GOZ SEEKS USG SUPPORT TO CONTINUE ELEPHANT HUNTING

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000469

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

AF/S FOR S. HILL
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR B. PITTMAN
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR M. COPSON AND E.LOKEN
TREASURY FOR J. RALYEA AND T.RAND
COMMERCE FOR BECKY ERKUL
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU
ADDIS ABABA FOR ACSS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV ETRD PREL PGOV ZI
SUBJECT: GOZ SEEKS USG SUPPORT TO CONTINUE ELEPHANT HUNTING
UNDER CITES


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Summary
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1. (SBU) In a May 25 meeting with the Ambassador,
Environment and Tourism Minister Francis Nhema sought our
support for Zimbabwe's opposition to a proposal by Kenya to
the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
(CITES) to ban all elephant hunting and trade in elephant
products for 20 years. Nhema noted the large and growing
size of Zimbabwe's elephant population, the conservation
benefits of elephant trophy hunting, and the revenue that it
generated. End Summary.

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Sustainable and Controlled Elephant Hunting
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2. (SBU) In a meeting with the Ambassador at the Ministry of
Foreign Affair's request, Minister Nhema described Zimbabwe's
well-protected population of about 100,000 elephants and the
practice of trophy hunting under Zimbabwe's 500-elephant per
year CITES quota. He said the Kenyan proposal to CITES, up
for vote at the June 3-15 CITES meeting in the Netherlands,
was ostensibly intended to eliminate poaching, but that
elephant poaching in Zimbabwe had fallen steadily to about
100 animals per year as a result of Zimbabwe's progressive
policies.


3. (SBU) Nhema credited the conservation successes to good
wildlife management by the Parks and Wildlife Management
Authority in the national parks, and to the success of the
Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources
(CAMPFIRE) on communal land. The widely acclaimed CAMPFIRE
program, begun in the mid-1980s, encouraged rural communities
to take ownership of local wildlife resources and benefit
from conservation-associated employment, shared trophy
revenue for community projects, and the controlled provision
of much needed protein from the hunt. Nhema said elephant
hunting in Zimbabwe helped reduce rural poverty and improve
rural living standards and the success of the program had led
local communities to assume a sense of ownership in
anti-poaching efforts.

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For a Tidy Profit
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4. (SBU) Nhema said trophy hunting financed the Parks and
Wildlife Management Authority,s conservation budget. He
added that it also provided employment and revenue. Elephant
hunting contributed about US$12 million of the US$40 million
revenue generated directly by trophy hunting in Zimbabwe.
(N.B. the trophy fee for a bull elephant is US$10,000, and
the "daily rate" is US$1,000 with a minimum 21-day length of
hunt.) On communal land, Nehma said that 95 percent of
CAMPFIRE revenue came from hunting, and about 60 percent of
that arose from elephant hunting. Moreover, secondary
industries, such as taxidermy services, freight forwarding

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and modest-scale ivory manufacturing also benefited from
elephant hunting.


5. (SBU) Nhema added that Zimbabwe accumulated about 13 t of
ivory per year, primarily from natural mortality and
problem-animal control. Except for confiscated ivory, he
said the ivory was sold to registered local dealers and
refined into CITES certified game products for the domestic
market.

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U.S. Role
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6. (SBU) Finally, Nhema said the majority of hunters came to
Zimbabwe from the U.S. and many were repeat visitors. He
said this year's annual international hunting convention in
Reno, Nevada in January had been a huge success and that the
country's hunting capacity was fully booked for the next four
years. The Minister expressed gratitude to the Ambassador
for support from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2006
in monitoring Zimbabwe's elephant population.


7. (SBU) The Ambassador responded to Nhema's presentation
with a promise to convey the Minister's views to Washington
and to subsequently inform him of the U.S. position with
respect to the proposed ban.

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Comment
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8. (SBU) In our view, Nhema made a compelling argument in
opposition to the Kenyan proposal for a ban on elephant
hunting. The fact is that unlike many of its African
neighbors, Zimbabwe has done a good job of conserving its
wildlife and especially its elephant population; to the point
where the herd has grown beyond the carrying capacity of
Zimbabwe's natural habitat. Elephant hunting poses no risk
to the elephant population in Zimbabwe and moreover makes
important contributions to wildlife conservancy in Zimbabwe.
While there are some concerns about illicit trade in ivory by
Chinese nationals, the sale of elephant trophies on communal
land under the guise of "problem-animal control," and
conservancy ownership issues arising from fast-track land
reform that we will address septel, nevertheless, the Parks
and Wildlife Management Authority of Zimbabwe remains one of
the most professional on the continent and is increasingly
dependent on the revenue generated from elephant hunting.
Without that revenue, the Authority and wildlife conservation
in general would take serious hits, ironically leading to an
increase in the poaching that the proposal is ostensibly
designed to deter.
DELL