Botswana ready to leave CITES over ivory trade ban

Cost of managing its growing elephant population and human wildlife conflict cited as reasons for requiring legal ivory trade

(Wynand Uys)

By Keletso Thobega for Botswana Guardian

Botswana will not hesitate to pull out of the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES), says Director in the Department of Wildlife Management and National Parks, Kabelo Senyatso.

Addressing a press conference in Gaborone on 1 June, Senyatso said Botswana was at wit’s end regarding ivory trade and the management of wildlife, particularly elephants.

He said while the decision could be effected by the President, it is something that key stakeholders have been discussing and agreed on.

Senyatso said if Botswana leaves CITES, the country could take the risk and try to operate out of the body and sell to the Asian market (which is the biggest) to countries such as China and Japan. ”We believe that if there is a huge black market then there are opportunities for legal trade.” He conceded that such a move would bring outrage and possibly harm the tourism sector but pointed out that they had met with the Botswana president and other stakeholders and concluded that this would be the best course of action under the circumstances.

He said during their consultations with stakeholders including communities living in elephant range, community organisations and non-state actors such as safari operators, NGOs, It is, academic institutions and independent researchers who are working or have worked in Botswana - the general consensus had been that action has to be taken considering that the elephant population has grown triple since 1990. He said the objective of the Botswana Elephant Management Plan of 2021-2026 includes the sustainable use of elephants and to try to reduce the numbers to at least 60,000 which is manageable and sustainable, as well as to ensure the maintenance of biodiversity and woodlands. He however emphasised that resolving human-elephant conflict is the core priority under the management plan.

The CITES draft recommendation proposals made at the Elephant Summit are being taken until 17 June 2022 and the deadline for submission of regional candidates is 17 July 2022.

CITES is a multilateral treaty formed in 1977 to ban and regulate the trade of international animal wildlife and plant species. Botswana acceded to CITES in 1977 when the Convention came into force. At the time, Botswana was categorised in the First Appendix (for animals that are not for trading) because at the time, elephants were threatened by extinction.

Senyatso said the challenge is the lack of cohesion on management of continental elephants, against the backdrop of growing consumptive use of wildlife, and ivory trade.

The African elephant is classified on CITES’ Appendix I, meaning no international trade is allowed. Senyatso said it was challenging to be categorised in Appendix 1, pointing to other restrictions limiting hunting trophies tonon-commercial purposes; and trade in live animals only being acceptable when it is carried out locally, and not internationally because it would be considered international trade.

“The trade should be verified by the Secretariat. We cannot do it without authority, which makes it restrictive.”

Senyatso said while being allowed to sell ivory stockpiles and to carry out ivory trade is their core issue, they also want Botswana to be allowed to freely trade in elephant hide and ivory, where it is assessed to be applicable.

Botswana is currently home to an estimated 130, 000 - 150, 000 elephants - the largest elephant population in Africa.

Senyatso said there is a general perception that the number of elephants is declining in Africa, but the case in Botswana is unique in that it is increasing at a startling rate. He said there are two elephant species, the forest and Savannah elephant, and it is important to stipulate that the species are different and ascertain which was declining or increasing and address both cases differently.

He argued that there had been a sharp increase in the number of elephants since the hunting ban was imposed, which has posed several challenges such as cost of taking care of them and limited resources because there isn’t enough food and water for these elephants, and protecting them is costing the Government a lot of money.

“There are also issues where, due to climate change impacts which have led to severe reduction in water sources, many elephants move southward in search of water and food.

“That is why we have heard of cases of elephants being spotted in areas such as Phakalane, Gantsi and Sekoma. The problem with this movement of elephants from their original natural habitats is that it results in human contact, which leads to attacks and the destruction of crops, infrastructure and fences.

“Unfortunately, there have been incidents where we are sometimes forced to put elephants down, when they pose a risk to the lives of people. Two elephants were legally killed last year after they had been observed to have brought destruction in nearby settlements.

“But the number of people killed is higher, with 48 people killed and 12 injured in that period. Government also values human life, so what do we say about the lives lost and how to mitigate them because it is evident that growing elephant populations are becoming unsustainable?”

Senyatso said that there are many opportunities to make economic returns through the trade of elephants - from both animal hide and ivory, and many other business opportunities along the value chain.

He added poaching is another challenge that the country is faced with, and the government has invested in law enforcement, new technologies and forensics to try to nip poaching in the bud.

Senyatso said the Department developed the Conservation Elephant Management Plan, which was revised in 2002 due to numbers of elephants having exceeded 100,000. Through this plan, they have put several interventions in place such as installing chilli pepper fences and beehives; encouraging farmers to use early maturing seeds, use of scaring devices, provision of water in strategic areas, holistic land use planning and payment of monetary compensation.

“We want to use adaptive process and precautionary measures, and choose an option with the least risk,” he said that the Elephant Plan was put together through intervention of the public in kgotla (community council) meetings, where residents raised concerns about how the elephants were affecting them.

“The recurring argument was that the high numbers of elephants are causing destruction, so we ask, if we cannot make income from elephants, how can we source funds to implement the conservation and management plan?”

Senyatso added that the government wants to maximise citizen participation and allow timely completion of administration processes.

Botswana Minister of Environment Conservation and Tourism Philda Kereng noted that there are some challenges that the government faces during implementation of some of these conventions.

”For example, we are home to the largest African elephant population in the world and the management of such a large population comes at a huge cost to the country, especially to the communities who live alongside these animals. Incidences of human-wildlife conflict are skyrocketing including loss of lives and we need to find ways to balance the protection of ecosystems and protecting human lives”.

She pointed out that the Community Based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) programme allows local communities to utilise the natural resources within their areas for economic activities and livelihoods programmes.

”This helps to provide a source of income and job opportunities and contributes to rural development” she said. She indicated that the government of Botswana is open to engagement from the international community to assist with solutions to the pressing issues on the ground related to wildlife-human protection and sustaining natural ecosystems.

Kereng further said that as part of the country's commitment to engaging the international community on issues of biodiversity conservation, Botswana recently hosted an African Union meeting of wildlife and biodiversity experts (on June 1) as preparatory work for the upcoming CITES conference of parties and the Biodiversity Convention in preparation for a New Biodiversity Framework.

These engagements are important because ”we need a collective approach as Africa, to advance issues of key importance to our communities who are custodians of our natural resources.”

This article is reproduced here as part of the African Conservation Journalism Programme, funded in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe by USAID’s VukaNow: Activity. Implemented by the international conservation organization Space for Giants, it aims to expand the reach of conservation and environmental journalism in Africa, and bring more African voices into the international conservation debate.

Read the original story here.