Poaching accord signed as world agrees to fight wildlife crime

From left: Britain’s Prince Harry, Prince William and Prince Charles and British Foreign Secretary William Hague attend the Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference at Lancaster House in London on February 13, 2014. Photo/AFP 

By JOINT REPORT The EastAfrican

Posted  Saturday, February 15  2014 at  19:03

In Summary

• The countries have also outlawed any government procurement or use of products from species threatened with extinction.
• From the declaration, poaching and related wildlife crimes will now be treated as serious crimes under the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime. Poachers previously received lenient penalties in many African countries. 

Forty-six states have declared poaching and trafficking in wildlife trophy serious organised crimes, now in the same category as drugs, arms and people trafficking.

The countries have also outlawed any government procurement or use of products from species threatened with extinction.

This is part of a declaration made during the high-level Illegal Wildlife Trade conference, held in London last week, to discuss how to adopt a joint international anti-poaching effort.

From the declaration, poaching and related wildlife crimes will now be treated as serious crimes under the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime. Poachers previously received lenient penalties in many African countries.

Held in Lancaster House, the international conference aimed at exploring how to end the $10 billion illegal trade in wildlife products that has led to severe decline of wildlife and threatened the extinction of endangered species.

READ: Wildlife slaughter: The world is facing a crisis today

Among those who addressed the participants was Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague, who said poaching in Africa will not end until all countries affected work together to bring it to an end.

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, as well as the presidents of Chad, Gabon and Botswana were in attendance. In addition, the conference was attended by ministers and officials who discussed the issues surrounding the escalation in poaching across Africa and Asia over the past three years.

China, which together with Thailand and Vietnam are accused of forming the bulk of the illegal market, was also represented. Like other countries, Beijing committed, for the first time, to renounce the use of any products from species threatened from extinction.

Part of the Agreement included securing the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) commercial prohibition on international trade in ivory, until the survival of elephants in the wild is no longer threatened by poaching.

The Declaration was produced after the day-long conference in which delegates addressed the scale of the problem and came up with a framework for action on corruption and money laundering as well as ensuring effective deterrents.

Some of the rich industrial states, including Canada, pledged to bankroll what was termed “capacity building” in African and Asian countries where poaching is most severe, to enable law enforcement agencies and wildlife rangers to better tackle poaching.

The delegates were clear that poaching had not only created an environmental crisis, it is now a transnational crime involving well-oiled syndicates that have the wherewithal to beat law enforcement agencies.

Poaching was also linked to global terrorism. “There is also anecdotal evidence that shows how insurgent or terrorist groups could benefit from the trade. Therefore tackling it would build growth, enhance the rule of law, increase stability and embed good governance,” Mr Hague added.

Stopping poaching and other wildlife crimes, the speakers said, requires joint international effort and political will. The Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, urged world leaders to target organised poaching gangs directly and take back their “ill-gotten gains.”

At the conference, it emerged that demand for trophies of endangered species had shot up making the illegal trade extremely lucrative.

The demand emanates largely from an increasingly affluent Asian middle class, particularly in China and Vietnam, and has driven the price of rhino horn to more than $60,000 per kg — more than the price of gold and cocaine — and ivory to around $2,000 per kg.

Tanzania, which has the second highest number of elephants in Africa, has suffered the brunt of the ongoing escalation in international poaching activities.

Media reports show that Dar es Salaam has been losing 30 elephants a day, or nearly 11,000 a year. There are fears that if concrete steps are not taken, Tanzania’s elephants could become extinct within seven years.

READ: Dar, Nairobi to urge pressure on ivory-buying states

Besides Tanzania, five other African countries — most in central Africa — are said to have lost 65 per cent of their forest elephant population between 2002 and 2011, with Gabon experiencing the biggest losses. South Africa lost more than 1,000 rhinos to poachers in 2013, a 46 per cent increase from the year before, and up from just 13 in 2007.

Some 23 conservation and animal welfare groups from Asia, Europe, and North America called for a ban on both domestic and international trade in ivory, as well as the destruction of stockpiles. International ivory trade was banned in 1989, but some is allowed, including domestic trade in China.

By Paul Redfern and John Mbaria