BIG FOUR CONSERVATION POLICY: COMMERCIAL TRADE IMPLICATIONS UNPACKED

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries & the Environment has issued a media statement on recently gazetted draft policy proposals for the conservation and ‘sustainable use’ of elephant, leopard, lion and rhino. Input on what is envisaged is sought by 19 October 2023, as SA Legal Academy has already reported.

Among other things, the statement draws attention to ‘three international commercial trade-related policy objectives’ explored in the document:

  • promoting the species’ live export ‘only to range states or any other appropriate and acceptable destinations with suitable habitats on the African continent’
  • working with range states ‘to support a proposal for international commercial trade in rhinoceros horn from protected wild rhinoceros, for conservation purposes, when conditions become favourable’, and
  • considering international commercial elephant ivory trade ‘only when conditions become favourable’.

Regarding the practice of keeping lions in captivity for commercial purposes, the statement refers to the following policy objectives:

  • ending the commercial exploitation of captive and captive-bred lions
  • closing all captive lion facilities, and
  • prohibiting ‘the intensive breeding of lion in controlled environments’.

Clarity is needed on what is meant by the statement’s reference to phasing out ‘the domestication and intensification’ of rhinoceros management.

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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