Jakarta Globe, April 07, 2013
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| The international trade in elephant ivory has been outlawed since 1989 after populations of the creatures plummeted. (AFP Photo) |
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Kenya plans
to bolster current lenient sentences for convicted wildlife poachers or ivory
smugglers in a bid to stamp out a spike in elephant killings, the government
said on Saturday.
“We intend
to fight poachers at all levels to save our elephants,” government spokesman
Muthui Kariuki said in a statement.
A major
obstacle to this is that Kenyan courts are currently limited in their powers to
jail or fine those convicted of wildlife crimes, he said.
“One of the
major setbacks are lenient penalties and sentencing for wildlife crime by the
courts,” he said.
“The
government is concerned about this and has facilitated the process of reviewing
the wildlife law and policy with a view to having more deterrent penalties and
jail terms.”
Poaching
has recently risen sharply in east Africa, with whole herds of elephants
massacred for their ivory. Rhinos have also been targeted.
Passing
tougher wildlife laws will be made a priority for Kenya’s parliament, elected
last month but which has yet to begin business.
“We look
forward to... parliament giving priority to passing of a new wildlife law and
policy,” Kariuki added.
Kenya’s
current wildlife act caps punishment for the most serious wildlife crimes at a
maximum fine of 40,000 Kenyan shillings ($470), and a possible jail term of up
to 10 years.
Last month,
a Chinese smuggler caught in Kenya with a haul of ivory was fined less than a
dollar a piece.
The
smuggler, who was arrested carrying 439 pieces of worked ivory while in transit
in Nairobi as he travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Hong Kong,
was fined $350 and was then set free.
Such fines
pose little if any deterrence, with experts suggesting a kilogramme of ivory
has an estimated black market value of some $2,500.
Last year
poachers slaughtered 384 elephants in Kenya, up from 289 in 2011,according to
official figures, from a total population of around 35,000. This year, poachers
have already shot dead 74.
Tourism is
one of Kenya’s most important foreign currency earners.
In
addition, a thousand new wildlife officers “will soon be recruited to beef up
the ranger force” as part of strengthening operations “with a view to stamping
out the poaching menace,” Kariuki added.
The illegal
ivory trade is mostly fuelled by demand in Asia and the Middle East, where
elephant tusks and rhinoceros horns are used to make ornaments and in
traditional medicine.
Trade in
elephant ivory, with rare exceptions, has been outlawed since 1989 after
elephant populations in Africa dwindled from millions in the mid-20th century
to some 600,000 by the end of the 1980s.
Africa is
now home to an estimated 472,000 elephants, whose survival is threatened by poaching
as well as a rising human population that is encroaching on their habitat.
Kenya is
also a transit point for ivory smuggled from across the region.
In January,
officials in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa seized more than two tons of
ivory, which had reportedly come from Tanzania and was destined for Indonesia.
Agence France-Presse
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