We need concerted efforts to put an end to poaching of Africa’s mighty elephant

This week, African leaders have come together in Kenya to send a strong message to the world: Ivory trade will be stopped.

An elephant is an iconic symbol of our continent and, unless we take action now, we know that we risk losing this magnificent animal from large swathes of Africa.

The reason for our action right now goes beyond just conservation.

The Space for Giants summit, held in Nanyuki, is driven by an agenda that will protect both elephants and communities across Africa.

Like Kenya, Gabon is blessed with many elephants, but unlike the elephants in the great savannahs, ours inhabit the vast rain forests.

Tragically, the forest elephant’s hard, pink ivory is particularly valued by the carving industry and the price of illegally trafficked ivory has risen above $2,000 per kilogramme sparking increased poaching.

ELEPHANT MASSACRE

This rapid rise in value of forest elephant ivory has resulted in a massacre. In just 10 years we have lost as many as 70 per cent of the forest elephants of Central Africa.

Today, Gabon is home to more than half of the surviving forest elephants, despite having only a little over 10 per cent of Africa’s rain forests.

In truth, we have become a Central African sanctuary for forest elephants.

Between 2004 and 2012 we lost over 10,000 elephants from our biggest herd, in the Minkebe National Park in Northeast Gabon, to criminals who cross international borders to slaughter our wildlife and steal our natural heritage.

As President, the rise in the brutal act of poaching poses many challenges. Clearly, there is a moral and environmental case to protect this majestic species.

Elephants create the trails and clearings that other rain forest animals use.

By dispersing the seeds of hundreds of large tree species, they contribute to the growth of the most precious commercial woods.

In this way, biodiversity will be severely impacted if African forests are stripped of their elephants.

POACHING

As a leader who is committed to creating equal chances for all Gabonese people, there are also important economic and social issues that stem from poaching, which must be urgently addressed for the sake of our country.

Poaching has turned elephants into refugees – fleeing hunters.

Ironically, they find safety close to our rural villages, where the rule of law is strong and poaching a rare exception rather than the rule.

They eat and trample crops and terrify people. As a result, for many people in rural areas, elephants are a cause of hunger and misery.

Indeed, one of my main reasons for attending Nanyuki summit was to be able to understand first-hand the measures taken to limit human-elephant conflict by Space for Giants and other conservationists around Nanyuki.

We hope to be able to capitalise on the wealth of experience in Kenya to take decisive action to enhance how communities in my country interact with elephants.

On our return to Gabon, our National Parks Agency and the Ministry for Protection of Natural Resources will implement a nationwide programme to manage human-elephant conflict, with technical support from Space for Giants.

HUMAN-ELEPHANT CONFLICT

We will benefit from decades of technological innovation in the field of electric fences to implement extensive field trials in Gabon around villages and farms most at risk from conflict with elephants, adapting the designs that work best for savannah elephants compared to their smaller forest cousins.

Reducing human-elephant conflict will also help us to diversify our economy by developing industries like tourism that take advantage of our unique, protected natural wildlife.

Growing wildlife tourism will create jobs in rural communities across Africa – meaning the local population has a stake in supporting the elephants and improving their natural habitat.

And we must tackle the root of the problem: Illegal gangs who terrorise the forests.

Illicit wildlife trafficking is now connecting with other forms of transnational organised crime – we know today that these illegal profits are used to finance civil armed conflicts and terrorist-related activities.

Over the last few years, increasing levels of violence in several parks has deeply damages the fabric of society across our great continent.

Poachers generally take only the ivory and leave the body of the elephant to rot.

The symbolism of our mighty elephants falling and decomposing is very strong; this is especially true in my own Bantu culture, where the elephant is a powerful totem.

If we let criminals and militias slaughter our natural heritage, how can we say our totems and our nations are not destined for the same?

GLOBAL PROBLEM

We cannot solve this global problem alone. We have to act at national, regional, continental and global scales in concerted effort.

Source and consumer countries need to work together to reduce demand, as well as to restrict the supply of illicit wildlife products.

African countries – including Gabon and Kenya – have come together as part of the Elephant Protection Initiative to take co-ordinated action in Africa. But this is not enough, which is why this summit is so necessary.

We need governments and businesses from across the world to support our objectives, through supporting elephant protection programmes and clamping down on the illegal ivory trade.

By tackling poaching we can ensure villages are safer, farmer’s crops are protected and children can grow up without fearing elephants or illegal gangs.

Ali Bongo is the President of Gabon