Posted on August, 04 2016

If you just scan the headlines, it’s hard to imagine that there is any hope for Africa’s elephants amid the ongoing slaughter. But dig a little deeper and there have been indications for a while that global efforts are starting to pay off.  Indeed, that the worst of the poaching crisis might be behind us, writes Dr Carlos Drews, WWF Interim Wildlife Practice Leader.

The latest independent data and analysis certainly suggests that we might have passed the peak, with poaching rates down from their highest levels in 2011 and illegal ivory trading also lower than it was in 2012 and 2013.
 
Coming from the two most authoritative tracking programmes – the Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) and the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) both of which operate under the auspices of the Convention on Illegal Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora (CITES) – these figures are cause for cautious optimism.
 
As are a host of other small signs of change and progress from countries all along the illegal trade chain – signs that are easily missed in the torrent of doom and gloom and exaggerated claims about ‘elephants going extinct within a generation’. But signs that nevertheless point to something significant beginning to happen.
 
Increased patrols and better training for rangers are helping to strengthen the frontline defences against poachers. Meanwhile, law enforcement agencies are finally beginning to target the next level – the traffickers and ivory kingpins, who have operated with impunity for so long.
 
Just two weeks ago, the infamous ivory trafficker Mohamed Feisal was sentenced to 20 years in jail in Kenya, while the alleged ‘Queen of Ivory’ sits in prison awaiting trial across the border in Tanzania.
 
And while the conviction of Feisal has been widely celebrated, the manner of his arrest is just as indicative of changing times as his guilty verdict: he was picked up in Tanzania after the Kenyan government appealed to INTERPOL to issue a Red Notice identifying him as one of the world’s most wanted environmental criminals, which civil society organizations then helped to publicise.
 
These new kinds of partnerships and collaborations between NGOs, governments and international institutions are starting to change the game.
 
So are efforts in the main consumer countries. While the EU has long had a very restrictive ivory trade regime, many people will have heard about the US imposing strict new regulations in July and, even more importantly, China and Hong Kong pledging to phase out their domestic ivory markets. But few know that Thailand has regulated its ivory trade for the first time – even if implementation has been slow – or about all the work that has been done to reduce demand for ivory in Asia and tackle illegal sales.
 
Did you know that two of the biggest online companies in China – Alibaba and Tencent – have pledged zero tolerance to wildlife crime and are working to prevent illegal ivory sales on their sites? Or that courier companies accounting for 95% of the market in China have joined the bandwagon? Or that artists and collectors there are being encouraged to seek alternative materials to ivory?
 
Or that there is now a freely available toolkit that organizations interested in changing consumer behaviour can use to enhance their campaigns? Just like there is now a freely available toolkit of best practices to achieve zero poaching.
 
Momentum is now building up at the international level with the whole world uniting against wildlife crime with the adoption of an historic UN General Assembly resolution. Reducing poaching is a specific outcome in the Sustainable Development Goals. Africa has a continental strategy to combat wildlife trafficking.
 
Meanwhile, new money and innovative technologies – from drones to DNA analysis – are being thrown at the crisis.
 
WWF and TRAFFIC have played a key role in this transformation through the Illegal Wildlife Trade campaign in 2012-13 and the ongoing work of the Wildlife Crime Initiative – by raising awareness and generating political momentum; catalyzing change and driving new initiatives; collaborating with governments, NGOs and the private sector; and using our influence at the global, regional and national levels.
 
But none of this implies that we are near the end of the elephant poaching crisis. Tens of thousands of elephants continue to be killed each year. It is still unsustainably high and threatens the survival of Central Africa forest elephants and savannah elephant populations in parts of East and Southern Africa.
 
Which is why the 17^th CITES Conference of the Parties (CoP) starting in September in South Africa is so critical. There are a raft of elephant and ivory motions up for debate and leaders from across the world have the opportunity to build on the progress made in recent years.
 
However, WWF is concerned that discussion on the central issues could be derailed. There is already too much focus on three controversial elephant listing proposals – to allow Namibia and Zimbabwe to resume ivory trading or to formalize the current de facto ban on international ivory trade.

We do not support any of these proposals and feel that they will only serve to fuel a divisive debate that would split Africa at a time when it desperately needs to come together to solve this crisis and divert attention away from measures that are needed to deal with the fundamental issues behind the illegal ivory trade – corruption, inadequate laws and lack of enforcement in countries along the illegal trade chain, and rampant demand in Asia.

At successive CITES CoPs, the issue of countries identified as playing a role in illegal ivory trade has received inadequate attention because the deliberations have been monopolized by similar listings proposals. But at the last CoP in Bangkok in 2013, all such proposals were withdrawn and much more attention was given to the issue of those countries whose inadequate implementation of CITES rules was contributing to illegal ivory trade, resulting in the development of the National Ivory Action Plan (NIAP) process – under which 19 African and Asian countries were required to take timebound action to address gaps in their legislation and enforcement or face sanctions.
 
This process is absolutely central to global efforts to stop the poaching and the trafficking, and reduce demand for ivory, and is now beginning to yield results. But all these gains could be lost if CITES does not continue to prioritise this approach and strengthen the monitoring of these countries’ implementation of their ivory action plans.
 
Ideally, the three elephant listing proposals would be withdrawn, paving the way for constructive debate on issues that will help tackle elephant poaching and illegal ivory trade – so that the world will look back on CITES CoP17 as another critical step towards ending the elephant poaching crisis