Ebony Market & Ivory

Ebony Market & Ivory

Ivory is common goods, across the world in fact, but did you know that it’s procured illegally? The ivory is most commonly from elephants which have been classified as an endangered species, meaning they are illegal to poach for any reason, including to obtain and sell their ivory. African countries are in dire need of help to make a choice on whether to subtly nurture the trade of their elephant ivory or to extend their precautions toward the matter to protect the elephant populations. 

As countries across Africa work toward a solution to this ivory crisis they consider the idea of shutting down their markets for the commodity. Though this would seem to be a no brainer solution, there has proven to be many other factors involved, as this became clear when China attempted to close its markets. This method would not work in Africa, due to an unexpected phenomenon, “China’s closure of its domestic ivory trade in 2018 is a monumental win for African conservation… stopping ivory trade without international coordination is like squeezing a balloon — if the domestic market of one country closes, it bulges in another consumer country” (Sehmi). If any governments in Africa decided to go through with closing all their markets in a country, the result would be the same “balloon” effect, pushing the unsold ivory into a neighboring market. This would be causing a surge in another country's trade, ultimately taking the same toll on ivory reserve. Due to this repercussion, the act of closing markets in one country entirely is not something that has worked and it is not predicted that it will in the future.   

Some countries pitched the idea of reopening their public markets just long enough to drain ivory stockpiles and allow for income to go to those who need the money. Despite the logic behind the idea of getting rid of any ivory that could be sold, it was quickly questioned due to the backfire of the previous trial, “Experts had feared a repeat of a 2008 trial, when ivory stockpiles were sold, prompting a surge in elephant poaching” (Dalton). Once the reserves of ivory were depleted, people saw a need to replenish them, leading to more poaching, which is the opposite reaction they were expecting. Governments and researchers were anticipating that people would see this as a natural ending point to poaching as a whole. As this failed in its previous attempt, it was taken out of consideration to be repeated, leaving countries to explore other options for their countries.

Each country has a sizable decision on their hands, will they allow for ivory to be taken from their elephants and then sold nationally and internationally? According to the Born Free Foundation, there are tens of thousands of elephants being killed every year solely to sell their ivory. This means there is not much time to find a suitable solution for this poaching crisis. It has reached the point where the affected countries must choose between the economic mobility the trade grants them, or to protect their elephants at the cost of these economic benefits; or perhaps a third option, will they find a way for the ivory poachers to maintain income without further diminishing the elephant populations?

Work Cited

Dalton, Jane. “Attempts to Reopen Global Elephant Ivory Trade Fail.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 22 Aug. 2019, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/elephant-ivory-trade-africa-sale-poaching-a9075436.html.

Poaching is only becoming a bigger dilemma for the countries facing it. There are many countries looking for solutions to poaching and illegally trading ivory, but there is yet to be a feasible conclusion. There are some countries trying to get rid of stockpiles to then end ivory trading altogether, but this just leads to more poaching to replenish supplies. Other countries are allowing the poaching of elephants and claiming it is to solve overpopulations in elephant herds. The author of this article is a steady author for a journalism website in the UK, she also has a published non-fiction book making her a reliable source for this information. There do not appear to be any biases in this article as she is not associated with any organizations regarding elephant poaching and ivory trading. This article allows me to see the ways that countries in Africa and across the globe are working to come to a solid conclusion about poaching and whether they are going to keep ivory markets open or shut them down entirely. This added the evidence of the “balloon” effect shown in the ivory trade, and this was used in my article.

Foundation, Born Free. “The Ivory Trade.” Born Free, 2020, www.bornfree.org.uk/ivory-trade.

An informative piece explaining the statistics of elephants in different parts of Africa being killed for their ivory, then going on to explain the ways some of the countries are also fighting the illegal poaching of elephants for their tusks. As well as the ways that The Born Free Foundation is working against the poaching of these elephants. This source is very credible as they are a trusted foundation, however, they are biased as they are looking to bring an end to poaching for ivory. This source provided useful data that I can use as supportive evidence in a claim. This is the same perspective that I have seen previously so it is more of a confirmation than a new perspective. This gave me the numbers and statistics I was able to add to my conclusion.

Sehmi, Harleen. “Closing Legal Markets for Illicit Ivory Will Save Africa's Elephants.” African Wildlife Foundation, 5 Apr. 2019, www.awf.org/blog/closing-legal-markets-illicit-ivory-will-save-africas-elephants.

As countries continue to turn a blind eye to the crisis of illegal ivory trading over borders there are many looking for ways to control the poaching of the crucial populations of elephants in Africa. What people fail to realize is that without an appropriate population of elephants in Africa rainforests that provide for the entire world will begin to die leading to a major decline in populations of every species. This author majored in journalism and has written for this organization for several years and is overall trusted by those who read her articles. This article helps me to understand how outside countries are handling the poaching crisis in Africa and provides a visual of what should be done to help bring it to an end. This article was used to argue the negative effect selling stockpiles had on poaching.