The ivory trade kills people too

Behind every ivory trinket made and sold is a trail of human suffering and exploitation in Africa.

Trade is linked to the exploitation of vulnerable communities in Africa and Asia, write Costra and Hall [AFP]

If you buy ivory, you kill people.

This is the new reality in an illicit trade responsible for large-scale human exploitation, government corruption, and the funding of rebel movements, terrorists, and criminal syndicates around the world. The imagery and narrative of the global ivory trade is now well known - replete with rotting elephant carcasses littering African national parks, well-tailored ministers and heads of state burning ivory stocks for the camera, and law enforcement officials smiling in front of ship containers of seized ivory.

While, there is no doubt of the many faces of the global ivory trade, there is one element that is too often overlooked - that of the human toll.

The human toll of the ivory trade is the negative impact on the individuals and communities exploited along the chain of custody from Africa, to Asia, and points beyond. It is not just about elephants.

This trade is historically and inexorably linked to the exploitation and enslavement of vulnerable communities in Africa and Asia. It includes governments and countries sucked deeper into the morass of corruption, mismanagement, and taxpayer abuse wrought from public officials supporting criminal interests.

Far reaching implications

It includes the lives affected by the introduction of other illegal activities that overlap with the groups and individuals engaged in the ivory trade - including the trafficking of weapons, drugs and humans.

Botswana summit agreement to safe elephants

Like diamonds, gold, coltan or timber; ivory is taking its own place as a conflict resource in sub-Saharan Africa.

International criminal syndicates, corrupt government officials, and some of the world's most notorious terrorists and militias are fuelling the global trade in illegal ivory.

In 2012, an 18-month investigation conducted by the Elephant Action League (EAL) in collaboration with Maisha Consulting, estimated that the Somalia based al-Shabab organisation was drawing up to 40 percent of funds for salaries from ivory smuggling.

Other groups like the Seleka rebels in the Central African Republic, the Janjaweed in Sudan and the Lords Resistance Army in central Africa have all been tied to ivory smuggling as a means to raise funding for arms and operations. Further, elements of several regional governments in Africa and Asia have been implicated in facilitating the extraction, trade, and export of ivory for personal profit.

The underground ivory supply chain increasingly destabilises already unstable states, and the growth and sophistication of global smuggling networks is outpacing international efforts to stop them. At the same time, the rate of poaching is outpacing the time needed to attempt the behavioural change - in the primarily Asian consumption markets - necessary to stop the demand for it.

What that means, is that in conjunction with new innovative awareness campaigns in Asia, more action is needed on the ground in Africa to prevent the negative social, political, and economic impacts that are derivative of the ivory trade.

Botswana summit agreement to safe elephants