Is the African Elephant Winning Its Battle for Survival?

The African elephant is dying. Each year their numbers shrink by around 8%, because more

elephants are being killed by poachers than are being born each year (Aulakh). It doesn’t help that

African forest elephants are the slowest reproducing animals, beginning to breed at the age of 23

and only giving birth once every five to six years. Because of this, it will take them up to 90 years

to recover from the population decline of about 65% across Central Africa from 2002 to 2013

(“Forest Elephants Face Extinction” 6-7). If we carry on with what we’re doing now, elephants may

disappear entirely within this decade (“Headed for Extinction?” 2). However, we can turn the tides

by implementing laws, foreign aid, and dealing with corruption.

The illegal ivory trade problem must first be dealt with in the consumer countries, because if

the government can cease the illegal ivory trade there, then the supplier countries won’t have

anyone to sell ivory to, and therefore the elephants will be saved. Take China, the biggest consumer

of ivory, for instance, the government is planning to ban the legal ivory trade in China by the end of

2017 (“China Vows to Shut down Ivory Trade by End of 2017”). Even if the legal ivory trade is

banned, ivory will still be traded through the black market. Furthermore, the black market will most

likely expand and then there will be no regulations as to which ivory and how much of it is traded.

Despite this, prohibiting the legal ivory trade will allow the government to really hone in on

terminating on the illegal ivory trade (“China Vows to Shut down Ivory Trade by End of 2017”).

Therefore, the legal ivory trade should be banned everywhere.

However, The consumers of ivory are not the only ones driving the ivory trade, every aspect

is vital – suppliers, transit countries, and consumers – to fuel the trade and keep it going

(Kideghesho, 369-388). Thus, corruption must be dealt with in the supplier and transit countries

participating in this trade as well. This is because there is a “clear correlation between the lack of

strong governance and a well-established poaching and smuggling trade” in the supplier countries.

(“CITES & Elephants What Is The “Global Ban” On Ivory Trade?.”). Consequently, the poaching

and smuggling trade will only continue to improve, so if the government takes no action against

corruption, government officials will still be bribed by traders to certify their illegal ivory, or let

them import and export ivory without inspection. Tanzania is an example of a corrupt supplier

country, the government is often accused of inaction against poaching and the illegal ivory trade, so

it is now “seen as a sanctuary for criminals” (Kideghesho, 369-388). For this reason, corruption

must be stopped mainly, by having a zero-tolerance for bribes, this way it will be much harder for

criminals to smuggle ivory, whence decreasing the ivory trade.

Now, in dealing with the transit countries, there are two laws that must be implemented in

pursuance of eradicating the illegal ivory trade. Firstly, port security must be required to inspect a

large majority of shipping containers for smuggled ivory and make sure traders can present proper

CITES documentation (“CITES & Elephants What Is The “Global Ban” On Ivory Trade?”). This is

mostly an issue in transit countries, for example Hong Kong. According to “Episode 1: The Plight

of the Elephant,” a large portion of the ivory going in to China is smuggled through the port of

Hong Kong, where less