Tanzania: Protect Our Elephants

Delegates to the African Elephant Coalition summit in Cotonou, Benin, last week, expressed concern over the silence of Tanzanian representatives during deliberations on ivory trade ban. The deliberations were a big ‘No’ to ivory trade.

The position of Tanzania on the issue is known and therefore, its delegates had to keep mum. We are saying this because Tanzania has been opposed to ivory trade ban for years. It had even lobbied in numerous forums to have the restrictions lifted so that it could sell its huge ivory stockpile.

Tanzanian authorities have good reasons for wanting the ivory trade to continue. The country has a large number of elephants that allows tourist hunting; when the population of the jumbos is left to grow, it creates conflict with mankind when they invade farms and, sometimes, kill people. Furthermore, hunting of the big game provides employment and hard cash to communities, which in turn would ensure the long-term survival of the species.

While we support Tanzania’s position to allow hunting of big game as a strategy to protect people and conserve the elephants, we would like to remind the government the importance of stepping up the war against poaching as a long-term strategy to ensure that endangered game, particularly elephants, are protected.

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