Tue. Feb 18th, 2025 9:46:04 AM

The 2024 Heads of State Summit for the Kavango-Zambezi Trans-Frontier Conservation Area (KAZA-TFCA) took place in Livingstone, Zambia, where member states renewed their calls to withdraw from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).The call came in backdrop of repeated denying of permission to sell off their abundant ivory and other wildlife products.

Key Issues Discussed at the 2024 Summit

The KAZA-TFCA Initiative

  • KAZA-TFCA spans across five southern African nations namely, Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe along the Okavango and Zambezi river basins.
  • About 70% of KAZA land is under conservation made up of 103 wildlife management areas and 85 forest reserves.
  • This region harbours over two-thirds of Africa’s elephant population (approx 450,000) with Botswana (132,000) and Zimbabwe (100,000) alone holding significant portions of this population.

Historical Dispute with CITES

  • Like this summit, at the 2022 Conference of Parties in Panama, southern African countries advocated for legalising the ivory trade to finance conservation and reduce human-wildlife conflicts.
  • Despite having large elephant populations and related challenges, their proposal was rejected, as these countries accused it of prioritising anti-trade ideologies over scientific conservation methods.

Key Issues Discussed at the 2024 Summit

  • Delegates at the Livingstone Summit emphasized the economic pitfalls of existing CITES restrictions, advocating for wildlife product sales rights while highlighting elephant mortality rates and the loss of economic potential from ivory stockpiles.
  • The ban on ivory and wildlife product trade affects conservation funding, as revenue from sales could aid wildlife management.
  • Delegates argued that decisions are not based on scientific evidence but on populism and political agendas, undermining the effectiveness of CITES in promoting sustainable conservation.
  • The summit featured renewed appeals to exit CITES, with proponents suggesting it could prompt CITES to reconsider or empower KAZA states to autonomously handle their wildlife resources.
  • In response to increasing restrictions on trophy hunting imports by western countries, Zimbabwe and other KAZA states are exploring alternative markets, particularly in the East.
  • Trophy hunting involves selectively hunting wild animals, often large mammals, to obtain body parts like antlers or horns, serving as symbols of achievement or for display.

Ivory

  • Elephants’ ivory tusks, akin to oversized teeth, consist mainly of durable dentine encased in resilient enamel.
  • Both male and female African elephants have tusks, but only some male Asian elephants do.
  • World Wildlife Fund (WWF) highlights the issue of ivory poaching, noting that “ivory” encompasses materials from various species like mastodons, mammoths, hippos, narwhals, and walruses, which are not included in the US elephant ivory ban but may be regulated by other laws like CITES.
  • Every ivory item, from tusks to trinkets, comes from an elephant killed by poachers, with about 20,000 elephants killed annually to meet mainly Asian demand for ivory.

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