Ian Thomso, Book Review

The book Western Celebration of African Poverty is a powerful exposé of how Western beliefs, many gained from misinformation and propaganda, influence the lives of millions of people in Africa by telling Africa what to do with their wildlife.

The author, Emmanuel Koro, is a highly respected international award-winning environmental journalist based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has travelled to the remote areas in Southern African countries, including Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Zambia and gained first-hand knowledge of the conflicts and benefits of living with wildlife. 

He argues that the influence of emotional, as against scientific, activity does nothing to improve conservation. Nor does it improve the livelihood of many thousands of poverty-stricken people.

Koro explains the workings of CITES (UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wildlife Fauna and Flora) that is apparently losing credibility because of ongoing and uninvestigated vote-buying scandals by some Western countries, animal rights groups and well-funded donor organisations. It is interesting to note that when interviewed, Mr Will Travers of the Born Free Foundation was unable to answer basic questions on the futility of the ongoing bans on both rhino horn and ivory trade that have not saved a single rhino or elephant. 

Instead, Mr Travers became confrontational to cover up his lack of answers on how he can justify the ban in ivory and rhino horn that is ironically fuelling and not stopping rhino and elephant poaching, neither is it helping to stop illegal trade in both ivory and rhino horn.

Koro draws facts and information from his many interviews with news sources that he has known for the pasty 26 years as an environmental journalist and people he closely is connected to. Among Koro’s news sources are people dedicated to wildlife conservation and those looking for answers to the over population by humans, and control of over population of wildlife, in restricted areas. 

He discusses the influence the media has on people’s conceptions, and how often facts are distorted in favour of sensationalism with dramatic headlines and higher fees paid to animal rights groups and captured journalists. He also presents some fresh thinking. He points out that some select African media sections are hypocritical in that they blame African governments for failing to grow their economies, yet these critical media organisations don’t support trade in products such as ivory, from an abundant elephant population of Southern Africa. 

He observes that it is ironic that the anti-wildlife trade media continues to oppose trade but senselessly expects governments to grow economies, create employment and improve service delivery without opportunities to generate more income through trading in what they have in abundance.

Western Celebration of African Poverty discusses the rights to trade in wildlife products saying that “the ban on international trade and rhino horn is bad for African people and wildlife.” Koro quotes monetary benefits from crocodile skins to illustrate Africa’s great potential to grow its wildlife economy and the fact that after decades of banning legal trade, poaching and illegal trade is still taking place. 

A very thought-provoking point is that with so much money going to the protection of wildlife, people who have to live with the consequences of unmanaged or badly managed environments, believe that the rights of animals supersede theirs. This is, in their minds, a violation of their human rights. They have warned animal rights groups that “it is a violation of human rights to talk about animal rights without talking about human rights.”

Mr Biggie Shoko lives in a community neighbouring the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. He recently survived a terrible elephant attack and his brother was killed by an elephant. Mr Shoko is quoted saying, “When we do not get benefits from our wildlife, including elephants that attack and kill us and our loved ones, destroy our crops and properties; there is no reason to look after them.” 

Whichever side of the dispute of animal-welfare versus animal rights you may be on, this book, with an authoritative foreword by Eugene Lapointe, former CITES Secretary-General (1982-1990) and current President of the Switzerland-based IWMC-World Conservation Trust; is a necessary contribution to understanding the facts and reality of the current outsider influenced wildlife management challenges in Africa.

*Ian Thomson is a Southern African conservationist based in Eastern Cape, South Africa. Email: [email protected] or Africa Talks: [email protected] 

Published in January 2020, the book, Western Celebration of African Poverty, ISBN 978-0-620-86523-4, is available from the author, select bookshops and on Amazon.