The population
of elephants in Africa has declined dramatically in the last twenty years due
to the overwhelming desire for ivory. In 1989 an international ban on the sale
of ivory was implemented in an attempt to prevent the needless slaughter of
these animals. Many objected though, including economist and nations whose
citizen’s asserted property rights over these animals. In an essay written by
Michael A. McPherson and Michael L. Nieswiadomy, African Elephants: The Effect of Property Rights and Political
Stability, they conclude that
…controlling
for other factors, countries with property rights systems or community wildlife
programs have rapid elephant population growth rates than do those countries
that do not. Political instability and the absence of representative
governments significantly lower elephant growth rates. (McPherson and Nieswiadomy)
Enacted by the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), the
ban on ivory was not uniformly adhered to by many countries; especially the
countries located in the southern tip, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South
Africa, who all have a system devised in which property rights of elephants are
governed and adhered to. For example, in, “Botswana…the elephant population has
risen from 20,000 in 1981 to over 80,000 today. Zimbabwe, the roughly 30,000
elephants that existed in 1978 have increased their numbers by a factor of
nearly 3 by this year (McPherson and Nieswiadomy).” Because of property rights
there exists an economic incentive to protect the elephants by the very people
who once hunted and killed them to prosper from the ivory trade. Like anything,
if it’s held common to all, the resource will be used until it no longer
exists. There exists more of an incentive for people to protect the elephant
from illegal poaching when it is their property that’s directly affected by it.
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