OSCAP CONFERENCE ON THE RISKS OF LEGALISING RHINO HORN TRADE

Onderstepoort, 8-9 April 2014

A summary by the NSPCA

PER DAY WORLDWIDE100 elephants are poached(400000 remain in the wild)

3 rhino are poached(25000 remain in the wild)

5 lion are poached(20000 remain in the wild)

500 pangolin are poached

INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME IS WORTH 23 BILLION DOLLARS, THAT IS LARGER THAN THE GDP OF LAOS, MYANMAR

CHINA:

  • China’s economy is huge and growing.
  • In China 50% of all luxury goods are bought for government officials (bribery and corruption is the norm)
  • China is actively involved in Africa’s economy
  • 1 child policy has prevented 300million births since 1978, the policy is now relaxed, so the population will boom
  • This policy means that by 2020 there will be 55 million Chinese men who will never have a wife. Single men are the biggest role players in organised crime.
  • China has 20% of the world’s population and only 8% arable land
  • 450 million Chinese cannot afford to eat meat every day
  • Status is key in china
  • Wild Aids demand reduction campaigns on shark fin has caused a 70% reduction in shark fin consumption in china!!!!!!
  • WildAid have now started ivory and rhino horn campaigns

VIETNAM:

  • In 2004 the govt banned the use of fireworks on NYE
  • In 2008 the govt made it mandatory that helmets are worn when riding bikes
  • Both of these were cultural norms until banned, CULTURES CAN BE CHANGED
  • Demand reduction campaigns are starting to work
  • If South Africa legalises the trade in rhino horn, these campaigns are wasted
  • Use of rhino horn for jewellery or decor is only used by Chinese nationals in Vietnam
  • Chinese nationals buy horn in Vietnam
  • 42% of wildlife farms in Vietnam admit to still sourcing products from wild animals
  • 50% of the founder stock in these farms are wild sourced animals
  • Vietnam has now banned all non-commercial import of rhino hunting trophies, and banned the sale of rhino trophies

SUPPLY VS DEMAND:

  • If 5% of china’s population uses 5 grams of rhino horn, they will need 372.75 tons per annum of rhino horn to supply the demand
  • Legal harvesting of rhino horn in South Africa will produce 45.5 tons every three years
  • Therefore the market will be short of 357.09 tons of rhino horn
  • THIS CALCULATION EXCLUDES ALL OTHER ASIAN USE COUNTRIES, INCREASED DOSAGE USSE FOR CANCER PATIENTS AND NON-TRADITIONAL USES OF RHINO HORN (JEWELLERY AND DISPLAY ITEMS)
  • IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO EVER MEET THE DEMAND BY LEGALISING TRADE
  • If 10% of middle class in china use rhino horn once a year we would need 60000 rhino horns a year to supply the demand ( this excludes non TCM uses, other states, chronic cancer use, financial stock piling)

LEGALISING THE TRADE IN RHINO HORN:

  • There are 14.5 million registered hunters in the world, If 4.5% of Asians became hunters there would be more than 210 million hunters
  • South Africa will NOT be able to control the price of horn sale or how much is put on the market
  • South Africa permitted domestic trade in horn until 2009
  • SA gave hunting permits to known criminals despite appeals from the criminals country of origin
  • The pseudo trophy hunts caused the demand in rhino horn to increase
  • Pseudo hunting was is legal trade which created demand!!!
  • Taiwan used to be the number one country for rhino use in 1992/3, US sanctions and Taiwan government buy in caused the market to completely drop off, and the market remains very low
  • This ban in Taiwan caused a HUGE drop off in the number of animals poached from 1994 on
  • Poachers will still kill dehorned rhino to make rhino scarcer and drive up the price of stock piled rhino horn
  • SUPPLY TRIGGERS DEMAND, re-awaken old markets ( Yemen knife handle use, Taiwan)
  • If legalised you will get slowed/no expansion of rhino conservation areas, so other species will not be protected.
  • If legalised there will be more corruption
  • Instead of legal trade there should be sanctions and a ban in china
  • Legalising sends the message that rhino horn works and that using it is ok = increased demand
  • Suggestion that big NGO’s buy out govt stockpiles, so govt has cash to protect rhino’s and then the NGO’s destroy the horn
  • Legal trade takes 20 years to work

ECONOMICS OF LEGAL RHINO HORN TRADE:

  • The uncertainties are too largeand VERY RISKY
  • Economics of pro-trade debate are simplistic and totally flawed
  • Only make sense under highly restrictive assumptions
  • As more factors are considered the case for trade vanishes
  • Legal trade will expand the illegal market
  • There are no facts backing up the pro-trade argument
  • Even the highly regulated legal US ivory trade has 30% illegal ivory
  • It is cheaper to poach an animal than to farm an animal

LEGALISE TRADE IN IVORY:

  • In 2008 there was a legal once off sale of 60 tons of ivory
  • In 2009 poaching of elephants and ivory trade BOOMED
  • This legal trade created demand
  • China first opened up the trade with 5 tons a year, they now want 200 tons a year
  • The price was kept low by purchasing Asian countries forming a cartel and keeping the purchase price low, the end sale price cannot be dictated by the sale countries, and the sale price is dramatically higher than the purchase price
  • Any parallel legal trade will always provide a laundering service for illegal trade
  • Legalising the trade just cuts the costs for the criminals doing the illegal trade
  • Legalising the trade legitimises the criminals
  • Despite legalising the trade in 2010 90% of all ivory trade in China is with illegal ivory
  • Legal trade has not reduced the illegal trade, the poaching or the price
  • Bans cost governments less money than controlled trade
  • The sale of ivory to Japan and China FAILED
  • 40 years ago the trade in ivory was LEGAL,failed control of this led to a BAN, elephant populations recovered during the 9year ban

OTHER WILDLIFE TRADES:

  • Trade in farmed tigers has not stopped the illegal trade
  • There are 3500 wild tigers left, wild tiger skin sells for 30000 RMB, farmed tiger skin sells for 160000 RMB
  • Legal python skin trade makes 1 billion US dollars a year, illegal python skin trade makes the same
  • South Africa cannot even manage the legal trade in abalone
  • Largest volumes traded: Ivory, then pangolin, then rhino horn, then bear, then tiger.

RHINO AND VICUNA PARALLEL:

  • Legal trade in vicuna wool only began once the species numbers increased in the wild. Protection and conservation meant that their numbers increased by 1100%, only then was legal trade allowed.
  • Vicuna are STILL POACHED
  • Legal vicuna wool trade benefits the poor indigent surrounding communities, legalising rhino horn benefits private wealthy rhino farmers

KENYA SITUATION:

  • 3 year court study=
  • Out of 750 wildlife cases they only got 250 cases to work on, cases disappear
  • 70% of case files were missing or misplaced
  • 40% of cases were ivory/rhino horn crimes
  • Plea: NOT GUILTY 103 GUILTY 205
  • Only a 78% conviction rate, 15% cases were thrown out
  • ONLY 3.6% got prison time, 73.2% go off on fines
  • Less than 4% convicted wildlife criminals go to jail
  • 91% of all fines were beneath the value of the wildlife goods
  • Kenya is the number one country that ivory is trafficked through
  • Now the DPP prosecutes all wildlife crimes
  • The Chief of Justice has gazetted special laws for wildlife crime, issued sentencing guidelines, and issued practice direction on compelling reasons for withholding bail.
  • New law means that the minimum fine is 230000.00 us dollars, or life imprisonment for any one in possession of any specimen of an endangered species

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