Namibia reaps rewards for thwarting elephant poachers
Thursday, June 21, 2007
THE tall elephant bull carefully setting one foot after the other as he climbs down the rocky mountain is a majestic proof of Namibia's success in combatting poaching which is now yielding its rewards.
The bull follows a narrow path in the remote northwestern Kaokoland area, paved along the slopes by generations of elephants centuries ago.
Here, Namibia's famous desert elephants roam freely in the country's last wilderness as they cross sandy rivers and walk to mountain tops in order to cool off in the midday heat.
Namibia is now home to some 12,000 elephants. Sound conservation since independence in 1990 has led to a doubling of their figures in the last 20 years, reversing the damage previously wrought by heavy poaching.
Its success has been so marked that the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites), which wrapped up a two-week conference in The Hague last Thursday, has allowed it to conduct a sale of ivory along with three other countries — Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
All the stocks are ivory collected from elephants that died a natural death.
"We must still decide if this will be done via an auction as we did in 1999 or if we organise several sales," said Deputy Environment and Tourism Minister Leon Jooste.
"An auction will fetch higher prices, which would be welcome, since all the funds generated through the sales must be used exclusively for elephant conservation and community development within the elephant range," he told AFP.
The Cites forum, which also approved a landmark nine-year ban on the international trade in ivory, heard from wildlife experts how 20,000 elephants are killed internationally by poachers each year.
But according to Malan Lindeque, permanent secretary in Namibia's environment and tourism ministry, controlled and limited ivory trade can keep Africa's elephant populations stable and sustainable.
"Our ministry supports suggestions by the Cites secretariat and others that a controlled legal supply of ivory will help to reduce poaching and illegal trading," he told AFP from The Hague.
A small niche market for traditional ivory jewellery of Namibia's northern Ukwanyama tribe will also benefit from the Cites decision.
An ekipa is a large, traditional hand-carved button made from ivory with ornamental patterns burnt with a knife into the top surface by craftsmen of the Ukwanyma tribe, which straddles the borders of Namibia and Angola.
Ekipas are worn by Ukwanyma women as status symbols around the neck and on leather belts.
"The ekipas as handed down from mother to daughter and are kept in the families since many generations," says Shifeta Nghiwete, who carves and sells ekipas on the street markets of Windhoek.
But Nghiwete and his fellow craftsmen are operating on illegal terrain. In October 2004, Cites allowed Namibia to trade in ekipas which are individually marked and certified and incorporated in finished jewellery for non-commercial purposes.
Namibian authorities promised to set up a certification and registration system, but have not yet implemented it, according to a study published last month in time for the Cites meeting.
"The certificates and registers were not implemented and we found no evidence of controls," said the study by the British-based David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation.
AFP
The bull follows a narrow path in the remote northwestern Kaokoland area, paved along the slopes by generations of elephants centuries ago.
Here, Namibia's famous desert elephants roam freely in the country's last wilderness as they cross sandy rivers and walk to mountain tops in order to cool off in the midday heat.
Namibia is now home to some 12,000 elephants. Sound conservation since independence in 1990 has led to a doubling of their figures in the last 20 years, reversing the damage previously wrought by heavy poaching.
Its success has been so marked that the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites), which wrapped up a two-week conference in The Hague last Thursday, has allowed it to conduct a sale of ivory along with three other countries — Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
All the stocks are ivory collected from elephants that died a natural death.
"We must still decide if this will be done via an auction as we did in 1999 or if we organise several sales," said Deputy Environment and Tourism Minister Leon Jooste.
"An auction will fetch higher prices, which would be welcome, since all the funds generated through the sales must be used exclusively for elephant conservation and community development within the elephant range," he told AFP.
The Cites forum, which also approved a landmark nine-year ban on the international trade in ivory, heard from wildlife experts how 20,000 elephants are killed internationally by poachers each year.
But according to Malan Lindeque, permanent secretary in Namibia's environment and tourism ministry, controlled and limited ivory trade can keep Africa's elephant populations stable and sustainable.
"Our ministry supports suggestions by the Cites secretariat and others that a controlled legal supply of ivory will help to reduce poaching and illegal trading," he told AFP from The Hague.
A small niche market for traditional ivory jewellery of Namibia's northern Ukwanyama tribe will also benefit from the Cites decision.
An ekipa is a large, traditional hand-carved button made from ivory with ornamental patterns burnt with a knife into the top surface by craftsmen of the Ukwanyma tribe, which straddles the borders of Namibia and Angola.
Ekipas are worn by Ukwanyma women as status symbols around the neck and on leather belts.
"The ekipas as handed down from mother to daughter and are kept in the families since many generations," says Shifeta Nghiwete, who carves and sells ekipas on the street markets of Windhoek.
But Nghiwete and his fellow craftsmen are operating on illegal terrain. In October 2004, Cites allowed Namibia to trade in ekipas which are individually marked and certified and incorporated in finished jewellery for non-commercial purposes.
Namibian authorities promised to set up a certification and registration system, but have not yet implemented it, according to a study published last month in time for the Cites meeting.
"The certificates and registers were not implemented and we found no evidence of controls," said the study by the British-based David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation.
AFP
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