WHY UNITY IS THE ONLY LIFELINE FOR SUSTAINABLE USE IN AFRICA

There is a Setswana proverb that is loosely translated as “Tshukuku ga e ke e tlogela lerwana hela. E a bo e tshabile sengwe.” (A rhino never leaves a thorn bush unless it is fleeing something more terrible.) When you hear so much hysteria coming from the anti-sustainable use brigade about the unsustainability of trophy hunting, you know something is deeply troubling them. Granted the noise was meant for the ears of delegates at the just ended COP20 CITES summit in Samarkand Uzbekistan. But the deeper reason behind the vicious attack on the elephant management plan for Botswana and the claims that the state through its quotas was killing more elephants than the poachers was born out of a looming success of a strategy that they never thought would work let alone yield results so quickly. To adopt a single political voice on conservation. And that’s exactly what happened in April in Johannesburg at a CITES preparatory meeting.  The master stroke was to create the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) for CITES. The structure is in such a way that all regions felt truly represented. The first Chairperson is from Zimbabwe and the deputy chair from Benin. The AGN was given full support and assignment from the African Ministers of Climate and Environment meeting in July in Kenya.

They agreed to “mandate the African Group of Negotiators on wildlife to advocate on the basis of Africa’s unified position at the twentieth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora,  (held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, from 24 November to 5 December 2025,) emphasizing sustainable wildlife trade, equitable benefit-sharing and robust non-detriment and legal acquisition findings, so as to advance African interests and priorities;” It was an unequivocal endorsement of sustainable use at continental political level. This was not a far-fetched dream, but an acknowledgement of the practical value of honest dialogue uninterrupted by none state actors.  This was put in display in Maun at the African elephant dialogue when range states agreed on an amendment to harmonize their position on the African elephant. There was consensus because it was a meeting attended only by state representatives.

 When the AMCE endorsed the AGN, they had seen the value of unity at work in the Maun meeting.

 It is clear that not many are amused by this development. Hence the noise over the elephant management plan and those who support it. As things stand, only one NGO, Conservation Force has unequivocally supported the continent on its decision to unite around its conservation strategy. They have voiced their support in Johannesburg, in Gaborone at the Biodiversity Summit and in Samarkand at the just ended CITES summit. It is no wonder that they are drawing the ire of the anti- sustainable use brigade. The reality is that now that there is a strong political will for a united African position on conservation, the none-state actors who have been thriving on the disunity are being exposed and their agenda does not look noble for the continent.  To them, aid and not trade is the answer. Their panic was laid to bare when they wanted to be allowed in a side discussion of proposal 14 to amend annotation A10 pertaining to the elephant populations of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe to harmonize the conditions of trade in live African elephants. They clearly wanted to influence the discussions. Thankfully the meeting was only for state players and it achieved consensus.

The next three years leading to COP21, possibly in Panama, will be pivotal as the push back to attack the unity will inevitably intensify. But having tested the value in numbers as the continent finally determined outcomes over significant decisions, there is a sense of striking while the iron is still hot as the continent gears itself to refine the nascent structure of the AGN. You get a sense in conversations with officials and experts that hard work will have to be done to consolidate the unity all the way across the socio-political value chain.