Call to legalise rhino horn trade splits world's environmentalists
With elephant and rhino populations fast dwindling, a global debate on legalising the trade in ivory and other endangered-animal parts has divided campaigners seeking to preserve the animals, writes Melissa Twigg
It is the most inflammatory question you can ask in environmental circles. It provokes accusations of greed, corruption, naivety and even racism, with NGOs going head-to-head with landowners, economists and a growing number of conservationists.
The question? Should there be a legal trade in rhino horn and ivory?
In January, the argument intensified as governments took important steps in opposing directions. On January 13, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying promised to enforce a total ban on the sale of ivory in Hong Kong.
“The government is committed to the protection of endangered species,” says environment undersecretary Christine Loh Kung-wai. “We are exploring legislation to ban the import and export of ivory and phase out the local ivory trade; and we are working on imposing heavier penalties for smuggling and illegal trading in all endangered species.”
It was hailed as an important milestone for the NGOs that had campaigned long and hard for this historic moment.
A week later, South Africa, home to 80 per cent of the world’s remaining rhinoceroses, took a step in the opposite direction when a judge upheld a 2015 decision to lift the moratorium on domestic trade in rhino horn that had been in place since 2009. This caused an uproar in the conservation community, with voices clamouring on both sides of the argument that by not heeding their warnings, we would witness the imminent demise of these magnificent beasts.
