Zimbabwe’s president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has announced that he wants to sell the country’s reserve of elephant and rhino ivory, valued at US$600 million, to finance national parks.
Speaking at the opening of the wildlife conference in Victoria Falls, in the south of the country, Mnangagwa said that Zimbabwe continues to “demand free trade in game products”, due to the “significant impact” on the “national and local economies” of the various countries.
The head of state of Zimbabwe estimated the national reserves of elephant and rhino ivory at US$600 million.
“If we could [vendê-los] Under conditions accepted by all, the profits from this sale would be sufficient to finance our protection efforts over the next two decades”, he stressed.
Several southern African countries have been lobbying internationally for the lifting of the total ban on the ivory trade, introduced in 1989 to protect the animals from poaching.
They want elephants to be included on list two of the International Convention on Trade in Endangered Species, which would allow the sale of their tusks under certain conditions, including hunting trophies.
Some countries, such as Botswana, which once again allowed elephant hunting, justify the decision to suspend it with the growing difficulty of coexistence between humans and animals.
Others, like Zimbabwe, hope to obtain the necessary means to maintain their natural parks through the sale of ivory.
“We are promoting a system in which the increasing benefits of natural resources (…) would improve the quality of life of communities and animals”, insisted the President of Zimbabwe in his speech.
This decision has been heavily criticized by many non-governmental wildlife organizations, who believe that a green light on the sale of ivory would threaten protection efforts developed for decades.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, in the last ten years, the population of African elephants has fallen from 110,000 to 415,000.
Around 40,000 African elephants are killed in poaching every year.
Source: Angop