MANAGING ELEPHANTS IN AFRICA - November 2001

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1 ABSTRACT MANAGING ELEPHANTS IN AFRICA - November Kruti Dholakia Managing the ivory trade has been a big issue in the last 4 decades in order to control the sharply declining elephant population in the world and to protect the species. With the liberalization of the African nationals and tribesmen another issue that has come to a forefront is how much should the rest of the world intervene as far as preserving the elephant in Africa is concerned. I have come to the understanding that tribesmen should be allowed to do their thing and domesticate as many elephants as they deem necessary. This is my position on the issue and I have tried to offer social, psychological and primarily economic perspectives on this issue accordingly. I. INTRODUCTION The biggest mammals to walk the face of earth, as of now are the Elephants, especially the male elephant found in the African wilderness. Primarily found in the countries of South Africa, elephants have been declining in numbers by leaps and bounds in the last 30 years, because of two main reasons. The first reason is the ivory trade and high prices for ivory in the global markets and the second reason is the conflict between humans and elephants for space or residential areas. In the last 3 decades active action has been taken to keep the ivory trade under check by banning it completely, and most of the countries of the world have also committed to the ban effectively. Efforts to relocate elephants from one area to another and to basically give them the needed incentive to grow in numbers has been observed in National Parks like the Kruger Park and others in the African continent. After the White supremacy ended in 1994 in South Africa, the local people have been rooting for complete freedom to deal with the elephants as they see fit. But wildlife preservationists are taking a stand against this and are trying to perpetuate the regulations for elephant preservation. This is an issue, which has to be dealt with in a more empathetic manner at this point. Though it is receiving some attention from people like us, who are sitting miles away from the nearest elephant, some hands-on objective analysis can be deemed important at this stage of the controversy. Let us consider the facts and their solutions one after the other, and see how and if we can fit the Clark fishery model and the Kuznets curve model to this issue effectively. Firstly, we will deal with the conservation issues and concerns that the environmentalists have in the Preserve the Elephant issue, and see how legitimate or genuine they really are. Then we will deal with the African Approach to this issue and see if it is economically viable and/or feasible. Lastly, we are going to compare the two situations and see which one of the two

2 is a better solution in the long run, not only for the elephants but also for the human beings. II. THE WILDLIFE BELONGS TO WILDLIFE VIEW The Animal Rights Association, The World Wildlife Fund and the various preservation societies of the world, are aiming at preserving the wildlife and various species in the world. Let us try and consider the Clark fisheries model to understand what exactly are these environmentalists aiming at as far as preserving elephants are concerned. As the principles are the same I have not made any significant changes to the original model. We can then proceed to understand why the controversy has been created in the first place. Since elephants are a renewable resource, we understand that they can regenerate themselves as per the biological growth curve. Figure 1. Now let us examine the Clark model in which the environment determines the maximum amount of the species.

3 According to this graph, we can see that if the amount of species falls below pt. B, then extinction occurs. Also, if the stock increases to pt. D, which is the maximum number supportable by the environment, or its carrying capacity, we can see that the stock starts depleting over a period of time. Going by the argument of the preservationists, juvenile elephants should be bred in captivity and then released into the wild after some time in order to prevent the extinction of the elephant. But as we can see this is not advisable in the ultimate sense of the term, for two main reasons: 1) Domesticated elephants are not capable enough of surviving in the wild, especially without a matriarchal support 2) They compete with a lot of other animals for food and space, thus creating a load on the forests. Once the stock of elephants reaches the carrying capacity of the environment, they are going to get naturally depleted as can be seen from various species, which have naturally become extinct in the past. Thus we can say that the growth rate of a species depends on the size of its stock.

4 Most biologists are tempted to stay at the maximum sustainable yield but on doing an economic cost-benefit analysis taking into consideration the usevalue of an elephant we can see the following: Thus, we can see that if the elephants are owned, a net profit is gained by the rent at pt. E* which is the optimum usage value for the elephants. Taking this into account, it is easy to see why Environmentalists are wrong in rooting for simple preservation of the elephant species. Since Africa owns these elephants there is a potential for a substantial profit from using these elephants even without the ivory trade and poaching. Now we can proceed and see what can actually happen if the native Africans are given complete rights to the elephants. It is important to remember here that we will be coming back to the Clark model while we try to understand the workings of a laissez faire type of a system for elephants which is basically a natural good, and hence, not a free or open market good. III. THE AFRICAN WAY The tribes in Africa are arguing that they should have complete rights over the elephants. In the past, a lot of preservationists have culled these animals themselves in order to control the population burst. With the increasing number of humans on the surface of the earth, the elephants, which have no other natural enemies, are being shot and killed. On the other hand, if they are tamed and

5 kept within their own bounds, they can prove to be a valuable source of income for the African population. The whole argument is that instead of making hunting for elephants totally illegal, it can be put to an economic use by way of controlling the elephant growth rate such that humans are not affected or competing with these beasts for space. Also, if ivory trade is being controlled, hunting elephants for sport, or for that matter, raising ticket prices to visit the National Parks is a wise way of dealing with the elephant issue. Another issue raised by the people from these tribes is that this would offer a more feasible solution than culling and relocating elephants away from their families. Also with extra protection measures being taken by the environmental societies worldwide, it is becoming more difficult to even domesticate these animals, which in turn creates a threat for the tribesmen and villagers living around the areas where the elephants are living. Since these people are the ones who actually live in close proximity with the elephants, they are well aware of the mutually dependent status between humans and elephants. They can therefore be trusted upon to take the right decisions, without paying a heavy personal cost in the process, which they are doing right now. Let us now consider the Clark Model again and see if this makes economic sense or not. As we can see in figure 3, the number of hunters or tribesmen determines the effort. The Total Benefit is obtained by the (Use Value)*(Price obtained). If at E*, the net profit obtained is, then the more the people compete for it, the more would the stock of elephants get depleted. However, prices ultimately reflect the scarcity or abundance of the good. In this case also, with increasing competition for alternate uses of the Elephant, the prices will rise to a point where there will not be any profit in it any more, because elephants are a limited resource. Thus in the long run, the people will settle on the optimum E* as seen in figure 2. Let us now consider a different viewpoint in this case. Consider the Environmental Kuznets Curve with reference to the Elephant population in Africa.

6 Figure 4. On using the Kuznets curve, we can see that like environmental degradation, the depleting number of elephants can also vary with per capita income of the country. Most of the South African countries are either underdeveloped or LDCs. Thus, it is possible that initially with the deregulation of the elephant preservation laws, more elephants will be lost than those that have been in the past few decades. But with the developing economies, and stabilization processes of open markets, eventually the elephant stock will also start growing. IV. THE ISSUE If the elephant ownership rights are assigned to the local tribes that live in and around the elephant populated areas, there is one significant problem needs to be considered. What percentage of the population should be granted to each tribe? Thus the problem of assignment of ownership arises. How are the tribes supposed to co-operate to this effect? If there are 10 tribes that are assigned ownership rights to a herd of elephants, the basic problem consists of dividing how many elephants is each tribe supposed to be responsible for. The simple solution to this would be to assume rationality, but with more important and pressing issues like poverty and lack of sufficient economic resources, it would not be reasonable to assume this. A certain level of management has to be incorporated into this until the time they can learn to function together harmoniously in taking complete responsibility for maintaining the elephants. V. CONCLUSION

7 Sitting in an air-conditioned environment, it is easy for the environmentalists to say that African Elephants must be preserved for the good of the world, which in itself is not a wrong sentiment, but in practical contexts it is important to consider the various factors that go hand in hand with the actual preservation of these gentle creatures. For one, indiscriminate and cruel poaching methods can be easily avoided by making fewer but stronger rules against it. This would also affect the animal psychology and they can be more peaceful in their own environments. Co-existence of the various species of animals, including human beings in the vast wilderness of Africa is not as impossible as we have begun to deem it to be. After all it is a survival of the fittest world, and human beings have far since realized that they can be the fittest only if the environment around them is conducive to it. If the elephants become an important economic source, there is no need for concern about their extinction because rationality dictates that they will be able to survive the indiscriminate slaughter by selective few. On a more sociological front, we can see that once the African tribes are given the exclusive rights to preserve and manage the elephants, their dealings with respect to elephants will be more protective and personal. The intruders can be easily dealt with once they realize that elephants as a resource is theirs to maintain and if profits are shared they will simply start diminishing. Thus in my opinion, the African tribes should be given the exclusive managing rights to the elephants in Africa and further ideological pursuits by people who do not even live in that environment should be discouraged strongly to avoid various social costs to the African economy as a whole. REFERENCES: 1. Changes in the economic use value of elephant in Botswana: the effect of international trade prohibition Barnes, J.I., Ecological Economics Vol.18, February Elephant Management Revised Kruger National Park website 3. Environmental Economics Chapman, Duane, Letter from Chairperson EMOA, March Managing African Elephants UFAW, Animal Welfare Volume 9(1), Modeling species extinction: The Case for non-consumptive values Alexander, Robert, Ecological Economics Vol.35, Issue 2, May 2000.

8 7. Policies on Managing African Elephants Sado, Skadins, Kassa, Sooriyakumar, Agricultural University of Norway, Report Martin, Claude, Director General, WWF International

Welcome to the Animal Ambassador Program From IFAW!

Welcome to the Animal Ambassador Program From IFAW! This month s featured animals: ELEPHANTS Female elephants and their female offspring spend their entire lives together. If danger is near, the adult