Word: africanize
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...trade could not continue on such a scale without the collusion of African officials. "So many of Africa's functionaries are corrupt," says K.T. Wang, one of Hong Kong's major ivory traders. "If they get money, they say it's legal ivory. If they don't get money, they say it's poached." Over the years, senior African officials, their spouses and close friends, and wildlife authorities have been implicated in ivory scandals...
...Japan's ivory industry is determined to stay alive. In the two weeks before the country's June 19 ban on imports from non-African nations went into force, traders arranged for 35 ivory shipments to Japan, weighing 29 tons -- a fourth of 1988's imports. (Hong Kong officials worked overtime to approve the flurry of export permits for Japan-bound ivory.) In September Japan announced it was, "for the time being," adopting a zero quota for ivory imports. A government spokesman said Japan will follow closely the events at the Lausanne meeting before deciding whether to resume limited ivory...
...foresee chaos," says a spokesman for Botswana. In the final days leading up to the meeting, lobbying efforts by both sides reached a frenzied level. The vote in Lausanne will not be unanimous, and any prohibition of ivory trading will be at best a patchwork. As long as southern African nations such as Zimbabwe and Botswana refuse to accept the ban, ivory will be available for sale...
Ultimately, many of the importers and the southern African nations hope for a situation in which moderate demand can be satisfied with legal ivory from controlled culling of elephant herds and natural mortality. That could theoretically keep both the elephant and the ivory industry alive. Such a delicate balance between supply and demand will be difficult to maintain...
...matter what happens this week in Lausanne, the elephant will still be in some peril. Even if the ivory trade winds down, the elephant will face increasing encroachment from Africa's fast-growing human populations. African farmers or herdsmen trying to eke out a living covet the vast habitats set aside for animals and cannot understand why scarce financial resources go to protect elephants while people go hungry. To many Africans, the elephant is a five-ton nuisance that can trample a season's maize in seconds. As long as they feel that way, they will turn a blind...