adminRestrictions on marketing and trade in ivory and ivory products as well as a ban on trophy hunting will not only have negative consequences for benefits accruing to Zimbabwe’s local communities but will also have a ripple effect on businesses in other areas such as the advertising, retail and hospitality industries, a top wildlife conservation official says.Campfire Association director Mr Charles Jonga told Zimpapers Syndication Services that the suggested ban on trophy hunting and ivory trade by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) will further erode earnings for local communities from US$800 000 realised last year to a significantly lower amount.
“The motivation given for the proposed ban is understood, but it will not address poaching totally,” he says. “Presently local communities are benefiting between US$1 million and US$1,5 million a year. In a good year, they can get US$2 million, but if CITES upholds the ban on elephants and lions, community earnings will plunge to depressing levels.
“Trophy hunting provides a reliable source of income for the country’s tourism industry. It’s a resilient form of tourism that we need to protect as a country. If there is no hunting for lions and elephants, tourism will be hurt badly, worse still for local communities.”
Tourism officials say Zimbabwe earns about US$25 million from trophy fees that are declared per year. Last year, the country’s tourism sector recorded a marginal three percent decline in total annual earnings to $827 million from $856 million in 2013. Wildlife experts and other environmental experts warn that if the US and other Western countries maintain a trophy ban, it will cost the country millions in tourism spend.
“Zimbabwe will stands to lose millions of dollars from the ban by Cites and the US and other Western countries which have banned trophy hunting products,” says Jonga. “If Cites presses ahead to slap a ban on lions and elephants, it will hurt the economy badly. The ban will cripple sustainable hunting and erode our earnings sharply. This has a multiplier effect for food, retail and the rest of the hospitality industry.”
Zimbabwe and a few other Sadc countries will face an uphill battle to seek approval for the sale of their ivory stocks at the forthcoming international conference on trade in endangered species which will be held in South Africa later this year due to a poaching crisis facing the region.
The demand to sell ivory is likely to be on top of the agenda for Zimbabwe and its neighbours at the 17th World Conference of Parties to Cites (COP 17) that is scheduled to take place in Johannesburg, South Africa, from September 24 to October 5, 2016.
For decades debate over sales of ivory from African elephants has focused on the benefits that income from ivory sales may bring to conservation and to local communities living side-by-side with these large and potentially dangerous animals versus concerns that such sales may encourage poaching. The fight has mainly been between those countries that have sizeable populations of elephants and want to ensure sustainable use and those countries that have already decimated their elephant populations.
Most southern African countries which include Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania and South Africa have always supported the proposal to review of the ban on trade in ivory. Sadc countries often stand nearly alone in opposing the destruction of illegal ivory stockpiles and a total ban on ivory trade among a slew of measures widely believed to combat poaching. The countries will want to press for the continuation of the development of a decision-making process for the trade in ivory.
Pressure from Western countries and others across the globe to totally ban trophy hunting and trade in ivory and ivory products has been roundly condemned by wildlife and environmental experts in Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa and Namibia.
Wildlife and environmental experts argue the proposed Cites ban will hurt and jeopardise sustainable wildlife conservation in this region which is now seen as the last range frontier for elephants, rhinos, lions and other wildlife species.
The fight by Zimbabwe and other Sadc countries is daunting this time as there is a renewed push for lions and elephants (currently in Appendix II) to be moved to Appendix I, the list for the most endangered species among Cites-listed animals and plants.
In a presentation made recently on Zimbabwe’s roadmap to CoP17, Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management acting director-general Mr Wilson Mutinhima says the country remains committed to protecting and conserving its wildlife heritage. He says the country has since adopted a battery of measures to scale up anti-poaching strategies to save the country’s wildlife resources.
“This clearly shows commitment and investment Zimbabwe has made in protecting and conserving its elephants,” Mr Mutinhima says.
Other tourism players who declined to be named say that a ban on trophy hunting and ivory trade will reverse gains that have been registered in the last few years.
“The Cites ban is still a contentious issue,” says a tour operator. “A trophy hunting ban by the US and other countries in the West is already affecting our earnings. A ban in trophy products by airlines as well as another ban ivory products means a loss of income and jobs for the country.
Zimbabwe’s international tourism sentiment standing had improved in recent years. The country improved from position 136 in 2010 to 115 out of 141 countries in 2015, according to the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index.
This has had a positive bearing on arrivals. Zimbabwe’s tourist arrivals increased by 2,6 percent to 1 880 028 in 2014 from 1 832 583 recorded the previous year, but the figure was still below the overall regional growth of seven percent.
In the first quarter of 2016, the country recorded a 16 percent increase in tourist arrivals to 450 572 compared to the same period last.
The stakes will be high for Zimbabwe and its neighbours at Cites 17. — Zimpapers Syndication Services.
“If there is no hunting and trade in ivory and ivory products, forget about wildlife survival,” says Jonga. “People will poach and they will not have any incentive to save their wildlife resources. Wildlife will not have any value at all. Photographic tourism doesn’t bring much revenue. It simply doesn’t work to the benefits of local communities.”
To fight the unprecedented spike in the illegal wildlife trade, animal and conservation groups say Cites member states will need to strengthen law enforcement and the criminal justice system, reduce demand for illegal wildlife products and support the development of sustainable livelihoods for communities affected by illegal wildlife trade.
Winning Cites approval will not be easy for Zimbabwe and a few other Sadc states desperate for revenues to boost their capacity to conserve biodiversity, strengthen enforcement controls and contribute to the livelihoods of the rural people living side-by-side with wildlife.
Stakes will be high for Zimbabwe and its neighbours at Cites 17. An ivory ban by most airlines in recent years across the world has hurt Sadc wildlife conservation programmes. A loss for Sadc will be disastrous for a region battling reduced revenue inflows from tourism, commodity markets and foreign investment. — Zimpapers Syndication Services.
Online Reporter