In Zimbabwe, the government is campaigning to lift the international ban on the sale of ivory

Zimbabwe feels punished for managing its elephant populations well and is seeking compensation. The population of this animal is estimated at 100,000, which is 50,000 too many according to the government. In places, the confrontation with humans becomes unbearable according to Tinashe Farawo, spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority: “People can come and see with their own eyes the extent of the damage caused by the animals, the anger that this causes among the communities, who derive no benefit from it. It is simply said that the population must be able to benefit from it. “

Zimbabwe, which already sells 500 hunting permits a year, now wants to sell its ivory. Just bend over to pick it up, argues Tinashe Farawo: “Most of the ivory we have comes from naturally dead animals. When they die, we collect the ivory.” The Zimbabwean government showed its ivory stocks to European diplomats on Monday, May 16, to convince them to lift the embargo on the sale of ivory. The reserves are estimated at 600 million dollars, enough to finance the national parks for 20 years according to Emmerson Mnangagwa, the President of Zimbabwe.

Provided that these revenues really benefit the management of the natural parks. For the NGOs, the sale of ivory is a false good idea. This would be a short-term fix at best, or even worse according to Phillip Kuvawoga, director of the habitat conservation program at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW): “You are opening Pandora’s box without knowing if the traffickers will seize this opportunity. Dumping this ivory on the international market could have repercussions that endanger the survival of the species in the world. It is always to be feared that the money generated is not used as intended.”

One of the solutions would be to rely on tourism revenues to finance the management of the parks. Ivory and wildlife management will be discussed next week: Zimbabwe is hosting an international conference on elephants.