By: Gabrielle Courseault
Last year alone, approximately 25,000-30,000 elephants died, totaling around 12% of the remaining population. This statistic doesn’t include natural deaths; rather, it refers to the number of elephants killed by poachers in search of a profit. This selfish desire greatly stems from one source: the ivory trade.
Ivory can be found in the tusks and teeth of animals, and, because elephants provide a large source of it, they seem to be the most sought after targets. However, because of the elephants’ dramatically decreasing population, ivory collected from poaching has become illegal. Still, the trade continues, mainly through the fuel generated from supply and demand.
The carving of ivory has been a tradition in China for more than 2,000 years. Currently, because of the significant amount of annual exports the country sends, the peoples’ incomes have been on the rise, and they want to spend it. Combine these two facts, and it makes sense that China is the source of highest demand. There are stores dedicated to the sale of supposedly legal ivory--those collected from elephants who had died of natural causes--but the value is so high and there is so much being imported, that it’s almost impossible to be certain on the legality of the products. Only those who supply the ivory know for sure, and those people are situated all the way in Africa.
So why do the suppliers in Africa continue to prolong the ivory trade, even the illegal side of it? They share the same incentive as most other people in the world today: money. The rising demand in China is causing the price of ivory to rise, increasing its value. Those in Africa who kill the elephants can then sell the tusks to make a huge profit, enough to support themselves and their families and still have extra money for luxuries they would otherwise have to live without. Not only that, but they know that the consequences of illegal poaching are minimal. The law is not enforced, with convictions being rare to none even though violations are committed daily. Although this cycle of supply and demand seems almost impossible to stop as it continues to run even when deemed illegal, there are some solutions to be considered.
One option is to reduce demand by exposing purchasers of ivory products to the brutality of its attainment. Because less people would buy the goods, poachers would make less money and eventually be unable to support their business, hopefully putting them out of the job.
Another option is to make the entire sale of ivory illegal whether it is acquired illegally or not. This would then decrease demand to almost none, meaning no one in the business would be making a profit, causing there to be no supply.
One final option is to stop supporting countries who support the trade. It’s a long-shot and a lot less direct than the other approaches, but, as stated before, China receives much of its income from its exports. If exports decrease, income would decrease, and Chinese citizens would hopefully sacrifice purchasing ivory products in order to afford their necessities.
No matter the approach, something needs to be done quickly or else the illegal trade of ivory will lead to elephant extinction. In fact, at the current trade rate, elephants are expected to be extinct within the next 10 years. Not only would a beautiful species be lost, but the GDP of African countries who rely on wildlife tourism would decrease, unemployment would rise due to wildlife conservationists, zookeepers, tour leaders, and others working with the species being put out of the job, and the food chain would be upset. Believe it or not, the environment plays a large role in how this Earth and those living upon it function, and sometimes temporary profits need to be put aside in order to ensure the preservation of lasting benefits as well as morality and humanitarianism.
For more information and an exclusive look into an African poaching investigation, watch the video that can be found here.
Sources:
"Born Free Foundation - Keep Wildlife in the Wild." Born Free Foundation. N.p., 26 Sept. 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
"The Economics of the Illicit Ivory Trade." National Geographic Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
Rice, Mary. "Stop Stimulating the Ivory Trade; Just Stop Trade." News Watch. N.p., 14 Jan. 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
I remember hearing about the illegality of poachers a while ago, and to see that this is still an issue is kind of sad. With the population of elephants decreasing as rapidly as they are, it is important, like you said, to stop this trade of ivory. I agree that we should just stop the sale of ivory overall, making the buying and selling of it illegal, but if not, we should find an alternative source and not use elephants at all. China has many other resources that make them a huge economic threat and they could eliminate this one market.
ReplyDeleteIt is really sad to hear that elephants could be extinct in 10 years if poaching isn’t stopped. I think that animals in general shouldn’t have to become extinct just because humans are greedy. I do agree with Taylor and you in that the buying and selling of ivory should just be illegal all together. Ivory isn’t a necessity in life so if the buying and selling was completely banned it wouldn’t affect anyone’s life. Even though it might have a slight negative effect on people in Africa and China it is better for the elephants overall.
ReplyDeleteThose poor elephants! I love elephants and I would have to have them be extinct for an industry that is beginning or could begin to fail. Yes, we do kill animals, we do harvest them for what they're worth but we do have our limits. We shouldn't risk an entire species for our own personal wants. That's just ridiculous. NO species, animal, human, any type of species should not be giving up their existence so that we can have something nice. The entire world, not just Africa and China, but all of use need to think about what we're getting our materials from and what could happen in the future if things begin to progress as follows.
ReplyDeleteThat's absolutely horrible that elephants could be extinct in 10 years. I wasn't aware it was that bad for them. It also isn't the best situation for some of the people that are doing the poaching though either. They may need the money to survive, but that still doesn't make it right. Hopefully those that buy the ivory can see the problems they are creating, and to continue supporting those that were doing the poaching, hopefully they can find another way to support themselves.
ReplyDeleteThe amount of power money has on the world is sickening, and this piece goes to even greater lengths to show that. It's always a mind boggling thought to think what some people would do without the power of money. Perhaphs the elephants wouldn't be killed, stunting their decreasing population growth, which would be for the greater good of the people of Africa. In response to this piece I really liked the idea of making customers of ivory aware of what they're buying and actually doing. Similar to the advertising against smoking on cigarrette packages in Australia, I believe if they did this with the ivory products in China, things would definitely take a turn for the better, and most certainly for the people of Africa and most importantly the elephants. Whether or not that's the way it is approached hopefully something can be done soon to benefit all parties.
ReplyDeleteIt is crazy to see how the laws of economics can have such a disastrous affect on a population of animals. This is a really interesting article on something that I wasn't aware of as being a huge problem. It makes sense as to why elephants are becoming extinct based off of the law of supply and demand. I think you did a really great job of presenting the problem and illustrating possible solutions. I agree it would be a good idea to make ivory illegal, but then the fear of a black market arising is a very real concern. This was very informative though and something that our world will have to take action on very soon.
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