The war on ivory, like the war on drugs, intensifies demand. Legalise the trade and breed the animals for their tusks
Ivory is the cocaine of south-east Asia. Millions of people demand it,
and the world thinks it can stop them by banning supply. The world is
wrong. Today's London conference of Cites,
the world wildlife organisation, saw panjandrums from 46 countries meet
with British royalty in the painted halls of Lancaster House. Previous Lancaster House conferences liberated Africans from bondage. This one put them back. The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge pledged to "end the ivory trade" and "secure the future of these iconic species", notably the rhino and the elephant. Never were words so futile.
The futility would not matter if it were not so counterproductive. Cites
is to wildlife what the US Drug Enforcement Administration is to
narcotics. Its chief, John Scanlon, talks like a hardline cop about the
need for ever more "undercover operations and harsher penalties".
But however many NGOs and bureaucrats it takes fill a luxury hotel, you
cannot defy the law of economics. You cannot stifle demand by banning
supply. You merely raise price. One rhino horn can be worth as much as
$300,000. That figure is a death sentence on every rhino.
When Cites first began flexing its muscles in the 1980s an argument took
place between ivory-producing southern Africa and western wildlife
charities. The Africans, notably South Africa, Namibia and Tanzania,
argued that conservation was best achieved if local people had a vested
interest in it – whether from tourism, controlled hunting or ivory
sales. As long as people craved ivory, the alternative was massive
poaching.
Read more http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/13/save-elephants-farm-them-ivory-tusks
Thursday 13 February 2014
Tuesday 11 February 2014
Global drop in groundwater levels seen
Global drop in groundwater levels seen
"Groundwater is being depleted at a rapid clip in virtually of all of the major aquifers in the world's arid and semiarid regions," hydrologist Jay Famiglietti said.The drop is especially severe in parts of California, India, the Middle East and China, where expanding agriculture has increased water demand, the researchers said.
"People are using groundwater faster than it can be naturally recharged," Matthew Rodell, a hydrologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said.
Current water use in many areas has become unsustainable, another researcher said.
"There are too many areas in the world where groundwater development far exceeds a sustainable level," Leonard Konikow, a hydrogeologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, said. "Something will have to change."
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