Why China’s ivory trade ban shouldn’t wait till year-end

Elephants roam freely in Tanzanian wilderness. A hastened ban on ivory trade by China will go a long in saving the elephants who are threatened with extinction thanks to commercial poaching. PHOTO | FILE

What you need to know:

  • This announcement was well received by many countries in the world much as its decision to ban ivory trade in China was not immediate.
  • But as a country long known to be one of leading markets for ivory in the world, countries like Tanzania, which have for many years been heavily affected by poaching had reason to heave a sigh of relief.

A few days before the world celebrated the end of 2016, the Chinese government announced its decision to ban ivory trade by the end of 2017.

This announcement was well received by many countries in the world much as its decision to ban ivory trade in China was not immediate.

But as a country long known to be one of leading markets for ivory in the world, countries like Tanzania, which have for many years been heavily affected by poaching had reason to heave a sigh of relief.

Tanzania which should today should be boasting a population of at least 300,000, elephants, has only 45,000, the most affected area being the Selous Game Reserve which is the biggest reserve in the world.

Indeed, the 55,000sqkm game reserve is bigger than Rwanda (26,000sq) and Burundi (27,000sqkm) which together bring a total of 53,000sqkm.

It is instructive to note that in 1976, the Selous Game Reserve had 110,000 elephants. However, thanks to industrial poaching, by 2014 the elephant population dropped to 15,000!

It was due to the pristine nature of the Selous Game Reserve, which was teeming with all kinds of wild animals, that included the Selous’ main characteristic that set it apart from other reserves and national parks in the country: massive herds of elephants, rhino and wild dogs, that gave Tanzania the confidence build its case before Unesco’s World Heritage Committee, that the Selous earns the status of World Heritage Site.

Tanzania government’s request was granted in 1982. However, after the unleashing of industrial poaching on the Selous that led to the decimation of the elephant population from 110,000 to 15,000, in 2014 the Unesco put the reserve into the list of endangered World Heritage Sites.

The significance of the Chinese government’s decision to ban ivory trade by the end of this year lies in the fact that, much as there are other far east Asian countries known to be very much involved in ivory trade, China has the largest number of ivory carving factories.

In fact, available statistics indicate that the biggest factory in the world churning out various products made from ivory is in China.

What has for many years made China’s involvement in ivory business extremely bad for the continued survival of African elephants has been the presence of the country’s big internal market for ivory products.

Products made in Chinese factories using ivory as raw material are consumed by China’s growing middle class who are in their millions.

Given the existing huge market for ivory products in China, nothing would have helped in making the Chinese government’s decision more meaningful to the world, and Tanzania in particular, than immediate ban on ivory trade in China.

The Chinese government’s decision to effect the ban by the end of this year is likely to lead to two, ugly developments:

One, it would fuel, quite considerably, poaching as those involved would want to make a kill before the ban comes to effect. Secondly, the delay in the ban of ivory trade inside China by one year, would fuel demand for ivory that would in turn lead to increased prices for ivory.

Increase in ivory prices would be such that it would be extremely difficult for countries like Tanzania to protect its remaining herds.

To understand why China government’s decision to delay the ban in ivory trade until the end of this year would be catastrophic to elephant range countries like Tanzania, consider the following:

We feel that continued existence of China’s ivory market until the end of this year would lure poachers into hunting the jumbo with greater enthusiasm.

In a nutshell, if China really wants to protect the continued existence of elephants in the world, then it must immediately ban ivory trade inside China now rather than delay the ban until the end of this year.

Mr Tagalile is an author and media consultant based in Dar es Salaam.

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