Civil Unrest Drives Illegal Trade in Wildlife Products
blurb:isstoday13may09Wildlife
13 May 2009: Civil Unrest Drives Illegal Trade in Wildlife Products
A recent study published by the scientific journal of Conservation Biology revealed that more than 80 per cent of the world’s major armed conflicts from 1950 – 2000 occurred mostly in regions of diverse flora and fauna and thus threatening their very existence. Africa, one of the world’s richest biodiversity regions, is among the regions where armed conflicts occur mainly due to civil strife – in Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Liberia, Mozambique, Rwanda and the Sudan just to mention the few - have found their home.
Civil unrest in Africa and the Great Lakes region in particular, presents one of the most difficult challenges to the successful management of wildlife resources. Illegal harvesting, over-exploitation and misuse of wildlife resources are known to be quite high in areas which have experienced civil wars such as Burundi, DRC, Northern Uganda, Somalia and Southern Sudan. The impacts of civil wars have manifested themselves in the neighbouring countries such as Tanzania, Ethiopia and Kenya.
Apart from using places with wildlife biodiversity as battle fields, armed conflicts create refugees and enables civilians (unauthorized) to access firearms. More firearms in the hands of civilians may lead to increase in illegal hunting and poaching of wild animals for bush meat and trophies and thus threatening the wildlife population. It is reported by wildlife authorities in DRC, for example, that since the early 1990s to date about 95 per cent of the hippopotamus have been killed in Virunga National Park in the DRC due to armed conflict in that country.
Similarly, exploitation and trade in wildlife products are believed to generate resources that are used to finance and sustain civil wars. Armed conflict zones also provide ready markets for wildlife products from neighbouring countries and regions. Recently, for example, the Miombo newsletter in Tanzania published a report which revealed that one of the reasons for the increase in illegal bush meat trade in Kenya and Tanzania is the presence of reliable markets in the civil war zones in Northern Uganda, Somalia and Sudan. It was reported for instance, that bush meat from the famous world renowned Serengeti National Park in Tanzania is transported all away to civil war zones in Darfur, Sudan, the DRC and Burundi. The perpetrators of illegal bush meat trade are both local people and foreigners who cross the borders either to buy the bush meat from the locals or illegally hunt by themselves in the National Parks and Game Reserves. This kind of bush meat trade is mainly for commercial purposes and there is a chain of organized players – from the origins that is the Game Reserves or National Parks through transit routes regions such as porous border points to final destinations in the civil war zones.
Refugees as a result of civil wars pose the greatest threat to wildlife biodiversity. They are hosted in the refugee camps that require adequate open space – mainly in the buffer zones of the protected areas such as national parks and game reserves. They obtain their energy requirements of fuel wood from the nearby forests and woodlands and often participate in poaching to obtain their food. In Tanzania, for example, the decline of wild animal population in Burigi – Biharamulo Game Reserve is linked to the presence of refugee camps in the area. Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI) reported a decline of wildlife populations in Burigi – Biharamulo Game Reserve by about 77 per cent between 1980 and 2000, which is attributed to the presence of refugees although other factors such as drying up of water sources due to prolonged drought may be a contributory factor.
Furthermore, conservation activities, prevention of crimes in wildlife management and monitoring trade in illegal wildlife products tend to collapse in times of social unrest and during the time of active armed conflicts. This may increase opportunities for the perpetrators of crimes in the wildlife sector to continue with their illegal activities without fear for being apprehended.
Countries of the Great Lakes region generate significant income from wildlife resources, for instance, through tourism. Thus, crimes in the wildlife sector have negative impacts on the economies of these countries, which compel the countries to find ways and means of preventing these crimes. The decline in wildlife populations in the region due to illegal hunting and poaching is quite shocking. On 10 December 2008 President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania told guests at a fund raising dinner at Wildlife Conservation Foundation of Tanzania that the country was losing about 50,000 wild animals annually due to crimes committed in the wildlife sector. He went ahead and stressed that with about 15 perc ent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Tanzania coming from tourism sector, which in turn relies heavily on natural resources and wildlife in particular; prevention of crimes in the wildlife sector is not an option but a must.
It is therefore prudent that governments in the Great Lakes region and Africa in general find a sustainable way to address emerging social, economic and political conflicts both within nations and between nations in order to prevent civil wars and their attendant negative consequences. Government officials and the general populace at large should have a moral obligation as well as political responsibility to protect wildlife resources for the benefit of present without compromising the same for future generations. It is also important that international community, including national natural resources conservation agencies, develop and implement conservation programmes and projects in war affected regions both during and after armed conflicts to assist in the management and protection of wildlife resources. More importantly, though, governments that have experienced or are experiencing civil strife, through the assistance of international community, must disarm all civilians and armed groups who illegally posses firearms. Political will among the politicians is essential in this regard.
Wilson Kipkore is Head of the Environmental Security Programme Head (ESP) while Donald Mwiturubani is a Senior Researcher, Nairobi Office
