Eradicating Illicit Ivory Trade

In a bid to curb illegal ivory trade, the federal government recently destroyed nearly 2.5 metric tonnes of ivory that were confiscated from traffickers, writes Ugo Aliogo 

There has been a significant increase in the number of seizures of ivory and prosecution of offenders in Nigeria in the past year.

In May 2023, two individuals were given a four-year prison sentence for conspiring to possess 839.4 kilograms of pangolin scales and 145 kg of elephant tusks illegally and a clearing agent was sentenced to a six-month prison term in June for illegally possessing a container full of pangolin scales, elephant ivory, tusks, and bones.

Recently, the federal government took a major step to tackle illegal ivory trade by destroying nearly 2.5 metric tonnes of ivory confiscated from traffickers.

The Minister for State for Environment, Dr. Iziaq Salako, said Nigeria would be taking a firm stance, and has called on the global community to join hands in eradicating the illicit trade that threatens the very existence of Nigeria’s wildlife.

It was revealed that the Director General, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Aliyu Jauro, has incinerated 2.5 tonnes of seized elephant ivory and 2.436.15 kg of skin from other species worth over N9.9 billion for illegal shipment.    

It was learnt that stock-piling of illegal wildlife products are expensive to store and vulnerable to re-entering the black market, the reason why the federal government is bent at destroying the ivory, thus sending a strong message that the illegal wildlife trade will not be tolerated.
Efforts like these don’t only deter poachers and traffickers, but safeguard our remaining elephants in the wild. About 415,000 elephants are remaining in Africa today compared to over 1.3 million elephants found in the continent in 1979, with as few as 400 elephants left today in Nigeria.

A recent report published on the BBC website estimated that there are fewer than 500,000 elephants in Africa compared to more than 1.3 million in the 1970s. As few as 400 elephants remain in Nigeria. In some cases, elephants are killed when they come into contact with humans or when they destroy human crops. 

Another report by Smithsonian magazine espoused that in line with habitat loss and climate change, the illegal ivory trade has decimated the two wild African elephant populations over recent decades. Africa was home to an estimated five million elephants a century ago, but by 1979, the number dropped to 1.3 million. Today, the total number of elephants in Africa is estimated to be around 415,000.

In December, Nigerian officials began investigation, following outcry at a viral video that showed soldier shooting two elephants that had wandered on to farmland.
Salako further stated that the government crushed the seized elephant tusks into powder form and would use the powder to build symbolic national park monument as a reminder of the importance of elephants in the ecosystem.

The pulverization of the tusk in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, follows a similar event in October where officials destroyed four tonnes of seized pangolin scales valued at $1.4 million.

Thousands of elephants are killed each year for their tusks, despite a 1989 ban on the trade of ivory by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Despite being a signatory to CITES, Nigeria is considered a hub for groups sending illegal African wildlife parts including tusks and pangolin scales to Asia, according to law enforcement and wildlife experts.

However, Nigeria has stepped up counter-smuggling efforts in recent years, partnering with British, US and German officials as well as international organisations to make its biggest seizure of illegal wildlife parts.

In a chat with newmen recently, the Chief Executive Officer, the Elephant Protection Initiative Foundation (EPIF), John Scanlon, said: “The Elephant Protection Initiative is honoured to stand with the Government of Nigeria at today’s ivory crush. The destruction of confiscated elephant ivory in Abuja will not, in itself, put an end to the trafficking of elephant ivory. It will, however, ensure that no one will ever profit from this contraband. When coupled with the recent seizures of ivory and the prosecution and conviction of offenders, it also sends a powerful message that Nigeria does not tolerate this illegal trade, and is taking important steps to protect its remaining elephant population. We look forward to continuing our support to Nigeria with stockpile management and other conservation-related issues.” 

WWF Report

Meanwhile, a report by WorldWideLife (WWF) revealed that each year, at least 20,000 African elephants were illegally killed for their tusks. A decade-long resurgence in demand for elephant ivory, particularly in parts of Asia, has fuelled this rampant poaching epidemic.

The report revealed that the elephant ivory trade not only threatens the very survival of this iconic species and causes broader ecological consequences, but also endangers the lives and livelihoods of local people and undermines national and regional security.

The report further explained that the United States implemented a near-total ban on elephant ivory trade in 2016, and the United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong Kong, and other elephant ivory markets followed suit. Most significantly, China took the remarkable step of closing its legal domestic ivory market at the end of 2017. Other Asian countries with open elephant ivory trade are under substantial pressure to take action.

The report noted that WWF and its partners have successfully driven international action at the highest levels that, along with diplomatic and public pressure from all sides, contributed to the game-changing China ban.

According to the report, “We are working to ensure the ban is successful by eliminating remaining consumer demand for elephant ivory and black-market sales. A proliferation of trade and demand for illegal elephant ivory outside China could seriously undermine the effectiveness of China’s ban.

“WWF is addressing the root of the problem by engaging directly with elephant ivory consumers and working with other governments to ensure the imminent closure of open elephant ivory markets, as well as working to understand the underlying motivations of elephant ivory buyers to develop strategies to influence them. Our goal is to create a new social norm that buying illegal elephant ivory products is socially unacceptable.

“There is an entirely separate and legal trade of walrus ivory, which is culturally and economically important to Indigenous communities in the Arctic. The sustainable use and sale of walrus ivory by Alaska Native peoples has not had the same negative impacts caused by the illegal trade of elephant ivory.”

National Geographic Report

Also, a study by National Geographic noted that the wildlife trade monitoring partnership between the World Wildlife Fund and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, revealed that 2011 was the worst year on record for elephant poaching since the international ivory trade ban took effect in 1990. Most of the poaching takes place in Africa. 

The study stated that the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) reported that 25,000 elephants were killed in Africa in 2012, though other observers say it could be many more.

The study noted that in Tanzania alone, poachers kill 30 elephants a day. Many reasons exist for the continued poaching in Africa, including lack of sufficient enforcement officers, corruption among the enforcement community, real danger from armed poachers, and a well-organized and well-funded criminal network behind the poachers.

The Ivory Market

A report by Wild Africa Fund noted that in recent years, Nigeria has emerged as a major hub for the trafficking of ivory, especially to Asia. The report said Nigeria recently adopted its first National Strategy to Combat Wildlifeand Forest Crime and subsequently established the Wildlife Law Enforcement Task Force (WLETF) of which NESREA is the operational lead, to address wildlife crime in the country.

The vast majority of smuggled ivory experts say as much as 70 per cent ends up in China, where a newly wealthy middle class fuels the demand for luxury ivory products. Although seizures of illegally obtained ivory take place, much of the smuggled ivory still gets through. Less than one per cent of the shipping containers unloaded in the Port of Hong Kong are inspected for smuggled ivory.

Ivory traders who do get caught are seldom arrested and, if they are, they face feeble penalties. The combination of improved international trade links and weak enforcement proves a powerful and extremely lucrative incentive for the criminal networks leading the poaching of African’s elephants.

Despite bans on ivory trafficking, an estimated 1.1 million pounds of poached elephant tusks are shipped from Africa each year, largely to overseas markets in Asia.

Similarly, a study by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) espoused that not all the shipments are being directly shipped to Asia before making it to local markets. The study said in January of 2015 Ugandan officials seized a shipment of 137 ivory tusks weighing 700 kg being shipped to Amsterdam, Netherland; whether there was a different final destination is unknown. The ivory shipment had an estimated street value of $1.5 million or $2,142 per kilo ($973 per pound), which compares to $1,500 per kilogram for ivory purchased in 2010.

The study disclosed that Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa are the major departure points in Africa for illicit ivory on its way to Asian markets. Thailand and China are the most common final destinations, but Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam are both destinations and act as transit points of illegally acquired ivory.

A report in 2016 revealed that Shuidong Town in China’s Guangdong province, is a major destination in the illegal ivory trade and a growing entry point for illegal pangolin scales into the domestic Chinese market. Shuidong has a history of illicit ivory trafficking beginning in the late 1990s and building on a foundation of legal sea life imports and trade from local fisheries.

It was noted that with the rise of ivory demand in China during the late 1990s, traders and syndicates based out of Shuidong Town were able to effectively create trade networks both between their coastal province of Guangdong and nearby Chinese trade ports, including Hong Kong and Shanghai, as well as originating ports in Tanzania and Kenya on the east coast of Africa and Nigeria on the west coast.

Experts Opinion

Commenting on the development, Wild Africa Fund’s Peter Knights said Nigeria is stepping up its game in fighting illegal wildlife trade with more seizures and prosecutions and greater public awareness.

He also noted that the next logical step is to update its outdated legislation and pass a law which was introduced last parliamentary session, but was stalled by the elections, adding that this would greatly help to end its role as a major entry spot for illegal wildlife trade.

In his remarks, the West Africa Representative, Wild Africa Fund, Dr. Mark Ofua, revealed that it is no longer news that biodiversity is in danger, adding that Nigeria is at the brink of losing so many important species of animals.

“We have already lost some. The cheetah is functionally extinct in Nigeria. The rhino is locally extinct. So many animals have gone, but we still have a few animals left. For the elephants, it is really, really sad because we have less than 400 elephants left, fragmented over the country,” he stated.

He urged government, environmentalists, and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to put measures in place conserve and save the remaining elephants species, noting that there is a sparse population of elephants in the southwest, around the Itasim forest, Kanji Dam and the Yankari game reserve.

According to him, “If we can come together and contrive to save our elephants, nature has a beautiful way of recovering, of bouncing back. But we must act now before the damage is too late.”