ABSTRACT
Elephant poaching in Eastern Africa has forced many elephant populations to the brink of extinction, prompting the issuing of a trade ban in ivory under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). One East African country – X – has legislated an outright ban on elephant poaching and has set up a system of well policed national parks. However, over time, this protection has led to a swelling of the elephant population to the point where the elephants have become a threat to the habitat which sustains them. Debt-ridden and starved of foreign exchange, the government of X seeks the advice of a free market environmental economist, who advises the government to vest property rights in the elephants to the local villagers who could then earn revenue from these rights through such activities as tourism, the issuing of hunting licences to wealthy Western trophy hunters, and local ‘harvesting’ of elephants, for meat, hides and lucrative tusks. The free market environmental economist advises that the success of the scheme would require a relaxation of the ivory trade ban. The economist further advises that not only would the country reap more revenue than would be the case under a tourism regime only; the taking of elephants could also be controlled in a way that will ensure a sustainable population of elephants in relation to the habitat on which they depend.
