies' to fill market demand will instantly undermine if not fully wipe out the poaching networks and their lucrative, illegal trade.
Simultaneously, Kenya and other governments in Africa who are always strapped for cash, or the UN, could use the profits for environmental protection projects: to ensure the survival of elephants and rhinos and even other endangered wildlife.
Unfortunately, such a proposal was made to the UN in 2012 by Tanzania - which had stored 101 tons, but it was rejected.
Q: What is 106 tons of ivory worth in today's market?
Well, ivory in China sold for $750 US per kilogram in 2010 and was going for $2,100 US in 2014. A TRIPLE increase!!!
As 1 kilogram is equal to 1/1000 of a ton, the Kenyan collection is worth, at least $2,100,000 US.
today.
In conclusion, the mindset of individuals, organizations and the UN who all wish to protect and save elephants and rhinos needs to change. They need to learn the the last two of the Rs (which we are all supposed to follow to save the environment from human wastage).
They are trying to do the first = REDUCE, but have ignored the more practical steps of environment protection: REUSE and RECYCLE.
Yes, educate the public of the harm ivory 'hunting' does to animal populations and continue efforts to stop poachers = REDUCE.
But also follow up with a world-wide, legal market for ivory already collected and stored = REUSE and RECYCLE.
Sources:
1. Globe and Mail, April 5, 2016 A1 and A9 "From tusk to gone: burning an ivory tower".
2. https://awionline.org/awi-quarterly/2013-winter/elephant-slaughter-escalates-illegal-ivory- market-thrives
3. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/10/legal-loopholes-fuel-ivory-smuggling-in-hong-kong/
4. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jul/03/price-ivory-china-triples-elephant
