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JK 'runs away from catching poachers'
BY AISIA RWEYEMAMU
15th February 2014
Head of state says he knows some of the culprits
Christiane Amanpour, (L), CNN Senior International Correspondent and host of CNN International's Nightly Interview Programme 'Amanpour' hosts President Jakaya Kikwete.
In a rare move calculated at running away from protecting wildlife, President Jakaya Kikwete has told world leaders to ponder on how to protect this country's elephant and rhino populations.
The president said the poaching network was too big and cumbersome to dismantle, and argued that it needed both local and international efforts.
Speaking during a special programme broadcast by BBC Swahili Service yesterday in London , President Kikwete said poachers were not only operating within the borders of Tanzania but beyond the country's boundaries.
The president says Tanzania security organs had since recently managed to arrest 40 ivory dealers in Northern Tanzania, describing some of them as big tycoons with business roots out of the country working with local business icons – and said poaching was a business of the rich – but our readers complain: who is complaining?
The president also made public that the government now knows the ring-leader of ivory trade in the country, but fell short of identifying this man running everyone of us mad, claiming this would weaken his strategic war waged against poachers. We beg your pardon, Mr President,
During an interview with the British Broadcasting Cooperation (BBC) end of this week, you said:
"There is one renowned business tycoon living in Arusha … he is the ring- leader in ivory trade and the godfather of poachers operating in the northern zone." he said.
President Kikwete said Tanzanian officials had a difficult big job identifying the poaching network in northern zone.
Meanwhile, President Kikwete has told CNN during an exclusive interview that poaching posed a serious threat to the endangered species in country, considering that at independence, Tanzania had 350,000 elephants. During the first wave of intense poaching between 1970 and the 1980s, there were only 55,000 elephants left in 1987.
Kikwete said a new census at the Selous-Mikumi ecosystem, one of the country's biggest wildlife sanctuaries, revealed the elephant population had gone down to just 13,084 -- from 38, 975 in 2009, representing a 66 per cent decline.
The president added that because of the unprecedented situation, the government had decided to bring in the military. "We had a mammoth operation by the military called ‘Operation Ohimene'.
Speaking about the suspended operation to combat poachers, President Kikwete said the operation had a number of challenges, arguing that when he ordered the police to assist the game wardens and rangers, he found that the police alone could not cope. "Then we brought in, the military," he argued.
He continues: "We have this new operation … Operation Tokomeza … they did a fantastic job … but we now have problems of cattle that encroached into the game parks … the way they handled the cattle keepers and the animals … we had reports of human rights abuses ,,, and we said this was not acceptable."
However, when President Kikwete asked if the country would burn the available stockpiles of ivory as the United States has, as China did a month ago to show that this was not acceptable, he replied;
"We have about 112 tons of ivory and we are thinking about that … we're thinking about that for a little because we're used to the idea of asking for permission to proceed,
The president announced plans to call for a global ban in the trade of ivory and rhino horn, as a new wave of poaching is threatening its elephant and rhino populations.
"There is every sign that this animal elephant will become extinct in the near future if deliberate efforts are not taken to protect these herds," Kikwete said in a speech released by his office on Thursday.
He said elephant slaughter in Tanzania declined sharply after 1987 when the government launched a major anti-poaching operation, which led to an increase in herds from 55 000 in 1989 to 110 000 in 2009.
But the poaching has revived in recent years, driven by fast-rising demand for ivory and rhino horn in Asia in tandem with growing Chinese influence and investment in Africa.
Kikwete appealed for assistance from the international community in fighting poachers, saying game rangers were overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the problem, with the area of the country's wildlife sanctuaries "nearly the size of the United Kingdom" at 232 535km².
People in China, the world's biggest market for ivory, had turned against ivory products in the past five years, Chan suggested. He compared the generational change in Chinese views on ivory consumption to the shift that had taken place in younger Chinese people against smoking.
South Africa alone lost more than 1,000 rhinos to poachers in 2013, a 50 per cent increase on the year before, and up from just 13 of the animals in 2007.
Now, fresh report from South Africa state that up to 100 rhinos will be moved from Southern African country across the border to Botswana's remote wilderness in an attempt to put them beyond the reach of rampant poaching, conservationists.
The mass relocation comes after a record 1,004 rhinos were killed in South Africa last year and the failure of every measure tried so far to curtail the scourge, which is fuelled by demand for horn in Asia.
In another development, the leaders of Botswana, Gabon, Chad and Tanzania made the statement at a gathering in London to discuss the illegal wildlife trade
The presidents of Botswana, Chad, Ethiopia, Gabon and Tanzania, who attended the conference, backed an Elephant Protection Initiative that includes closing domestic ivory markets in countries that still have them; extending the ban on trade for at least 10 years; and putting stockpiles "beyond economic use."
Meanwhile, in order to combat the poaching in Kenya, its embarking on an ambitious plan to microchip every rhino in the country in a drive to combat a surge of poaching, say wildlife officials. The microchips will be implanted in the horns of more than 1,000 rhinos.
Officials hope the chips will enable live animals to be tracked and poached horns to be traced, improving the chances of poachers being prosecuted.
Soaring prices for ivory and horn have prompted a "gold rush" in poaching across much of Africa.
In August, a white rhino was shot dead in one of Kenya's most secure parks, Nairobi National Park. It was the first such killing in the park for six years.
On Thursday this week, Forty-six countries agreed a declaration to beat back the illegal wildlife trade that is killing thousands of elephants, rhinos and other endangered species each year.
The countries at the meeting agreed to a series of actions, including addressing corruption, adopting legislation for tougher penalties against poachers, and recruiting more law enforcement officers.
Demand from an increasingly affluent Asian middle-class, in particular in China and Vietnam, has driven the price of rhino horn to more than $60,000 (£36,000) a kilo – an amount that is more than the value put on gold and cocaine. Ivory has been selling at $2,000 a kilo.
A study this week showed that five countries in central Africa lost 65% of their forest elephant population between 2002 and 2011 despite an ivory sales ban in 1989. Gabon had the biggest losses.
.Conservationists say poaching has reached a crisis point: tens of thousands of elephants, rhinos and tigers are being slaughtered each year.
The bulk of poaching takes place in Africa, but much of the demand comes from Asia, where animal products, such as rhino horns, are used in traditional medicine or are bought by the rich as trophies.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague told the conference that wildlife poaching was a global criminal industry that ranks with drugs, the arms trade and people trafficking.
"We are at the 11th hour to prevent the wildlife trade destroying some of the most extraordinary species in the world, but today I believe we have begun to turn the tide, if we follow up everything that has been agreed," Hague said.
He said tens of thousands of elephants were killed last year along with more than 1,000 rhinos, taken by an illegal trade that also threatens tigers and many other species.
The conference, attended by delegates from more than 40 countries including president Kikwete, they linked poaching to international crime, political corruption and even terrorism.
The conference called for greater international cooperation and tougher laws, and urged governments with stockpiles of ivory to destroy them.
The London Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade, was held at Lancaster House, and attended by the Prince of Wales, and his sons, the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry, four African heads of state, and a flurry of celebrities speaking out against poaching, including the action film star Jackie Chan, the footballer David Beckham, and the former NBA basketballer Yao Ming.
The British government hosted the two-day conference, enlisting everyone from Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry to David Beckham to help drive home its anti-poaching message.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
BY AISIA RWEYEMAMU
15th February 2014
Christiane Amanpour, (L), CNN Senior International Correspondent and host of CNN International's Nightly Interview Programme 'Amanpour' hosts President Jakaya Kikwete.
In a rare move calculated at running away from protecting wildlife, President Jakaya Kikwete has told world leaders to ponder on how to protect this country's elephant and rhino populations.
The president said the poaching network was too big and cumbersome to dismantle, and argued that it needed both local and international efforts.
Speaking during a special programme broadcast by BBC Swahili Service yesterday in London , President Kikwete said poachers were not only operating within the borders of Tanzania but beyond the country's boundaries.
The president says Tanzania security organs had since recently managed to arrest 40 ivory dealers in Northern Tanzania, describing some of them as big tycoons with business roots out of the country working with local business icons – and said poaching was a business of the rich – but our readers complain: who is complaining?
The president also made public that the government now knows the ring-leader of ivory trade in the country, but fell short of identifying this man running everyone of us mad, claiming this would weaken his strategic war waged against poachers. We beg your pardon, Mr President,
During an interview with the British Broadcasting Cooperation (BBC) end of this week, you said:
"There is one renowned business tycoon living in Arusha … he is the ring- leader in ivory trade and the godfather of poachers operating in the northern zone." he said.
President Kikwete said Tanzanian officials had a difficult big job identifying the poaching network in northern zone.
Meanwhile, President Kikwete has told CNN during an exclusive interview that poaching posed a serious threat to the endangered species in country, considering that at independence, Tanzania had 350,000 elephants. During the first wave of intense poaching between 1970 and the 1980s, there were only 55,000 elephants left in 1987.
Kikwete said a new census at the Selous-Mikumi ecosystem, one of the country's biggest wildlife sanctuaries, revealed the elephant population had gone down to just 13,084 -- from 38, 975 in 2009, representing a 66 per cent decline.
The president added that because of the unprecedented situation, the government had decided to bring in the military. "We had a mammoth operation by the military called ‘Operation Ohimene'.
Speaking about the suspended operation to combat poachers, President Kikwete said the operation had a number of challenges, arguing that when he ordered the police to assist the game wardens and rangers, he found that the police alone could not cope. "Then we brought in, the military," he argued.
He continues: "We have this new operation … Operation Tokomeza … they did a fantastic job … but we now have problems of cattle that encroached into the game parks … the way they handled the cattle keepers and the animals … we had reports of human rights abuses ,,, and we said this was not acceptable."
However, when President Kikwete asked if the country would burn the available stockpiles of ivory as the United States has, as China did a month ago to show that this was not acceptable, he replied;
"We have about 112 tons of ivory and we are thinking about that … we're thinking about that for a little because we're used to the idea of asking for permission to proceed,
The president announced plans to call for a global ban in the trade of ivory and rhino horn, as a new wave of poaching is threatening its elephant and rhino populations.
"There is every sign that this animal elephant will become extinct in the near future if deliberate efforts are not taken to protect these herds," Kikwete said in a speech released by his office on Thursday.
He said elephant slaughter in Tanzania declined sharply after 1987 when the government launched a major anti-poaching operation, which led to an increase in herds from 55 000 in 1989 to 110 000 in 2009.
But the poaching has revived in recent years, driven by fast-rising demand for ivory and rhino horn in Asia in tandem with growing Chinese influence and investment in Africa.
Kikwete appealed for assistance from the international community in fighting poachers, saying game rangers were overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the problem, with the area of the country's wildlife sanctuaries "nearly the size of the United Kingdom" at 232 535km².
People in China, the world's biggest market for ivory, had turned against ivory products in the past five years, Chan suggested. He compared the generational change in Chinese views on ivory consumption to the shift that had taken place in younger Chinese people against smoking.
South Africa alone lost more than 1,000 rhinos to poachers in 2013, a 50 per cent increase on the year before, and up from just 13 of the animals in 2007.
Now, fresh report from South Africa state that up to 100 rhinos will be moved from Southern African country across the border to Botswana's remote wilderness in an attempt to put them beyond the reach of rampant poaching, conservationists.
The mass relocation comes after a record 1,004 rhinos were killed in South Africa last year and the failure of every measure tried so far to curtail the scourge, which is fuelled by demand for horn in Asia.
In another development, the leaders of Botswana, Gabon, Chad and Tanzania made the statement at a gathering in London to discuss the illegal wildlife trade
The presidents of Botswana, Chad, Ethiopia, Gabon and Tanzania, who attended the conference, backed an Elephant Protection Initiative that includes closing domestic ivory markets in countries that still have them; extending the ban on trade for at least 10 years; and putting stockpiles "beyond economic use."
Meanwhile, in order to combat the poaching in Kenya, its embarking on an ambitious plan to microchip every rhino in the country in a drive to combat a surge of poaching, say wildlife officials. The microchips will be implanted in the horns of more than 1,000 rhinos.
Officials hope the chips will enable live animals to be tracked and poached horns to be traced, improving the chances of poachers being prosecuted.
Soaring prices for ivory and horn have prompted a "gold rush" in poaching across much of Africa.
In August, a white rhino was shot dead in one of Kenya's most secure parks, Nairobi National Park. It was the first such killing in the park for six years.
On Thursday this week, Forty-six countries agreed a declaration to beat back the illegal wildlife trade that is killing thousands of elephants, rhinos and other endangered species each year.
The countries at the meeting agreed to a series of actions, including addressing corruption, adopting legislation for tougher penalties against poachers, and recruiting more law enforcement officers.
Demand from an increasingly affluent Asian middle-class, in particular in China and Vietnam, has driven the price of rhino horn to more than $60,000 (£36,000) a kilo – an amount that is more than the value put on gold and cocaine. Ivory has been selling at $2,000 a kilo.
A study this week showed that five countries in central Africa lost 65% of their forest elephant population between 2002 and 2011 despite an ivory sales ban in 1989. Gabon had the biggest losses.
.Conservationists say poaching has reached a crisis point: tens of thousands of elephants, rhinos and tigers are being slaughtered each year.
The bulk of poaching takes place in Africa, but much of the demand comes from Asia, where animal products, such as rhino horns, are used in traditional medicine or are bought by the rich as trophies.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague told the conference that wildlife poaching was a global criminal industry that ranks with drugs, the arms trade and people trafficking.
"We are at the 11th hour to prevent the wildlife trade destroying some of the most extraordinary species in the world, but today I believe we have begun to turn the tide, if we follow up everything that has been agreed," Hague said.
He said tens of thousands of elephants were killed last year along with more than 1,000 rhinos, taken by an illegal trade that also threatens tigers and many other species.
The conference, attended by delegates from more than 40 countries including president Kikwete, they linked poaching to international crime, political corruption and even terrorism.
The conference called for greater international cooperation and tougher laws, and urged governments with stockpiles of ivory to destroy them.
The London Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade, was held at Lancaster House, and attended by the Prince of Wales, and his sons, the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry, four African heads of state, and a flurry of celebrities speaking out against poaching, including the action film star Jackie Chan, the footballer David Beckham, and the former NBA basketballer Yao Ming.
The British government hosted the two-day conference, enlisting everyone from Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry to David Beckham to help drive home its anti-poaching message.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
