Gabon is just pretending to fight elephant poaching and ivory traffic

  • By ELI
  • September 8, 2014

No results, almost no law, and the elephants are disappearing.

From Gabon News:
Based primarily on Gabonese ivory seizures in the world (2 tons in Hong Kong in August 2013, 3.8 tons in Togo in February 2014, 6 tons in Malaysia in December 2012) for two years, the situation has not been improving. National Geographic also mentions Gabon as one of the countries from which seized ivory often comes from.http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/06/140603-ivory-trafficking-elephants-togo-lome-laga-world/

There are many arrests of ivory traffickers in Gabon but they are often released quickly. Firstly, due to the legislation which is among the weakest in Africa (6 months maximum jail for smuggling ivory), secondly because of the poor implementation of law.
This seems paradoxical if one considers the political will, which is presented in conferences and international media and allowed Gabon to receive significant financial support, including the European Union, the French Development Agency and United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

But the legislation has not been changed and it appears that traffickers are still effective, killing an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 elephants each year in Gabon.

The original article here: http://en.gabonews.com/environment/items/ivory-in-gabon-speeches-and-realities.html

Photo credit ATE/Soila Sayialel

 

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