Conservation and Management Strategy for the Elephant in Kenya

18 CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ELEPHANT IN KENYA
1.2.3 Elephant conservation policy
KWS Policy Framework and Development Programme 1991–1996
Annex 7B Elephant Conservation and Management
The key source document on policy for elephant conservation was developed as part of the Zebra Books, and
formed its Annex 7B. Policies developed for elephant conservation under this five-year plan remain in effect to this
day. Even the revised KWS Strategy of 2005 has not re-examined the policy issues around elephant management.
The key policies are:
• International ivory trade – Kenya will continue to support the international ban on commercial trade in ivory
and will cooperate with other countries to ensure that the African elephant remains on Appendix 1 of CITES.
• Poaching and illegal trade – KWS will increase its intelligence-gathering expertise and will cooperate with
neighbouring countries and with the regional TRAFFIC office to identify poachers and illegal ivory dealers and
build a database of their activities.
• Monitoring status and trends – KWS will continue to monitor the status and trends of elephant populations,
particularly those that have been identified as priority populations and involve other stakeholders in the
conservation and scientific sector as much as possible.
• Compression and habitat destruction in small enclosed areas. Some of the smaller areas with isolated
elephant populations may need to be regulated. KWS prefers to investigate the feasibility of elephant
contraception, as it considers the culling of elephants to be undesirable for several reasons:
- ethical considerations;
- the disturbance effect on survivors and its negative consequences for tourism;
- the destabilising effect on populations dynamics; and
- the negative press coverage, which Kenya cannot, at this stage, afford.
• Prevention of crop damage – Methods to reduce damage to life and property would include barriers and
control shooting – directed at specific problem animals or to affect behaviour. A trained wildlife control
team would be sent to problem areas.
• Stimulating tourism – Some elephant projects will be focussed in PAs that are targeted for tourism
development.
1.2.4 International frameworks addressing the conservation and management of the African elephant
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), also called the
Washington Convention, and the Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), also
known as the Bonn Convention, are some of the international legal frameworks applied in conservation and
management of the African Elephant. CITES, an agreement between governments, recognizes that international
cooperation is essential for the protection of certain species of wild fauna and flora against over-exploitation
through international trade, while CMS aims at conserving terrestrial, marine and avian migratory species
throughout their range. Kenya is signatory to CITES and the CMS.
As international legal frameworks, CITES and CMS operate within common procedural mechanisms for the effective
regulation of international trade in listed species and for the conservation of migratory species respectively. In the
case of species that are threatened with extinction, Signatory Governments/Parties strive towards strictly protecting
the animals, conserving or restoring the places where they live, mitigating obstacles to migration and controlling
other factors that might endanger them.