Poaching cartels active in Botswana

An intricate detailed report that maps the global trade in illicit elephant ivory from the African bush to the thriving Asian retail markets has revealed that sophisticated poaching and trafficking cartels are active in Botswana and threaten the existence of elephants in the country. 

Botswana and Namibia are currently regarded as two of the safest ranges for elephants in Africa.

However due to the growing global crime estimated to be worth as much as $213 billion annually, the two countries are in danger of losing their elephant population. The report released last week by Born Free USA titled, ‘Out of Africa: Mapping the Global Trade in Illicit Elephant Ivory,’ notes that, as much as 5-7 percent of the elephant population is being slaughtered annually by a wide range of highly militarised actors, closely tied to conflict, organised crime, and political corruption.

“More worrying than known incidents, however, are the incentives: Southern Africa now has an estimated two thirds of the continent’s elephant population, and sheer numbers suggest that poaching will soon displace [from West and East Africa] into Southern Africa. Zimbabwe is already witnessing rising levels of industrial poaching, while Botswana and Namibia, which are two of the safest elephant ranges, have also witnessed incidents that suggest sophisticated poaching and trafficking cartels are already active,” reads part of the report. The price of ivory is reported to have skyrocketed from $5/kg in 1989 to a wholesale price of $2,100/kg in China in 2014.

To achieve this value, a trafficking organisation must source, consolidate, transport, and sell ivory along an extremely long and complex supply chain that crosses borders and oceans and travels from the remotest corners of Africa thousands of miles to retail markets in Asia.

Investigations by Born Free USA- a global leader in animal welfare and wildlife conservation-found that Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport is one of the top three airports in the illicit ivory supply chain, and that the poaching within South Africa’s borders is poised to increase, with highly organised criminal syndicates from Asia already based in the country.

The investigators have identified Mozambique as a transit route for ivory from landlocked countries such as Botswana and Zimbabwe. The report says Mozambique has lost nearly all its elephants as of 2014, but could reemerge as a trafficking hub if poaching in other countries in Southern Africa picks up. “It already serves as a transit route for rhino poached out of South Africa’s Kruger ecosystem, could also traffic ivory for landlocked neighboring Zimbabwe and Zambia, and possibly even Botswana,” reads the report. Born Free USA has revealed shocking details about the elephant-poaching menace in Africa, stating that almost a quarter of a million African elephants have been killed in less than six years. Botswana has the largest population of elephants in the continent estimated to be around 212 914, with 62 percent of the population found in the Chobe District. Botswana has adopted a “shoot-to-kill’ policy against poachers with the minister of environment, wildlife and tourism Tshekedi Khama being a strong proponent of the policy saying it is an “effective deterrent.”  “Firstly they (poachers) come armed with military weapons and secondly they enter the country at non-gazzeted points.

Thirdly they engage in poaching which is illegal,” Khama told a local newspaper last year. Meanwhile Born Free USA is of the view that in identifying various “chokepoints,” through which ivory is passed, “if we can close down the transit routes that bring ivory to East Asian markets, we can save the elephants.” The report concludes that illicit wildlife networks are complicated, and skills required to carry out a single successful end-to-end ivory transaction are disparate, ranging from hunting and tracking to local smuggling, knowledge of international shipping and the illicit container industry, and intimate connections with overseas ivory markets.

“The network requires people to occupy different positions along the chain and perform specific tasks in different geographies, all to move a single consignment,” reads part of the report. Through litigation, legislation and public education, Born Free Africa leads vital campaigns against animals in entertainment, exotic “pets”, trapping and fur, and the destructive international wildlife trade.