Poaching is likely driven by need, not greed, according to Proceedings B, the Royal Society’s flagship biological research journal.
Researchers from various institutions, including Oxford University, the UN, and the University of Cape Town, conducted an analysis of data spanning nearly two decades and encompassing 30 African countries, examining over 10,000 elephant poaching incidents. Their findings revealed a clear correlation: in regions where human populations enjoyed better health and higher socioeconomic status, there were fewer instances of elephant poaching.
Amos Gwema, Principal Wildlife Intelligence Officer for Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management and Tusk Wildlife Ranger Award winner in 2020, shares his perspective on the need for intelligence-led anti-poaching.
The simple reason is that poaching, like many crimes, is borne of a lack of opportunity.
Growing civil unrest and economic crises across the African continent are increasing the desperation felt in communities around protected areas. Just as night follows day, this is pushing more and more humans into conflict with Africa’s wildlife.
The impending crisis demands urgent action. One area that governments and international wildlife donors should target is the use of intelligence to combat wildlife crime. Intelligence is what I call the first line of defence for wildlife conservation, but it is greatly underfunded. By building relationships with communities, we can understand where and when poachers will seek to enter protected areas.
For example, Hwange National Park is half the size of Belgium. With our resources, such as our fuel allocation, being cut — and just one vehicle, which is not even a 4x4, at our disposal — how can we do this? The answer is: we need to be intelligent.
By understanding how poachers work and dismantling their networks at root in communities, conservation efforts become much more effective. In Hwange National Park, we have seen a significant reduction in poaching: from over 300 elephants killed in 2013 to 25 in 2019.
Tusk and I share an understanding that conservation initiatives must be holistic. With the generous funding from the Tusk Wildlife Ranger Award I won in 2020, we have now been able to expand our efforts here in Zimbabwe, targeting two areas in particular: rehabilitation and education.
We must understand that local people turn to poaching because they have nowhere to start. Once they serve their time — nine years here in Zimbabwe — and return to society, their life circumstances will only have diminished, and they risk returning to the very same lifestyle they had before.
What is needed is a real programme for rehabilitating poachers. With new funding, I intend to create a forum for reforming poachers, and it is my hope that it will become a benchmark for other countries’ anti-poaching efforts.
Reformed poachers can be powerful ambassadors for conservation initiatives and can help provide invaluable insights to conservationists on how to tackle wildlife crime.
We know that addressing crime, including poaching, must start in schools, and these former poachers could be powerful speakers in schools, spearheading anti-poaching campaigns and teaching young people to choose a different path.
As rural parts of Africa face extreme financial pressures, our response must be to develop anti-poaching efforts that work with, not against, local communities. It is my hope that the example we set here in Zimbabwe can be transferred across the African continent.
