Leaders who don’t LEAD
Text and photograph: Ian Michler. Article from the July 2013 issue of Africa Geographic Magazine.
While the poaching of rhinos and elephants continues to escalate across Africa, the continent’s political leaders continue to keep silent. It’s time, suggests Ian Michler, for international agencies to take action against the plunder of Africa’s natural heritage.
Reports detailing the loss of rhinos and elephants to the guns of poaching gangs across Africa appear in the media almost every day. And while the numbers are horrendous enough, it’s the fact that the killing fields are spreading that is raising levels of concern. Poaching incidents are being recorded in nearly every country that still has populations of these two iconic species.
We don’t need any more statistics to tell us that the situation has reached crisis proportions; biologists and conservationists are already talking about ‘tipping points’ for both species. But – and this is the crux – recognising the crisis at a national or even continental level is not enough. It must also be recognised at a global level, and the assistance and cooperation of the outside world and its conservation agencies must be upgraded to reflect this.
While it’s true that Africans are heavily involved in the killings, this continent and its inhabitants have little to do with the demand for ivory and horn that drives the major black markets. We now know only too well that nearly all the rhino horn is going to countries in the Far East and that ivory is destined mostly for these markets too, with some finding its way into Europe, the US and other regions. It’s not as if these products have any strategic value, or that African countries support the off-take. No, Africa’s heritage is being looted by criminal syndicates to feed the habits – based mostly on pure nonsense and misinformation – and anachronistic rituals of foreign nations.
I cannot imagine that any of the user countries, some of which are regional super-powers, would ever allow their natural resources to be plundered in the same way – or that they would not be using every international lever available to them to address the situation.
Yet the African governments affected seem to be either disinterested in or wary of voicing within global political and economic corridors their objections to the pillage. These are international crimes and the world needs to know that. What’s more, there is a strong case for those responsible to be prosecuted in international courts.
South African politicians, for example, have had numerous opportunities to stand up for their country’s wildlife heritage. Instead, all we hear is a meek mention or a shameful silence. And that shame is compounded when the same government sees fit to send troops to protect shady dealers and the political interests of dictators in faraway lands rather than our own rhinos and elephants. Yes, it has a low-key agreement with its Vietnamese counterpart that covers rhino poaching. It’s a start that deserves acknowledgement and congratulation, but there is nothing in it that requires Vietnam to make any firm commitments or to accept responsibility for its role in the slaughter to date.
The African governments affected seem to be wary of voicing within global political and economic corridors their objections to the pillage
Other African countries are similarly muted. At times we hear feeble mumblings from the likes of Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique, but not one of them has raised the alarm in defence of their elephants and rhinos.
Part of the African apathy no doubt stems from the significant – and growing – economic and political influence China has on this continent, an influence that has spun a web of compromise around governments. They avoid speaking out against this benefactor for fear that the trade agreements, soft loans, hand outs and other financial perks that flow from the East would be pulled.
Where are the international agencies in this situation? Why does CITES, for example, continue merely to stand by and keep score of the carnage? The end-user nations are members of this organisation – one that is dedicated to conservation, let’s not forget – so there must surely be effective and visionary ways to deal with them and their appetite for poached ivory and rhino horn? The least CITES could do is to stop sending out mixed messages as it alternates between trade and no-trade policies.
Likewise the UN. Is it not obligated to deal with attacks such as these against the environment? Where are the lawyers and inspectors belonging to the UN-linked crime agencies? There is growing evidence that elephant and rhino poaching in Africa is allied to other global rings, such as the arms trade, terrorism and drug trafficking. China is irrefutably a main player and could so easily act locally to close the ivory trade at least, but has the nation become too powerful to be pressurised? Or do the UN’s principal members remain focused only on issues that impact their vested interests?
This state of affairs is best summed up in another crisis facing this continent and, indeed, the entire globe: that of chronically poor and short-sighted leadership.
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