Legalising International Trade in Rhino Horn ???

[H. erectus]

OMW,.... Soon .gov will be issuing trading licence!!,..

while all evil continues! By example the liquor license act!!

Like a shebeenist, do you really believe this action will curb
abuse????

I seem to understand that by opening the flood gates, it will
drown misuse????!!! Dunno, ...

What I do know, the fact that there are misfits out there that
do not care two bits about your opinion and that includes
mine. They are survival cases, prison and sometimes death would
be a way out a dismall life!!

You go out there and try tell these a'''holes out there how wrong
they are,.. probably they would rather prefer your bullet for ease
of existence!!

[Sprocky]

Molly or Dolly, was a cloned sheep. Can the clever ones out there not do similar with Rhino but in larger numbers???

I know people said that it was "playing God", but people are now "playing God" by killing off a species before it's natural departure time.

[Richprins]

[Bushcraft]

That makes sense if the supply is infinite, but it isn’t and never will be, therefore makes no sense

[Richprins]

The supply could be infinite once "farming" is in progress?

[Bushcraft]

Doubt it will meet the demand, but soon something like farming will be the only option, although that will come with cruelty issues also

When is leopard farming going to start to support the strange beliefs of some “chiefs” It’s not the way it should be

[Toko]

Legalised rhino horn trade to curb poaching – SAHGCA

The demand for rhino horn in the international market is steadily increasing, which speaks to the need for its trade to be legalised, argues South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association (SAHGCA) manager for hunting and conservation Dr Herman Els.

Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa echoed this view when she advocated the legalising of rhino horn trade, which reflects government’s goal of reducing rhino poaching, during a media briefing in March.

Rhino horn sales have been banned for more than 30 years under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora initiative.

Until 2010, about 10 to 12 rhino were poached a year. From 2010, however, the number drastically increased to 333 by 2011, 485 in 2012, and is set to reach close to the 1 000 mark by end-2013, Els tells Creamer Media’s Polity.

Also, more Asians, the continent that is home to the biggest demand for rhino horn, are entering Africa, which creates avenues for traders to exploit markets in Asia, he adds.

Rhino horn has become a status symbol in some Asian countries, where people are known to pay more than $1-million for a rhino horn.

“The moment you start forcing down the black-market price, there is little reason for people to continue poaching at the rate which the current numbers indicate. Poaching will never stop, but it can be limited,” Els believes.

He proposes that auctions be held for legal rhino horn, allowing buyers the option of purchasing the horn at a more affordablee price, which could compete with black-market prices, therefore, reduce poaching activities.

Rhino horn to the value of R3.5-billion are currently stored in South Africa, meaning that no rhino would have to be killed for at least three authorised and properly managed auctions a year to take place.

A DNA certificate would be issued for each horn sold at the proposed auctions to ensure the sale is legal, Els explains.

He stresses that it is crucial for South Africa to create an avenue for the legal trade of rhino horn, as the demand for rhino horn is growing.

“South Africa has to take part in international negotiations with countries importing rhino horn within the black-market system,” Els emphasises.

“South Africa cannot expect Asians to stop using rhino horn for traditional purposes, as it is part of their cultural value system, which has existed for more than 5 000 years. However, a satisfactory solution for all parties involved in rhino trade could be implemented,” he explains.

The supply of horn could be sourced from the 200 to 350 rhino dying of natural causes in South Africa each year. These horns form part of the national stock-pile, which South Africa could use to sell rhino horn on the international market in a controlled manner. This will decrease the high black market price for horn, and thus decrease the high price poachers can get for a set of rhino horn. says Els.

Corruption

The sudden increase in rhino poaching can be traced to the high price paid for rhino horn on the black market. Prices currently average between $ 65 000 and $75 000 per kilogram on the black market. “These figures explain why poachers can be paid between R250 000 to R350 000 for a set of rhino horn poached in Kruger National Park. Obviously, the money involved contributes greatly to corruption,” notes ELs.

“While there are adequate laws to prohibit rhino poaching, the problem lies with the policing and implementation of the laws. Much fraud is being committed by government officials with regard to rhino horn and, in some cases, by private rhino owners),” he adds.

Many cases of rhino being registered with environmental personnel and or the police, only to result in robberies at the premises where the rhinos are held shortly thereafter, have been reported.

“Laws and proclamations are not the issue when it comes to endangered species,” he stresses, adding that, while media emphasis is mostly on rhino horn trade, there is a steady increase in the age old demand for tiger and lion body parts, as well as ivory, in Asian markets.

“The international trade in these animals cannot be stopped and, therefore, we need to find initiatives where trade is legally sanctioned and regulated,” Els points out.

He notes that economic value has to be attached to natural resources to ensure their survival.

Edited by: Shannon de Ryhove

[Richprins]

[Richprins]

From Mail&Guardian, a very respectable newspaper:



Andrew Parker


It has been six years since the rhino-poaching crisis first emerged. In this time our government has successfully managed to sign a memorandum and action plan with the Vietnamese government and deflect a zero-quota proposal from Kenya at the 2013 congress of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites). That is it. In the same amount of time, the Allies were able to resist and overcome the greatest threat mankind has ever seen by winning World War II.

Considering that many more elephant than rhino have been slaughtered elsewhere in Africa since 2008, why the growing concern over every individual rhino lost in South Africa? The reason is simple: the enemy is at the gates of the last stronghold of organised conservation on the continent. Every rhino lost shows the ever-tightening stranglehold by organised international crime on the destiny of our wildlife heritage. There is so much at stake. Already elephants and predators are being poached and it is only a matter of time before tourists are scared away by this growing insurgency.

Criminal syndicates must be amazed at the conservation community's lack of decisive action. This conflict is not being fought in Asia and it is not Asians who are dying. The people being shot, killed and arrested are Africans. It's the African inheritance that is being laid to waste.

My plea to the policymakers deliberating on this matter is to remove the blinkers and see that it is Africa's children being exploited in this rape of our heritage. Was the refusal to grant the Dalai Lama an entry visa for Desmond Tutu's birthday party a portent of a coming complete subservience to Asian masters? How many sustainable jobs have been created in Africa for Africans through Asian investment, especially compared to the existing jobs in wildlife tourism that will be lost if international arrivals dry up because a guest has been injured or killed in a confrontation with poachers.

Each day that passes without decisive action on an international scale gives criminal syndicates a chance to extend their malignant reach and influence. The global conservation community has been totally ineffective in transferring risk and accountability to those in Asia, but criminal syndicates have been getting more and more organised, entrenched and sophisticated in Africa.

Single-minded investment
Increased investment in local law enforcement only is clearly not the answer. We have been pursuing this strategy for six years, but the rhino body count is growing. Putting more people behind bars means nothing if the slaughter continues unabated; we must be careful not to mask our failure with this façade. Yes, security measures will always be necessary, but in this case, they are clearly not enough. For as long as there is little or no risk to the criminal masterminds in Asia, single-minded investment in additional, localised law enforcement simply drives up the stakes for the Africans on both sides of the conflict – while, at the same time, driving up the rewards for criminals.

There is, unfortunately, a limitless recruiting pool of highly impoverished and therefore desperate Africans for the syndicates to exploit. Africa's sons are being used as cannon fodder.

With the black-market value of a dead rhino continuing to soar – in stark contrast to the decline in the legitimate value of a live animal – are we not playing straight into the hands of the criminal syndicates? Our limited focus on increasing risk on the supply side could well drive up the price of illegal horn on the black market, to the benefit of the masterminds behind this crisis.

Our enemy's rewards are growing exponentially, but our ability to fund preventative security operations through the legitimate sale of live animals has shrunk tremendously. Sadly, a live rhino is now increasingly viewed as a liability. The time has come to acknowledge that we have been outmanoeuvred, that all we have to show for our efforts are the corpses and criminal dockets of our fellow Africans.

How, then, do we take back some level of control and influence? Certainly, inaction is not the answer. The one option available to us – the legalisation of international trade – is widely rejected. But it is rejected by peripheral stakeholders, who have never assumed the responsibility of looking after a live rhino or had to deploy their employees into harm's way to hold the line against the poachers.

These detractors of the legalisation argument include many in academia, civil society and government. Vicious attacks and threats have meant that certain well-meaning animal-rights nongovernmental organisations not only create uncertainty in the public mind, but also cause the government to dither. Self-proclaimed experts use social-media platforms to pontificate; they conveniently justify donations, while insulting the very men and women who, on a daily basis, are getting on with the job of saving rhinos.

Ask the conservation managers tasked with this job for their views. There is now almost unanimous support among all the public and private conservation agencies in South Africa for legalised international trade in rhino horn. This collective plea from those at the frontline should count for something.

Non-lethal harvesting
The reason the peripheral stakeholders reject trade is that there is uncertainty about how it will affect demand. They worry that demand could quickly exceed supply. My response is:

The current situation of zero trade is clearly not working. If we wait until the national herd is in steep decline before acting, we may indeed reach a point where this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Recent data suggests that the rhino population in South Africa is very close to this threshold. If we are to look at trade as an option, we need to do it without delay. Yes, the Cites time frame is a constraint, but Article 15 provides recourse for emergency intervention. Let's use it. Politicians, this is your cue.
I agree that legalised trade will not eliminate poaching. There is a legal market for cars, yet auto theft is rife. The intention is not to use trade to stop poaching, but to prevent the extinction of a species. It is to enable the sustainable use of an animal that uniquely lends itself to non-lethal, repetitive harvesting to fund ever-climbing security costs. Legalised trade would bestow a meaningful value on a live animal again. This would only be good for the survival of the species.
Yes, there is uncertainty about how trade will affect demand, but since when has economics been an exact science? Economics is driven by supply and demand. We know there is a demand for horn that can be supplied through sustainable, non-lethal harvesting. This will encourage investment in the species, with significant potential for ensuing revenue to fund improved counter-poaching measures.

Concern about supply not meeting demand seems to be founded on current population data. Yet, when left to their own devices, rhinos breed extremely well. Investment in the species, with range expansion, will result in the population growing very quickly indeed. Also, is it not standard practice to regulate demand for a scarce commodity through pricing? Look at diamond sales – and diamonds are not even scarce.

Doing nothing enables your adversary to dictate terms at his discretion. By taking action we will disrupt the status quo, which will expose weaknesses and thus give us opportunities to target these.

The window of opportunity to save the rhino is rapidly closing. We need to act decisively and fast if we are to address what is increasingly becoming an existential threat to all our wildlife and associated economies. We cannot wait until Cites 2016 to advance the trade agenda. We will have lost anther 3000 to 4000 rhinos, plus who knows how many more other animals, by that time.

The criminals' chokehold on the destiny of our wildlife heritage may be too tight to break. We need to take back that destiny by doing exactly what the criminals don't want us to do: legalise the international trade in rhino horn.

Andrew Parker is the chief executive of the Sabi Sands reserve




http://mg.co.za/article/2013-05-17-00-i ... -strategy/

[Sprocky]

That all makes sense in a perfect world, but...


...the world we live in is far from perfect!


Flooding the market with "legal" horn will force the price down. The poachers are used to X amount of money, to maintain their standard of living will just result in more sales needed, hence even more poaching!!