Feature

Namibia to auction 170 wild elephants, saying rising numbers threaten people

December 3, 2020
Hunting

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Originally published in The Guardian.

Photograph: 2630ben/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Namibia plans to auction 170 wild elephants because of drought and an increase in numbers bringing them into conflict with people.

Increase in conflict between species and drought prompt sale of animals that are at risk of extinction due to poaching

Namibia has put 170 “high value” wild elephants up for sale due to drought and an increase in elephant numbers, the southern African country’s environmental ministry has said

An advertisement carried by the state-owned daily New Era said an increase in incidents of human-elephant conflict motivated the sale of the large mammal that is at risk of extinction due to poaching and ecological factors.

The ministry of environment, forestry and tourism said it would auction the animals to anyone in Namibia or abroad who could meet the strict criteria, which include quarantine facilities and a game-proof fence certificate for the property where the elephants will be kept.

Foreign buyers must also provide proof that conservation authorities in their countries will permit them to export elephants to their countries.

Like several other African nations, Namibia is trying to strike a balance between protecting high-value species like elephants and rhinos, while managing the danger they pose when they encroach on areas of human habitation. Namibia’s conservation drive, which has seen its elephant population jump from around 7,500 in 1995 to 24,000 in 2019 according to government figures, has enjoyed international support.

But last year Namibia said it was considering withdrawing from the rules that govern the global trade in endangered species. This was after countries voted during a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meeting to reject proposals to relax restrictions on hunting and exporting its white rhinos.

The country wants to allow more trophy hunting and the export of live animals, arguing that the funds it would raise would help it to protect the species.

In October it put 70 female and 30 male buffalos from Waterberg Plateau Park in central Namibia up for sale in a bid to ease pressure on grazing land.

The arid southern African nation also auctioned 1,000 animals from national parks, including 500 buffalos in 2019 as it faced the worst drought in a century.

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IWMC Feature

Conservation Influencers

Conservation Influencers is a searchable directory of the animal activist, environmental and ecological lobby. It examines the history, mission, methodology and reputation of NGOs to assess their impact on the global conservation cause.

Franz Weber Foundation

From 1990 until 2015, Franz Weber Foundation (FFW) managed the Fazao-Malfakassa National Park in Togo, which was, according to an in-depth investigation by Duke University, ‘established by forcing the local communities off their land and without taking into consideration their point of view’. That same study cited convincing evidence from reports published in 1990, confirming that competition for land use was already ‘creating conflict between the local communities and park managers’. In 2015 Togo refused to renew FFW’s contract because, the report says, ‘local communities were still excluded from the management of the natural resources of their land’ and FFW had ‘failed to fulfil its contract’. Franz Weber Foundation plays a major role within CITES because it funds and manages from Switzerland the African Elephant Coalition (AEC), which represents 32 African range states, some of which have barely any elephants and others none at all. Contrary to the wishes of the range states in Southern Africa, which manage most of the world’s wild elephant populations, the AEC at CITES’ CoPs repeatedly tables proposals to put all of the world’s elephants in appendix I. And the AEC uses its voting power to keep in place prohibitions on ivory sales and all other trade in elephant-related derivatives, including skins and hair, which Southern African nations wish to legalise.

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