African Elephant Research Paper

Ivory Ban-The Rise Of The Elephant Massacre

As humans, we use our hands to hold and move objects, our arms to balance and protect our body. We also have the ability to smile and attract opposite sex which allows for us to populate the world. Elephants on the other hand, utilize their ivory in much of the same ways. They hold and move large logs and pieces of bark, they protect themselves and others from predators, and they attract the interest of female elephants with their massive ivory. Unfortunately, the number of elephants is diminishing due to the value humans place on such items as piano keys, billiard balls, smoking pipes, furniture, and medicines that are made of elephant ivory and these products cannot be attained without killing

It is an international agreement between governments to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants do not threaten their survival. The CITES justify the ban of ivory trade as it threatens the elephants population from excessive poaching. However, there are others who argue that ivory should not be completely banned as it does not necessarily save the elephants. From “African Elephants: The Effect of Property Rights and Political Stability” by Michael A. McPherson and Michael L. Nieswiadomy, it states that “attempting to abolish the value [of ivory] by denying the availability of ivory to the marketplace is futile because a market will always arise for any value good, whether that is legal or not” (as cited in Kaempfer and Lowenberg, 1998, pg. 18). Therefore, placing a ban on ivory does not necessary guarantee an increase to the population of the elephants, as it will only encourage illegal ivory trade in countries willing to pay a high price for it, resulting in the continuation of ivory poaching. Instead, enacting a property rights systems or a community based wildlife program where ivory trades are closely monitored and controlled would be a more viable way to save the lives of the African elephants. Although, only countries with stable government would be

“In Botswana, the elephant population has risen from 20,000 in 1981 to over 80,000 [in 2000]. In Zimbabwe, the roughly 30,000 elephants that existed in 1978, have increased their numbers by a factor of nearly 3 by [2000]” (McPherson and Nieswiadomy, 16). These countries have adopted the community-based natural resource management programs (CBNRM), where they can closely manage natural resources and sustain habitats in a manner that promotes equitable access and usage. By implementing this, they were able to monitor the usage of the elephants, in order to prohibit the ruthless killing of the elephant for private profits. In addition, local citizens benefit from the tourism they bring, along with the production of paper and coffee directly from the elephants, in limited amounts due to the property