RECOGNITION AND TACKLING OF THE CURRENT ELEPHANT POACHING CATASTROPHE IN TANZANIA

BY DR. ALFRED KIKOTI (WORLD ELEPHANT CENTRE PROJECT)

Tanzania’s elephant population declined from 109,000 elephants in 2009 (TAWIRI) to the current estimate of less than 70,000 elephants in 2012.  That is at a rate of more than 10,000 elephants a year.  Estimates are that currently, 30 elephants are killed per day or 10,950 elephants will be killed in 2013. If this slaughter is allowed to continue unabated, the last of our elephants will be killed in seven years time, the year 2020. 

This wanton decimation of the country’s elephant herd will impact on the national economy (declining tourism revenues and diminished employment prospects) and the country’s reputation as a beacon of conservation in Africa.

Today’s situation is even more serious than the 1970′s to 1980′s wave of poaching, which led to Operation Uhai.  Like with operation Uhai, the GoT needs to act immediately and wilfully.  A national response as serious as Operation Uhai is needed now to defeat the well-organised and well-armed poachers and criminal gangs operating in the country.  Strategic Objective 3 (Law Enforcement) of the existing Tanzania Elephant Management Plan 2010-15 needs to be fully implemented.

Poachers need to fear that there is a high chance of arrest and conviction, but equally important is the demonstration of political will and the increased use of intelligence to identify and arrest the ivory traders in the country who are driving the poaching.  Greater security is needed at all potential exit points from the country to seize ivory. 

Simultaneously, we need to address the root cause of the current poaching vis a vis the demand for ivory from south-east Asia (especially China, Philippines, Japan and others) and the current high price of ivory.  Poachers will continue to be easily recruited from Tanzanian villages until the price comes down, which is unlikely to happen until demand reduces. To save Tanzania’s elephants, the GoT must apply more pressure on its partners in Beijing, Manila, Tokyo, Dubai and the other known points of transit and sale and delivery.  These governments need to be pressured to ban the domestic ivory trade and / or the shipment of ivory across their territories and through their ports.  Common strategies are needed to combat the trade.

In the long-term, Tanzania has the capacity to successfully protect its elephants, as it did throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. In the short-term however, western donors and governments must step up rapidly to assist Tanzania, by-passing lengthy bureaucracy to provide the extra funds, expertise and equipment required to defeat elephant poaching. And, the police and judiciary must apply the effective laws that exist.