Elephants dying in numbers through Illegal trade

Nana Kofi Adu-Nsiah, Executive Director, Wildlife Division of Forestry Commission, says widespread failure of forest governance characterized by illegal trade and logging undermines sustainable economic growth.

He said research has indicated that 25,000 Elephants were killed in 2013 worldwide to supply the illegal ivory trade and that profits from the business are used to finance activities like transnational organised crime.

Nana Adu-Nsiah called for efficient control of trans-boundary movements of wildlife products and effective information exchange involving importing, exporting and transit countries to address the problem.

He said this on Saturday at a Global March for Elephants and Rhinos to create attention to the crisis facing these two species and to call for an end to the ivory and Rhino horn trade that has pushed the extinction of these two animals.

The Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission and members of the Global March for Elephants and Rhinos in Accra marched from the Aviation Social Centre in Accra, some principal streets in cantonment and back to the centre.

He said the demand for illegal wildlife products is based on their use in traditional East Asian medicines and the desire for status symbols.

Nana Adu-Nsiah added that the illegal trade in animals, plants and fishes is one of the largest sources of criminal earnings in the world; ranking alongside trafficking of drugs, people and arms.

He noted that the expansion of economies, international commerce, transportation and the use of information and communication technology has contributed to demands for illegal wildlife products.

Nana Adu-Nsiah said there is the need for strong, international and coordinated governance to control such environmental crime.

He said the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice adopted in 2007, a resolution on international cooperation in preventing and combating illicit international trafficking in forest products.

Mrs. Barbara Bilgre, Organizer of Global March for Elephants and Rhinos, said October 4 is observed by concerned citizens in more than 130 cities to march and create awareness against the killing of Elephants and Rhinos for trade.

Mrs. Bilgre said statistics show that Elephants are being brutally slaughtered in Africa for their ivory and that Elephants in wildlife are likely to face extinction in less than 10 years.

She said in 2013, more than 1000 Rhinos were killed in South Africa, and 13 killed in 2007, explaining that only about 25,000 Rhinos are now left in the wild.

Mrs. Bilgre called for effective collaboration among countries and international agencies for concerted action to save these species from poachers.