Chronicle Editor
THE Five Sadc countries that make up the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (Kaza TFCA) have once again threatened to pull out of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) over the continued ban on trade in ivory and related products.
The Kaza TFCA is made up of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe and has a population of 227 900 elephants centred around Caprivi-Chobe-Victoria Falls corridor. Kaza is therefore home to half of the African continent’s elephant population hence should have a big say in CITES.
The CITES treaty which was adopted in 1963, regulates trade in some 36 000 species of plants and animals and provides mechanisms to help crack down on illegal trade and sanction countries that break the rules.
Kaza countries that are pushing for the lifting of the ban on ivory trade hold more than US$1 billion worth of ivory stockpiles which they argue could be sold to fund conservation projects.
In 2019, Botswana, Eswatini, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe protested against the refusal by CITES to relax restrictions on trade in ivory and rhino horn.
The Sadc countries accused CITES of turning a blind eye to African problems. They said the regulatory body was bowing to animal rights groups and therefore unreasonably prohibiting the trade of African wildlife and products rather than regulating it fairly.
Speaking at the ongoing 2024 Kaza Heads of State Summit in Livingstone, Zambia, wildlife experts said the region is convinced that the debate around ivory trade is polarised hence it is against African countries that are battling to control the ballooning elephant population. They queried why Kaza countries and the Sadc block were still members of CITES given that they were not enjoying any meaningful benefits from their membership.
It is probably time that Sadc countries take a bold decision on this issue. The countries cannot continue to be denied the right to benefit from their wildlife through selling ivory and other related products yet the same countries are expected to fund conservation projects.
Communities affected by human-wildlife conflict can only appreciate the importance of protecting wildlife if they benefit from the wildlife which at the moment is not the case because of the ban on ivory trade.
It is our hope that the Kaza Heads of State Summit will come up with a position regarding its future with CITES. Governments whose communities are affected by wildlife know how best to conserve their wildlife and should therefore, call the shots at CITES instead of the animal rights groups.
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