A reprieve for jumbo?

Having ensured that the international ban on ivory trade continues, India cannot afford to relax its vigil. Documentation presented at a recent CITES conference shows that the Asian elephant is still a poacher's favourite, says USHA RAI.

IF there are battles galore and drama in the jungles of Africa or India, there are equally mesmerising wars being fought outside the forests by big nations to save a species or exploit it for commercial reasons, thereby sounding its death knell.

At Gigiri, Kenya, recently where the 11th meeting of the conference of parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), was held, one such battle was waged by India to reverse the decline of the Asian elephant and to get a reprieve for its African brethren.

In 1997, at the Harare meeting of CITES, the 10-year ban on international trade in ivory was lifted and Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia, which claimed they were protecting their elephants, were allowed a one-time export of ivory to Japan on an experimental basis. The limited sale was fixed at 59.1 tonnes. The Japanese use the ivory for making name-seals, called the hanko business.

But, lifting the decade-long embargo on African ivory has led to increased poaching of the Asian elephant. Even as horrifying tales of the brutal killing of Indian elephants become public, ivory traders here have begun lobbying for lifting the ban in India too.

The first comprehensive studies on pressures of poaching and the ivory trade on the Asian elephant were initiated in India in the mid-1990's. These led to fervent appeals to all those concerned with the conservation of elephants, including Government authorities and the international community, to take measures to tackle the threat to the species.

Studies were done, both in India and abroad, by some prominent conservation organisations of the country like the Asian Elephant Research and Conservation Centre (AERCC), the Wildlife Protection Society of India and the Wildlife Trust of India, with support from governments.

At this year's CITES meeting, South Africa, represented by Mohammed Ali Moosa (of Indian origin), joined the other three African countries, in demanding limited export of ivory to Japan. However, a stout defence against exports was put up by India and Kenya. The United States came out openly against the ivory trade and the President, Mr. Bill Clinton, came on record to support a total ban.

Many international conservation organisations, the Environment Investigating Agency and the Species Survival Network, supported the cause with documents. India came out with an excellent, illustrated booklet, Reversing The Decline Of The Asian Elephant, an appeal by the Government of India to the CITES parties.

This time, Ian Douglas Hamilton, who has been working in Africa from the 1970's, and who has elevated elephant study to a fine science, joined the battle to get a reprieve for the jumbo. The other big name in elephant studies, Hezy Soshani, represented the American Elephant Research Foundation. Apart from officials of the Environment and Forest Ministry, India was represented by elephant man R. Sukumar, Vivek Menon and Ashok Kumar of the Wildlife Protection Society.

Also present was the Japanese Wildlife Conservation Society that had some excellent documentation on smuggling of ivory into Japan despite a legally permitted quota. This material was prepared for the 1998 meeting of the Standing Committee of CITES. Gung ho over the limited sale of ivory to Japan in 1997, posters began appearing in Tokyo and elsewhere on the reopening of international ivory trade. This was brought to the notice of the Standing Committee of CITES in 1998 and again in Kenya this year.

While Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa came up with proposals for continuing the ivory trade, India and Kenya put forth plans to upgrade the African elephant population, which had been downgraded to Appendix 2 at the Harare meet in 1997, back to Appendix 1. They also pleaded for revision of the international monitoring systems - Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) and Elephant Trade Information Systems ((ETIS).

The lobbies for permitting ivory sale were so strong that discussions continued till late into the night. Finally, all four African countries agreed to withdraw their proposal for ivory trade. Host country Kenya moved a resolution that African elephants from these countries continue on Appendix 2 so that they could export at least the skin used for making cowboy boots. Having ensured the international ban on ivory trade, India had to compromise by withdrawing its resolution to upgrade the population of African elephants.

However, India cannot afford to relax its vigil, for the poaching for ivory has decimated the tusk bearing male elephant population. As against 300,000 to 600,000 African elephants, there are just 35,000 to 50,000 Asian elephants, half of them in India. Further, unlike the African elephants, only male Asian elephants have tusks. This has led to a significant poaching pressure on adult male elephants, causing highly skewed sex ratios and threatening the long-term survival of the species.

While the total population of wild elephants in India is over 20,000, the number of tuskers of breeding age is just 1,000 to 1,200. It is this small fraction of the elephant population that is being targeted. In the Periyar Tiger Reserve, Kerala, an elephant stronghold, there are only five adult males left in a population of 1,000. And of these five, only two are tuskers. The other three are makhanas or tuskless males, says the report which was presented at the CITES meeting. Further, poaching is not limited to adult tuskers of 15 years and above. Sub-adults and even juveniles of three and five years are killed. Because of this, there has been a dramatic reduction of the mean weight of ivory from poached elephants.

India's report meet pointed out that the year in which limited sale of African ivory was permitted, there was maximum poaching of elephants in India - 110 recorded cases till March this year, 91 cases of poaching were recorded in 1998 and 76 in 1999 ... data for the last couple of years is still coming in because of late detection of carcasses and verification.

The ivory is smuggled out of India by land, sea and air. By land it goes to Nepal then onwards to China and Thailand, the sea route for smuggled ivory is from the west coast to the United Arab Emirates, then by air to Thailand, China and Japan. Ivory hanko blanks have been seized in Jaipur. Though the Indian or Asian ivory is distinct from African ivory, it is difficult for most people to distinguish between the two. In fact the smuggled ivory from both continents can be mixed and sold.

While 80 per cent of the ivory goes to Japan, there is demand even in China, including Hong Kong and Macao, Singapore, Thailand and South Korea.

After a great battle, a small reprieve has been won for the elephant. But India will have to stay alert as pressure to lift the international ban on ivory trade is bound to come up again at the next meeting of CITES in 2002.

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