On April 30th, 105 tonnes of elephant and rhino
ivory were stacked in 11 pyres, along with a collection of elaborate
statues and carvings. Photographs
of the macabre scene show the slowly blackening tusks and flames towering over
park rangers, who were forced, even then, to guard the pyres from poachers. The largest ivory burn in history, it represented just 5% of global
ivory stock. Although this is a small percentage it is shocking, as it equates to the deaths of
an estimated 6,700 elephants, slaughtered just for their tusks.
This historical statement against the trade took place as a
result of The Giants Club summit, which involved the African presidents from Botswana,
Gabon, Uganda and Kenya. These regions hold more than half of Africa’s
elephants. Kenya’s president Uhuru
Kenyatta stated during the ceremony:
“Ivory is worthless, unless it is on our elephants”. The ceremony was
observed by conservationists, park rangers and regional government members, who
had come to show their support for the cause.
There has been criticism as to whether this momentous symbol
of defiance will work to dissuade poachers, as we have seen similar action being taken before. In 1989 the Convention on
International Trade of Endangered Species officially banned the commercial trade
of elephant ivory. In order to commemorate the ban, 12 tonnes of ivory were burnt in Nairobi National Park. The event obviously did not deter poachers from
the trade, however, as the number of ivory that has been seized in the following
years has grown significantly.
While the aim of the ivory stock burn was to send a message
to poachers that their illegal trade will no longer be tolerated, some activists
are concerned that the matter may not have been dealt with correctly. They feel that this great protest has only increased the rarity of ivory, the consequence of which
will be an increase in commercial value. Therefore, instead of discouraging poachers,
they will now continue to pursue more elephants for their tusks.
I was interested to
see how people had reacted to the chilling coverage of the story. While many
shared their disgust at the reminder of how many elephants have been lost to poaching,
others shared their exasperation that the ivory that had been destroyed was a ‘waste’,
suggesting that it could have been sold instead in order to get funding for
conservation.
Andrea Crosta, the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the
Elephant Action League, very kindly provided his views towards this particular
critique. He states that the idea is “flawed at the very root, as it assumes that
ivory is a sustainable commodity that follows common market rules. It’s not
sustainable at all and the “market” is […] a criminal enterprise.”
According to Crosta, the “legal domestic ivory market in China
(and Hong Kong) is the single most important factor behind the current elephant
poaching crisis”
This is due to the fact that in 2008 CITES approved a “one-off auction of legal ivory to
China". The aim of this was to lessen the demand, however it caused the opposite. "It was a terrible mistake," says Crosta, "Any injection of ivory in the market,
legal or illegal, fuels the demand."
While this massive disposal of ivory may illuminate the tragic waste of life and create a longing for some good to come from it, we should stand by the only solution, as perfectly summarised by Andrea Crosta: “the only intelligent
thing you can do is to destroy it, sending a very clear message – the only way
to save the elephant is not to give any commercial value to ivory.”
