Leaders decide to fight ivory trade ban at CITES CoP20

The KAZA 2024 Heads of State Summit ended in the Zambian resort town of Livingstone on May 31, with leaders of the five member countries agreeing to argue their case for lifting of the ban on ivory trade at the 20th meeting of the Conference of Parties (CoP20) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) due next year in Geneva, Switzerland.

Members of the five-nation Kavango-Zambezi Trans-Frontier Conservation Area (KAZA-TFCA) are unhappy with a CITES ban ivory trade to the point of considering leaving the 184-party convention, but the leaders decided to act cautiously by giving dialogue a chance once more.

All options open

The summit host, President Hakainde Hichilema, was joined by President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe and President Nangolo Mbumba of Namibia. Botswana was represented by its Vice President Slumber Tsogwane, while Angola was represented by the country’s Tourism minister Marcio de Jesus Lopes.

The leaders of these five southern African countries with the highest number of elephant populations in the world resolved to keep their options open until after the CITES CoP20 due in the second half of next year. The countries declared a dispute with CITES at CoP19 in Panama in 2022, after their request for the partial lifting of the ban on trade in ivory and other elephant products was unanimously refused. The KAZA summit noted that the member states are sitting on ivory worth over $1 billion which they are unable to sell because of the CITES ban.

In a communique issued at the end of the week-long summit, the leaders said they had decided to come up with a common position that they will take to CoP20.

“(The) Summit considered options available within and outside CITES including diplomatic engagement, withdrawal, reservations, arbitration, and trading with non-CITES parties to benefit from wildlife, and wildlife products,” the communique read.

“KAZA Partner States were urged to fully prepare and participate at upcoming dialogue meeting planned for August 2024 in Botswana, including the holding at least two preparatory meetings to develop a Regional Common Position for CITES CoP20.”

Western ‘double-standards’

In-coming KAZA chairman, President Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe — a country struggling with an elephant population of 100,000 — accused Western countries that are opposing the opening up of trade in ivory of double-standards.

“It is disheartening, most unfortunate and unacceptable that those who are opposing our conservation philosophy have themselves failed to manage their own wildlife populations, some to the point of extinction,” Mnangagwa said.

“In contrast, we in Southern Africa, and more specifically in the KAZA, have managed to grow our wildlife populations substantially. We should never allow those with dubious agendas to dictate the way we manage and utilise our own God-given resources as well as the conservation models we deploy within our own jurisdictions.”

Renewed commitment secured

Made up of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, the KAZA-TFCA is a 520,000-square kilometre wildlife sanctuary straddling these five southern African nations that share common borders along the Okavango and Zambezi river basins.

One of the objectives of the inaugural KAZA summit was to get renewed commitment from the current leaders of the member countries, which it succeeded in doing.

“This summit strengthens the legacy left behind by the founding fathers of the trans-frontier conservation area which is aimed at harmonising policies, strategies and practices for managing shared wildlife resources that straddle across international boundaries,” Mnangagwa said. He added that as a result of this initiative, the countries can derive equitable socio-economic benefits through sustainable use and development of their natural and cultural resources. “It is this spirit of unity that will facilitate continued beneficial cooperation and collaboration among our nations for the betterment of our people.”

President Hichilema said KAZA must entrench the issue of responsibility and sustainable conservation.

“It’s our duty to take care of these assets in totality to pass them on to those coming after us. We need to do more work and create opportunities for our people.”

Other issues that were discussed at the summit include the increased cases of human-wildlife conflict, the effects of climate change on wildlife conservation efforts, the synchronisation of community benefits within the KAZA region, the promotion of a single visa system called the KAZA UNIVISA system, carbon trading initiatives and the need to explore bankable nature-based and green finance solutions.

The KAZA member states signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2006 resulting in the KAZA Treaty of 2011 which was followed by its immediate implementation. The KAZA-FTCA area is a partnership centred around “a common vision to conserve biodiversity at scale through promoting integrated transboundary management and to market the landscape biodiversity using nature-based tourism as the engine for rural economic growth and development.”

The summit ran under the theme: “Leveraging KAZA’s natural capital and cultural heritage resources as catalysts for inclusive socio-economic development of the eco-region.”