Elephants Never Forget. So Why Can’t CITES?

“Earlier, 100,000 elephants lived in Kenya and we didn’t have any noteworthy problem with that. The problem that we have is not that there are now more elephants.”

— Richard Leakey

Here we go again. 

Ever since paleoanthropologist and then-head of Kenya’s Dept., of Wildlife Conservation and Management Richard Leakey famously burned 10 tons of confiscated ivory in October, 1989 — just weeks prior to a CITES meeting that would decide whether to include the elephant on its global list of endangered species — the ivory lobby has sought to overturn the ban on trade in ivory.

And guess what’s back on the agenda at CITES’ once-every-three-years meeting, happening right now, through Aug. 28, in Zurich, Switzerland?

A number of southern African countries, led by Zimbabwe, want to sell their stockpiled ivory — worth an estimated USD $300 million — ostensibly to raise funds for conservation, though given the state of Zimbabwe’s economy, and that government’s tenuous relationship with good governance, no one really believes that.

Botswana, traditionally a safe haven for Africa’s otherwise beleaguered wild elephants, recently incurred the wrath of the international conservation community by lifting its ban on trophy hunting for elephants; the CITES ban on trade in ivory was still in effect, however, and remains so. For the time being.

That may change.

Conservation groups’ nerves are frayed in Zurich right now because just days ago CITES — shorthand for the torturously labeled United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora — lifted the ban on the sale of stockpiled rhino horn in South Africa, again ostensibly to raise funds for the conservation of rhinos.

The problem with elephants is that, right now and depending on who you talk to, there are too many elephants in too small a space in countries like Botswana and Zimbabwe, but too few elephants in once wildlife-rich, tourism-dependent countries like Kenya and Tanzania.

“Why should we have to suffer,” one Namibia farmer and lodge operator told me angrily, a number of years back, “because East Africa can’t handle its poaching problem?”

Even with the ban, elephants face an uncertain future. As recently as five years ago, according to a study by the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, some 100 African elephants were being killed every day for their tusks. Today, the Worldwide Fund for Wildlife (WWF) estimates just 415,000 wild elephants remain in Africa. That seems like a large number when one considers that possibly fewer than 10,000 cheetahs remain on the entire planet — but the elephant is a herd animal, remember, not a solitary predator. Sometimes, too, it’s not the total number that tells the story so much as how quickly that number has crashed. Forty years ago, there were more than a million wild elephants. In just 10 years, between 1979 and 1989, the elephant population crashed more than half, from 1.3 million to 600,000.

Despite a promise by China that it would halt ivory-related commerce by the end of 2017, the illegal trade persists. The market is still there.

Ivory is valued for its quality and malleability in high-end, expensive carvings. It’s a status symbol throughout China and  Southeast Asia, owing to its uniquely, close-grained texture, adhesive hardness, mellow colour and pleasing smoothness. 

Ivory is infinitely better — and so more sought-after — than any 

chemical compound or substance created in a lab. Imitation ivory, unlike, say, imitation leather, is virtually unheard of.

How you feel about the ban depends largely on who you choose to believe. 

Conservationists, non-governmental organizations and a handful of African countries, such as Kenya, argue that the ban feeds public awareness of the need to protect one of the world’s most engaging, iconic animals, and sends a message to poachers that they’ll face stiff fines and prison sentences if they’re ever caught.

The ban’s critics argue that a ban has the opposite effect: It feeds the perception that ivory has near-priceless value, because it’s both rare and illegal. Extending the ban on international trade in ivory, they argue, will only further hurt those countries that are already struggling with poverty.

The original ban was enacted in 1990 — just weeks after Leakey’s ivory burn — and proved effective for about 10 years. Starting in 1997, though, CITES granted one-time-only exceptions to Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia to sell a limited amount of ivory.

The effect on wild elephant populations was immediate and dramatic, and not in a good way. Illegal trafficking tripled between 1998 and 2011.

The trouble is that when some ivory is legal and other ivory isn’t, it’s impossible to tell the two apart, let alone enforce laws that keep changing every three years, every time CITES meets.

Worse, once you establish a legal market for a supposedly illegal commodity in one part of the world, the rest of the world can be forgiven for asking why it shouldn’t be legal in their part of the world, too.

The result is, quite simply, a mess.

You would think that, with the evidence of 1998-2011 staring them straight in the face, CITES delegates would get it into their heads by now that one-time-only exceptions to the ivory ban just won’t work, and in fact have the opposite effect. When illegal trafficking triples in a 12-year period, something is clearly amiss somewhere.

They say elephants never forget. So why can’t CITES delegates do the same?

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World Elephant Day: Cloudy Future for World's Largest Land Animal

“Of all African animals, the elephant is the most difficult for man to live with, yet its passing — if this must come — seems the most tragic of all. I can watch elephants, and elephants alone, for hours at a time, for sooner or later the elephant will do something very strange such as mow grass with its toenails or draw the tusks from the rotted carcass of another elephant and carry them off into the bush. There is mystery behind that masked grey visage, and ancient life force, delicate and mighty, awesome and enchanted, commanding the silence ordinarily reserved for mountain peaks, great fires, and the sea.”

— Peter Matthiessen, The Tree Where Man Was Born

Elephants are familiar, majestic, sociable and — like so many wild creatures we share planet Earth with — in trouble.

The threats are the usual suspects but, increasingly, the deepening climate crisis is having a growing and disproportionate effect, owing to drought, famine and overpopulation, exacerbated by overconsumption. 

In areas where elephants still cling to much of their former range — Botswana’s Chobe National Park and the marshlands of Botswana’s Okavango delta, a new, unexpected problem has presented itself: Too many elephants, crowded into too small an area. Already-large elephant herds are growing larger, which in turn is putting more strain on what precious little tree cover and water resources remain.

It’s World Elephant Day today.

That would normally be a day for celebration. As with World Lion Day a few days ago, though, the 2019 edition is more appropriately a day of reflection than a day to celebrate.

It’s a day to reflect on the things that make elephants unique, that give us wonder and joy, and give those who’ve dedicated their lives — and in some cases given their lives — the energy and determination to dig down even deeper.

This World Elephant Day, it’s worth noting that, in addition to being amazing animals, elephants actually make life better for us, often in surprising ways. The conservation NGO Human Nature and the filmmakers behind the documentary My Africa recently singled out four ways.

Elephants plant trees and help fight climate change.

Recent studies show that elephants help protect forests by distributing the seeds of trees. Because they roam over such wide distances, elephants play a key role in spreading tree seedlings. 

Scientists have documented lower tree diversity in forests that have lost elephants. Keeping forests healthy ensures trees continue to store carbon in their trunks, roots and soil, which in turn helps reduce the effects of climate change.

Protecting elephants reinforces local safety and security. 

Poaching and wildlife trafficking undermine the safety of local villages by provoking violence between hunters and communities. At numerous conservancies throughout Africa, such as Kenya’s Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, rangers are trained, credentialed police reservists, who respond to both wildlife and non-wildlife crimes in the area.

Elephants don’t just look after elephants. 

Elephants are engineers. They push over trees, which encourages the growth of grasslands. They excavate waterholes and fertilize the soil, which helps other animals survive. They call it the circle of life for a reason.

Elephants generate much-needed tourist revenue.

A thriving tourist trade enables elephants to bring in money for local communities. A study estimated the tourism value of a single elephant at $1.6 million USD throughout its lifetime.

There’s a reason Botswana remains southern Africaʼs most prosperous country, despite the recent lifting of the ban on trophy hunting. Tourism — most of it centred in the countryʼs verdant, wildlife-rich northwestern corridor — accounts for about 10% of the countryʼs economy. That figure has only grown as Botswana’s reputation as a safe, high-end travel destination has strengthened.

The crisis facing the world’s remaining wild elephants may be dire this World Elephant Day, but if Botswana’s past experience proves anything, it’s that there’s a reason for hope — however small.

©Alex Strachan - David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

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