Elephant Meat Trade in Central Africa Summary Report Daniel Stiles 2011 Occasional Paper of the IUCN Species Survival Commission No. 45 About IUCN management. Membership is reviewed and reappointed IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, approximately every three years. helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges. The group meets approximately every one to two years to review status and trends of elephant populations and to IUCN works on biodiversity, climate change, energy, discuss progress in specific areas related to conservation human livelihoods and greening the world economy by of the species. Since it was first convened in the mid supporting scientific research, managing field projects all 1970’s, the AfESG has considerably grown in size and over the world, and bringing governments, NGOs, the UN complexity. The AfESG Secretariat, based in Nairobi and companies together to develop policy, laws and best (Kenya), houses full-time staff to facilitate the work of the practice. group and to better serve the members’ needs. IUCN is the world’s oldest and largest global environmental The challenge of the group is to find workable solutions organization, with more than 1,200 government and NGO to country and regional problems in an open-minded members and almost 11,000 volunteer experts in some atmosphere devoid of deliberate controversies. To meet 160 countries. IUCN’s work is supported by over 1,000 this challenge, the AfESG has provided technical expertise staff in 45 offices and hundreds of partners in public, NGO and advice by helping to facilitate the development of and private sectors around the world.Web: www.iucn.org national and sub-regional conservation strategies.The group has helped in the development of the Convention IUCN Species Survival Commission on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) The Species Survival Commission (SSC) is the largest system for monitoring the illegal killing of elephants of IUCN’s six volunteer commissions with a global (MIKE). membership of 8,000 experts. SSC advises IUCN and its members on the wide range of technical and scientific In addition, the AfESG has assisted in the organisation, aspects of species conservation and is dedicated to facilitation and technical preparation of the Range States securing a future for biodiversity. SSC has significant input Dialogue process and more recently, the annual African into the international agreements dealing with biodiversity Elephant meetings together with the CITES secretariat. conservation. Web: http://www.iucn.org/about/work/ This process has been instrumental in moving towards programmes/species/about_ssc/index.cfm regional consensus on controversial elephant issues. IUCN Species Programme CITES MIKE The IUCN Species Programme supports the activities of Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) is a the IUCN Species Survival Commission and individual programme established by a resolution of the Parties to the Specialist Groups, as well as implementing global species Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species conservation initiatives. It is an integral part of the IUCN of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Secretariat and is managed from IUCN’s international headquarters in Gland, Switzerland. The Species MIKE is a monitoring system put in place across the Programme includes a number of technical units covering entire range of the African and Asian elephants to provide Wildlife Trade, the Red List, Freshwater Biodiversity information needed for elephant range States to make Assessments (all located in Cambridge, UK), and the appropriate management and enforcement decisions, and Global Biodiversity Assessment Initiative (located in to build institutional capacity within the range States for the Washington DC, USA). long-term management of their elephant populations. IUCN SSC African Elephant Specialist Group (AfESG) It is also intended that this monitoring system would assist The AfESG is a group of technical experts focusing on the dialogue among Parties and facilitate the decision- the conservation and management of African elephants. making by the Conference of the Parties regarding The broad aim of the AfESG is to promote the long-term the protected status of elephants by providing reliable conservation of Africa’s elephants and, where possible, the information on levels and trends in the illegal hunting of recovery of their population to viable levels. Led elephants; to determine changes in these trends over time; by a volunteer Chair (currently Dr. Holly Dublin), the and to determine the factors associated with such changes group consists of some 45 volunteer members drawn and to assess to what extent observed trends are related from all parts of the continent. All members are actively to CITES changes in listings or ivory trade resumptions. involved in some aspect of elephant conservation and/or Elephant Meat Trade in Central Africa Summary Report Daniel Stiles 2011 The designation of geographical entities in this book, and the presentation of the material, do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IUCN concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of IUCN. This publication has been made possible by funding from the European Commission provided through CITES MIKE programme. Published by: IUCN, Gland, Switzerland Copyright: © 2011 International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Reproduction of this publication for educational or other non-commercial purposes is authorized without prior written permission from the copyright holder provided the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction of this publication for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without prior written permission of the copyright holder. Citation: Stiles, D. (2011). Elephant Meat Trade in Central Africa: Summary report. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. 103pp. ISBN: 978-2-8317-1393-9 Cover photo: Daniel Stiles. This elephant baby could lose its mother because of tusks. Layout by: Aksent Ltd Produced by: IUCN/SSC African Elephant Specialist Group Available from: http://african-elephant.org and http://www.iucn.org Table of Contents Acronyms 9 Acknowledgements 11 Executive Summary 12 INTRODUCTION 18 Background 18 Objectives 20 Study sites 21 Cameroon 22 Central African Republic 24 Republic of Congo 27 Democratic Republic of Congo 30 Summary of previous activities 33 Cameroon 33 Central African Republic 34 Republic of Congo 35 Democratic Republic of Congo 36 National Laws related to Elephants 38 METHODS 39 Study design 39 Case study field work 40 Results 42 Hunters 42 Elephant meat 45 Ivory 48 Weapons 48 Transporters/Middlemen 51 Elephant meat 51 Ivory 53 Vendors 55 Elephant meat 55 Ivory 58 Consumers 60 Knowledge and observance of laws 61 DISCUSSION 62 Elephant Meat 62 Ivory 64 Social Networks and Commodity Chains 68 Transport Routes and Methods 73 Influence of External Factors on Elephant Killing 78 CONCLUSIONS and RECOMMENDATIONS 86 REFERENCES 89 Appendix 1. National Laws Relevant to Elephants 100 Tables Table 1. Types of elephant hunters interviewed. 42 Table 2. Hunter’s primary motive for killing elephants. 43 Table 3. Sample cases of work effort involved in an elephant hunt. 44 Table 4. Utilization of meat from recalled elephant kills. 45 Table 5. Estimates of potential earnings from smoked elephant meat reported sold. 47 Table 6. Hunter prices for tusks (US$). 48 Table 7. Weapons used to hunt elephants. 50 Table 8. Prices that middlemen received for ivory (US$). 54 Table 9. Average retail price of wild and domesticated meats, US$/kg. 61 Table 10. Gender of meat and ivory middlemen. 63 Table 11. Estimates of ivory exported from case study countries, 1979-1988. 65 Table 12. Frequency and weights of ivory seized, 1989-early 2010. 66 Table 13. Locations where elephant meat was transported from forest source sites and sold. 73 Table 14. Locations where ivory congregates and transits after leaving source areas. 77 Daniel Stiles 7 Figures Figure 1. Study areas and MIKE study sites. 19 Figure 2. Boumba Bek National Park and study area in south-east Cameroon. 22 Figure 3. The Dzanga-Sangha Complex (DSC) and study area in south-west CAR. 25 Figure 4. Location of Odzala-Koukoua National Park and study sites in ROC. 28 Figure 5. Location of the Okapi Faunal Reserve (OFR) and study sites in the DRC. 30 Figure 6. The volume of ivory exported from Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon, 65 and Chad between 1891 and 1988. Figure 7. Inflation adjusted average prices in US$ for >10 kg weight tusks in Cameroon, 67 CAR and DRC 1989-2010. Figure 8. Potential earnings from meat and ivory from different sized elephants 68 Figure 9. Elephant meat social network example 69 Figure 10. Ivory social network example. 70 Figure 11. Commodity chains for elephant meat and ivory 72 Figure 12. Elephant meat transport routes from MIKE study sites in western Central Africa. 75 Figure 13. Elephant meat transport from the OFR to market. 76 Figure 14. Ivory transport routes and means from the western Central Africa study sites. 77 Figure 15. Ivory transport routes and means from the OFR. 78 Figure 16. Forestry concessions in western Central Africa. 80 Figure 17. Forestry concessions near the OFR, DRC. 81 Figure 18. CBFP Landscapes 83 Figure 19. Population growth in the Congo