The Idler, Friday, February 22, 2019

Paradox

upon

paradox

HERE'S something that for absurdity beats Brexit and the Great Wall of Mexico rolled into one.

The states of southern Africa have  90% plus of the world's rhino population, a responsibility that runs into millions upon millions every year in terms of financial cost and has also cost the lives of many hundreds of rangers.

Yet the means of carrying out this responsibility, which in essence is to ensure the survival of the species into the 21^st century and beyond is decided not by the states of southern Africa but by the rest of the world.

 

In 1977 the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) with the best intentions voted for a ban on international trade in rhino horn. Forty-two years later, that ban is still in place. It's had a disastrous effect on the rhino population of southern Africa, where deaths at the hands of poachers now exceed births, meaning the rhino is headed for extinction.

Rhino horn has always had a cultural and medicinal value in the Far East. Prosperity in countries like China and Vietnam has increased demand exponentially. Rhino horn is now valued higher than gold. The demand drives a massive illegal trade that funds poaching (and corruption) on a scale that outpaces the efforts of field rangers and conservation bodies.

Hence the crisis of rhino survival. And here lies another paradox. Various NGOs thrive on crisis. They raise funding from governments and other wealthy sources to protect the rhino. They lobby for the ban on the legal trade to remain in place. It will happen again at the next Cites conference in May.

The anger and frustration were palpable this week at a gathering at the Pretoria Country Club of LTRS (Legal Trade for Rhino Survival) where environmental scientists and others put their case for a lifting of the ban so that a strictly controlled legal trade in rhino horn (of which there is a huge stockpile from natural attrition) can be used to rescue the species – without killing a single rhino..

Foreign diplomats were present. Eswatini (Swaziland) and Namibian government delegates expressed support for a lifting of the ban. (The South African Government's stance, astonishingly, appears ambivalent).

Dr George Hughes, a former CEO of the Natal Parks Board (now Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife) sketched how various species in Natal had been rescued from extinction since the 19^th century. The method: sustainable use of wildlife, as demanded now for the rhino.

But will it be allowed? Or will the countries of Southern Africa break away from Cites? It's a real problem.

 

 

INVESTMENT analyst Dr James Greener notes in his latest grumpy newsletter that state capture seems to have faded as an issue.

"Despite the much-trumpeted extradition treaty agreed with the United Arab Emirates last year, it seems that the police need no longer hang around OR Tambo International waiting for the incoming Dubai flights.

"Astonishingly, the cases and allegations against the Gupta brothers have now evaporated. So still we wait for the arrest of someone – anyone—who stole all our money."

 

Tailpiece

LAWYER: "The blood tests are back. I've got good news and bad news."

Client: "OK, what's the bad news?"

"Your blood type matches that found on the murder weapon and in the getaway car."

"And the good news?"

"Your cholesterol's down to 130."

Last word

I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting.

Ronald Reagan