'Elephants in the Dust' report - UNEP

More documents

Recommendations

Info

African elephants threatened by conflict MOROCCO Western Sahara ALGERIA LIBYA EGYPT SENEGAL GAMBIA GUINEA- BISSAU SIERRA LEONE MAURITANIA GUINEA LIBERIA Elephant range, 2007 Known Possible MALI BURKINA FASO BENIN TOGO GHANA CÔTE D’IVOIRE NIGERIA NIGER EQ. GUINEA Armed conflicts, political and social tension, 2010-2012 Major battle (more than 50 fatalities) Battle between government forces and rebel forces (less than 50 or no fatalities) Other conflictual event (less than 50 or no fatalities) Riot (violent) or protest (non violent) Violence against civilians Note: A battle is defined as a violent interaction between two politically organized armed groups at a particular time and location. A riot is defined as a violent disturbance of the public peace by three or more persons assembled for a common purpose. A protest is defined as a spontaneous, non-violent gathering of civilians for a political purpose CAMEROON GABON CONGO NAMIBIA CHAD CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC ANGOLA DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO ZAMBIA BOTSWANA SUDAN RWANDA BURUNDI ZIMBABWE LESOTHO SOUTH SUDAN UGANDA MALAWI SWAZILAND ERITREA ETHIOPIA KENYA TANZANIA DJIBOUTI MOZAMBIQUE Somaliland SOMALIA MADAGASCAR Source: Armed Conflict Location and Events Dataset (ACLED); African Elephant Database (AED)/IUCN/SSC African Elephant Specialist Group (AfESG) SOUTH AFRICA 56
THE ROLE OF IVORY IN CONFLICT AND ORGANIZED CRIME The African continent has struggled with political instability and conflict in recent history. Such instability encourages criminal activity including wildlife trafficking, poaching and other environmental crimes (Bouché et al. 2012; Chase and Beyers et al. 2011; Griffin 2011). While there are few big conflicts in Southern Africa today, civil unrest and sporadic fighting continues in the Congo Basin, including in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Central African Republic (CAR), as well as in Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and across many countries in Central and West Africa. These conflicts have an impact on elephant populations because of the potential profit to be made on ivory sales to domestic and foreign buyers. In the past decade, INTERPOL, the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime, and the United Nations Environment Programme have all warned against the rise in organized transnational environmental crime. More sophisticated ways of illegally extracting resources as well as more advanced methods of laundering both illegally extracted resources and the proceeds from the illegal trade have been observed. Furthermore, the violence, murder and corruption associated with criminal cartels undermine both human and state security. Environmental crime is particularly attractive to these groups when compared with other forms of criminal activity because of its high profit margin coupled with a low probability of being caught and convicted due to the fact that transnational law-enforcement in this sector is virtually non-existent (UNODC 2011; UNEP-INTERPOL 2012). Transnational organized environmental crime involves primarily five key areas: 1. Illegal logging and deforestation; 2. Illegal fisheries; 3. Illegal mining and trade in minerals, including conflict diamonds; 4. Illegal dumping and trade in hazardous and toxic waste; and 5. Illegal trade and poaching of wildlife and plants. Figure 15: Political conflicts, civil unrest and African elephant range area. The illegal trade and poaching of wildlife and plants alone is estimated to be worth USD 5–20 billion annually, and this money is often used to help finance conflicts (Wyler and Sheik 2008; GFI 2011; OECD 2012). During the Nepalese civil war (1996–2006), more than half of the rhinoceros population living in Bardia National Park was killed by Maoists to finance the conflict (Martin et al. 2009). During the independence conflicts that took place between 1960 and 1990 in the former Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Angola both elephants and rhinos were killed. In the 1970s and especially 1980s, the military groups UNITA in Angola and RENAMO in Mozambique also faced accusations of killing elephants for their ivory. The illegal trade and poaching of wildlife and plants alone is worth USD 5–20 billion annually, and this money is often used to help finance conflicts. Today, elephants are being killed in conflict zones across C entral and West Africa. Reports of killed elephants come from many of the West African range States, as well as from Cameroon, South Sudan, the DRC, and the CAR. Many reports suggest declines of 50 to 90 per cent of some local elephant populations in CAR and the DRC alone (Beyers et al. 2011; Bouché et al. 2010; 2011; 2012). Environmental crimes flourish in conflict zones for several reasons. During a period of conflict, the normal rule of law is not enforced and environmental crime such as illegal logging, poaching and mining becomes rampant. Indeed, the conflict in the eastern DRC, which has caused the loss of over possibly 6 million people in two decades, has been driven primarily by the greed and extraction of natural resources (UNEP-INTERPOL 2012). Organized criminals and buyers actively request and pursue 57
Page 1 and 2:
A RAPID RESPONSE ASSESSMENT ELEPHAN
Page 3 and 4:
ELEPHANTS IN THE DUST THE AFRICAN E
Page 5 and 6: PREFACE At the African MIKE monitor
Page 7 and 8: tion growth and rapid urban and agr
Page 9: CONTENTS 5 6 8 11 15 32 43 69 72 73
Page 12 and 13: Africa. The growing number of forei
Page 15 and 16: ELEPHANT POPULATIONS - RANGE, TREND
Page 17 and 18: The African Elephant Database http:
Page 19 and 20: African elephant range and populati
Page 21 and 22: pdf 2007-08-06 11:56:25 2000 Mean S
Page 23 and 24: population numbers, estimates on th
Page 25 and 26: African elephant population by coun
Page 27: The Asian Elephant: Conservation St
Page 30: Current estimates suggest major dec
Page 33 and 34: Trend in Proportion of Illegally Ki
Page 35 and 36: 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 1.0 0.8 0.6
Page 37 and 38: Percentage of illegally killed elep
Page 39 and 40: Elephant carcass, about 1 month old
Page 41: aids. The ivory collected is believ
Page 44 and 45: Since its initiation, ETIS has pion
Page 46 and 47: Looking at seizures of 800 kg or mo
Page 48 and 49: Illegal ivory trafficking routes MO
Page 51 and 52: PROTECTING ELEPHANTS: LAW ENFORCEME
Page 53 and 54: The International Consortium on Com
Page 55: The UNODC-WCO Container Control Pro
Page 59 and 60: IVORY MARKETS There are two types o
Page 61 and 62: In 1999, Gabon was the only African
Page 63 and 64: Asia Today, most ivory is obtained
Page 65: San Francisco, USA, had a large num
Page 69 and 70: CONCLUSIONS This UNEP Rapid Respons
Page 71 and 72: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION The reco
Page 73 and 74: CONTRIBUTORS AND REVIEWERS EDITORIA
Page 75 and 76: CITES (2012b). Cop 16 proposal 12.
Page 77: Norton-Griffiths, M. (1978). Counti
show all

'Elephants in the Dust' report - UNEP

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?