The following story appeared in the Fall/Winter 2014 issue of Born Free USA’s magazine, Animal Issues Digest.
The poaching crisis devastating Africa’s elephants continues to feed a greedy, insatiable, and global trade in elephant ivory. Tens of thousands of elephants are brutally slaughtered in Africa’s forests and across Africa’s savannahs. And, Born Free USA continues to expose this bloody, nefarious web of international commerce in elephant tusks.[teaserbreak]
Building on the successful publication of Ivory’s Curse, we have now backed a second ivory trade report with C4ADS called Out of Africa: Mapping the Global Trade in Illicit Elephant Ivory. The global elephant ivory trade fundamentally involves three parts: the killing of elephants, the movement of ivory from Africa to Asia, and the sale of raw or worked ivory on the Asian market—especially in China.
In our first report, we exposed the ugly forces driving the killing. It’s quite clear that, to change consumer demand in China, if possible at all, it will take decades—time the elephants simply don’t have. So, Out of Africa endeavors to address the link between killing fields and consumer markets, in the hope that exposing these trade points will help authorities crack down on the export of ivory. If middlemen and crime syndicates behind ivory export can’t get their products to market, there is less profitability in selling ivory; and, if there is less profitability in selling ivory, there is less reason to kill elephants.
The report concludes, “The supply chain is the point of weakness in the ivory trade.” Looking at the trends, we find that ivory poaching and international trafficking is at the highest level in the past quarter century, and larger and larger consignments of ivory are being seized at ports around the world. There are certain ports in Africa, especially Mombasa, Dar es Salaam, and Zanzibar, where most of the ivory trade by sea appears to emanate. This should give not only those governments, but donor governments such as the United States, as well, a real focus for their wildlife law enforcement funds and attention.
The ivory supply chain is complex, but it is clear. The first point is poaching and collection of ivory; next comes local transport within Africa to a consolidator, who preps the ivory for transport; next, an international freight transport company readies the shipment to leave by sea; upon arrival, local transport arranged by an importer, who takes the ivory from transit point to carving factory; and then, the ivory is ultimately worked and either re-exported or sent to market. Frighteningly it appears that organized crime syndicates are involved in the ivory trade both at the point of consolidation and export from Africa, as well as import and local transport on the Asian end.
What’s driving this trade, of course, is greed. The markup for African elephant ivory from the “bush price” to the market price is considerable. The value of ivory from poacher to consigner can increase 500%, and by the time it reaches ultimate point of sale, more than 4,000%. A simple ivory bracelet at retail prices can fetch $257 in Thailand, $500 in Vietnam, $588 in Laos, and $1,150 in China. It is quite clear how significant the financial incentive is to move ivory. And, what we find in the report, which is really fascinating, is the connection between elephant population strongholds, poaching areas, and trafficking hotspots. Looking at a map of Africa and identifying where the ports are in West and East Africa especially, one can readily see nearby elephant populations besieged by poaching. This makes it all the more profitable to kill elephants, but not have to transport the tusks particularly long distances in order to get the product prepped for export.
Ivory profiteers have a relatively simple, if not ingenious, mechanism for moving ivory through shipping containers. They find a 20- or 40-foot container, which can carry 21 tons or more of cargo, and they bury two or three tons of ivory in a container with 18 tons of charcoal, timber, seashells, cashew nuts, stones, or dried seaweed (confiscated shipments). This is incredibly profitable, and not particularly risky.
East Asia is the primary market for ivory today, with a significant ongoing interest in places like China and Thailand. China is widely regarded as the world’s largest ivory market and carving center. The wholesale price for ivory in China continues to increase, having expanded roughly four times in the past three years. Ivory in China now fetches more than $2,000 per kilo. Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos are all implicated in the ivory trade, either as transit points or consumer markets. The real drive for ivory in China is to satisfy the carving factories and their owners, who want to consolidate as much of the product as possible to be worked and resold.
Born Free USA believes that significant action must be taken globally to stop the killing of elephants for their ivory tusks. Our second report, Out of Africa, sheds significant new light on not only the elephant poaching epidemic, but the underground, illicit trade routes that enable ivory to get to market. The way forward is fairly clear. First, we have to recognize that wildlife crime is not just about conservation; it’s organized crime and must be treated as such. The ivory trade is not opportunistic, and it is not artisanal. It is massive in scale, financially profitable, and involves a product that is highly sought after. Criminal networks that drive this trade destabilize communities, nations, and regions; they corrupt politicians; and they have deadly consequences for both humans and elephants alike. It’s a multibillion dollar trade and it must be stopped.
But, we must also focus on better data collection on poaching and trafficking activities, and on sharing of this data between agencies in the United States government and the governments in elephant range states and consuming countries.
Additionally, we must move up the value chain. Our focus cannot exclusively be on equipping wildlife law enforcement agents in the field to battle the poachers; we must tackle the consolidators, shippers, organized crime networks, and illegal markets. As you move further up the value chain, again, you decrease profitability. And, that will save elephants.
And lastly, we have to work with the global transport companies who ship these containers from Africa to Asia, in the hopes that their diligence in inspecting shipping containers will be heightened so that they will not become unwitting accomplices in the international ivory trade.
People in power are definitely paying attention. Legislation is being considered in various states around the country and in the United States Congress to enhance action to stop the ivory trade. Executive agencies of the United States government are recognizing the importance of this issue. Brooke Darby, for instance, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State at the United States State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, said, “Tens of thousands of elephants are indiscriminately slaughtered for their tusks each year across Africa, and thousands of heroic park rangers have laid their lives on the line to protect these wild animals. The illegal wildlife trade—including the illicit movement of elephant ivory—funds criminal organizations in Africa, including terrorist outfits that weaken national security and threaten regional stability. The Born Free USA and C4ADS report, Out of Africa, reinforces the complexity of the illegal wildlife trade, showing elephant population strongholds, poaching hotspots, and export points that continue to be exploited. It reinforces the need to ensure the American response to the African poaching challenge is as robust as possible.”
Born Free USA hopes the world is watching. There is no excuse for inaction when we have the evidence of poaching, information about the trade, and recommendations for what to do next. Focus on the poaching hotspots; focus on the ports of export; focus on the container shipments that may contain ivory tusks. Global focus on the ivory trade will save elephants. And, of course, no ivory trade anywhere, for any reason.