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In his 2004 book What I Tell You Three Times is True Ian Parker had a whole chapter titled
CITES – THE UNWORKABLE TREATY. The acronym CITES stands for The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna
and Flora. It was first signed in 1973 by representatives of 51 nations and
by 1979 there were 527 listed species. In 2004 Ian wrote “Now, after an orgy of silliness, over 50,000 plant and animal species
are on CITES lists, each having to be recognized by its scientific name...”
By 2013 178 nations had signed on. The is one problem, as Ian wrote. Nobody seems to have calculated the financial cost of this unwieldy bureaucracy.
Ian had been a game warden in
the very early days of the Kenya Game Department and wrote several books about
the country’s wildlife. He was particularly knowledgeable about elephants and
wrote two books about them and their tusks, so coveted by humans through the
ages. The first, in 1983, was Ivory
Crisis, co-authored with the wonderful photographer Mohamed Amin. Twenty-one years later came “Three Times”, with its subtitle Conservation,
Ivory, History and Politics. That just about covers anything one can think
of to do with Ivory.
It is not as if Ian was an
outside observer of CITES. He was commissioned to study the ivory trade in 1979
and wrote a detailed report about his findings. He had attended CITES meetings
in 1981 and 1983 as a representative of legitimate ivory traders. He came away
from those meetings gravely disillusioned and wrote of the 1983 gathering that
“the only thing of use to come out of the
conference was the green plastic briefcase with the CITES logo (the copyright
for which was paid for by the ivory traders).”
There is a newish wrinkle to
the elephant story. The trading of ivory has become big business. If the many recent
posts on the subject are right ivory (along with a wide range of other wildlife
products) has joined the ranks of drugs, weapons, and human trafficking as a
“matter of interest” to organized crime.
As any who follow the
elephant and ivory story are well aware the recent CITES meeting in Bangkok
produced a less than firm result on the ivory trade and matters concerning
elephant conservation. If there we any positives they were about the testing of
ivory for DNA, which can give an accurate picture of its source.
There are several articles
and blogs in major outlets such as Nature,
The Scientific American,
The online Guardian, The New York Times
and social media sites such as Facebook,
Linkedin and Twitter.
This one, from a TV station
out of New York called New Tang Dynasty (NTD) headlined China’s Demand for Ivory Fueling
Elephant Poaching was particularly interesting because it claims many
Chinese people believe that ivory falls out and can be collected, a bit like
deer antler. NTD with correspondents in
over 70 cities world-wide has a mission “to
bring truthful and uncensored information into and out of China; to restore and
promote traditional Chinese culture; and to facilitate mutual understanding
between the East and West.”
Reporter, film maker and
activist Bryan Christy posted a remarkable letter, dated March 7th 2013 and signed by Robert Hepworth, the former chair of
the CITES standing committee on elephants and ivory trade. It was sent to every
delegate at the Bangkok meeting and opened with “I write to you to express my deep concern about the crisis facing
elephants and the discussions and negotiations in Bangkok.” He goes on to
urge them to “implement an urgent,
indefinite and comprehensive ban on ivory trade including domestic markets.”
So, was a ban forthcoming?
The simple answer is No. As one on-line forum
put it in an article titled CITES:
Rhetoric and tiptoeing around elephant poaching. “The actual
outcome was far short of what was expected and, indeed, what was needed to
secure the fate of elephants.”
In what was clearly a
cop-out, or some sort of milk-sop compromise the delegates warned eight
countries to watch their step. Damian Carrington of the Guardian wrote “Stop Ivory Poaching or Face
Sanctions, nations warned at CITES.” These are countries where ivory grows: Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda; countries
through which ivory is smuggled: Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines; and
destination countries: Thailand and China. The threat of sanctions are more or less a political “stand in
the corner you naughty child” response from the bad old days of primary school.
With
its huge carving industry, including government-sponsored factories, China is
not like to do more than pay lip service to any such “warning.” As they flex
their mighty economic muscles in so many fields I cannot see them taking any
meaningful notice of the CITES position. Thailand’s Prime Minister made a
statement that at first appeared to support the ban, but Bryan Christy tweeted the
following that tells a different story: Thai PM did NOT commit to end ALL ivory trade according to
this #cites doc. Only ILLEGAL trade pic.twitter.com/fONfeNvTNg
It may be that the CITES
members were scared off by terrifyingly powerful crime syndicates, cow-towing to
the might of the Chinese or perhaps they were simply re-enforcing Parker’s
assertion about an unworkable treaty.
There are some bright spots
in this sorry tale, but they have not yet become incandescent. People in Kenya
have begun to realize that without elephants their tourist industry will take a
hammering. There have been street rallies in Nairobi and at least one member of
the public has garnered news headlines with his long walks.
Perhaps the brightest of all
appears in a brief but inspiring segment of the National Geographic film Battle
for the Elephants. Richard Bonham, who owns a safari lodge in the
Chyulu hills, right next to Amboseli National Park founded the Big LifeFoundation. It was
not Bonham’s first venture into conservation. He has been closely involved with
lion conservation for some years. From all appearances he used the successful
model of employing local Masai people to protect the lions into a similar
program for elephants. In the movie he describes how 280 rangers are employed
and gives statistics on the carnage, comparing the loss of 16 elephants in 18
months under his scheme with the 30 per day in Tanzania.
On the other hand a smooth
and urbane minister in the Tanzanian government
denied any knowledge of illegal ivory sales and stated it would be
“impossible.” He was being interviewed by Aidan
Hartley for that same National Geographic film. He expressed shock and was “really surprised” when Hartley
came back and showed him how easy it had been to find illegal vendors and set
up a purchase.
It will take street
activists, like those walkers in Nairobi, to get action at the supply end. At
the consumer end one can only hope that stars like Yao Ming and young people like CeliaHo, about whom I have written before, will be heard. Celia has to juggle school studies (she is 14) but is active on Facebook. I have other
ivory-related blogs as well.
Both Aidan Hartley and Bryan
Christy tried to give a positive spin on their grim story and Hartley ended
with this statement.
“We shouldn’t give up hope, but it is a race against time. Because at
the moment we’re losing elephant populations at such a fast rate that by the
time the Chinese middle classes wake up, by the time that they’ve stopped
buying all this stuff, it’ll be too late.
Christy hopes to return to
China in twenty years and shake hands with the people he met during his
undercover assignment.
With organized crime in the
game I am not optimistic.
