25 February
2008 – Speech - POLICY ANNOUNCEMENT BY MARTHINUS
VAN SCHALKWYK, SOUTH AFRICAN MINISTER OF
ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS & TOURISM, ON
THE OCCASION OF THE PUBLICATION OF THE FINAL
NORMS & STANDARDS FOR ELEPHANT MANAGEMENT,
PRETORIA, 25 FEBRUARY 2008
Note: The Norms and
Standards for the Management of Elephants
in South Africa will be published in the
Government Gazette on 29 February 2008 and
become effective on 1 May 2008.
Introduction
At approximately this
time a year ago, DEAT published the Draft
Norms & Standards for Elephant Management
for public comment. Intense public interest
was generated and we are now ready to publish
a final version that has benefited significantly
from the public commentary and consultative
processes.
It was to be expected
that strong emotions would be part of this
debate. There are few other creatures on
earth that have the ability of elephants
to “connect” with humans in a very special
way. I have personally experienced this
sense of awe and affection when in the close
proximity of both wild and captive elephants.
It was therefore appropriate
that in meeting our responsibility to manage
elephants in a manner that is appropriate,
fair and sensible, we should have consulted
so widely with all shades of opinion. We
have been inclined to respect equally the
views of scientists, conservationists and
other stakeholders as well as people out
there who might not all share our emotional
attachment to elephants.
What has emerged is
a thoughtful piece of legislation that balances
the interest of elephants with all other
aspects of biodiversity, and societal values.
It includes a “toolbox” of options for the
management of elephants, both wild and captive.
The issue of population
management has been devilishly complex and
we would like to think that we have come
up with a framework that is acceptable to
the majority of South Africans. Equally,
the issue of capturing elephants and managing
South Africa’s captive elephant population
has been extremely challenging. I will deal
with this in more details a little later.
The Background to the
Norms and Standards
Our simple reality is
that elephant population density - that
is the number of elephants per square kilometre
of current elephant range - has risen so
much in some southern African countries
that there is concern about impacts on the
landscape, the viability of other species,
and the livelihoods and safety of people
living within elephant ranges. Questions
relating to elephant densities are also
closely related to the management objectives
for specific protected areas.
On 20 September 2005
I therefore outlined the Government’s approach
to addressing what was considered the increasingly
pressing challenge of managing both wild
and captive elephants in South Africa.
Today is an important
milestone in our journey towards the accomplishment
of an elephant management framework that
is equally respectful of the needs of nature,
wildlife and humans. It is a journey that
will never quite be complete. Our commitment
to the principle of Adaptive Management
means that policy and practice will be amended
as our scientists and conservation managers
improve our knowledge and understanding
of how interventions impact on the well-being
of elephants, other species, and management
objectives.
The development of these
Norms and Standards has been a lengthy process.
A Task Team consisting of representatives
of DEAT, the conservation authorities in
Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga,
Northern Cape and Northwest provinces and
various specialists has played a key role
in guiding the process.
We consulted extensively
with stakeholders for more than a year before
we put pen to paper. This included detailed
interaction with leading elephant scientists
through a series of “round table” discussions
and numerous workshops with NGOs and industry.
MINMEC: Environment
was consulted regularly as policy options
emerged, with the final interaction and
approval as recently at 7 February 2008.
In February last year
we published Draft Norms & Standards
for formal public comment. Literally hundreds
of submissions, many of them extremely comprehensive,
were received. My office has received hundreds
more submissions by way of chain letters
and submissions. Clearly, elephants have
a special place in the hearts of humans,
and especially mine.
The guiding principles
While some of the technical
and legal issues dealt with in the draft
have been amended, the guiding principles
were favourably received. I would like to
review these as they establish the philosophical
and policy backdrop against which the Norms
and Standards must be implemented:
elephants are intelligent,
have strong family bonds and operate within
highly socialised groups and unnecessary
disruption of these groups by human intervention
should be minimised;
while it is necessary to recognise the charismatic
and iconic status of elephants and the strong
local and international support for their
protection, proper regard must be given
to the impacts of elephants on biodiversity
or people living in proximity to elephants;
elephants are recognised engineers of habitat
change and their presence or absence has
a critical effect on the way in which ecosystems
function;
the movement of elephants throughout their
historical range has been disrupted by the
activities of people over the last two centuries;
careful conservation management has led
to the significant growth of elephant populations
and human intervention may be necessary
to ensure that any future growth occurs
in a manner that does not result in the
loss of biodiversity, ecosystem function
and resilience or human life, or the compromise
of key management objectives for protected
areas, registered game farms or private
or communal land;
elephants often exist in close proximity
to people, with the result that the elephants
potentially pose a threat to the well-being
of people and management measures must endeavour
to limit these threats;
measures to manage elephants must be informed
by the best available scientific information
and, where the available scientific information
is insufficient, adaptive management forms
the cornerstone of the management of elephants
and adaptive decision making tools must
be adopted;
management interventions must, wherever
practicable, be based on scientific knowledge
or management experience regarding elephant
populations and must -
take into account the social structure of
elephants;
be based on measures to avoid stress and
disturbance to elephants;
where lethal measures are necessary to manage
an elephant or group of elephants or to
manage the size of elephant populations,
these should be undertaken with caution
and after all other alternatives have been
considered;
while efforts should be made to ensure that
elephants continue to play an important
role in an already well established nature-based
tourism sector this should not occur in
an inappropriate, inhumane or unethical
form or manner;
in the context of objective-based management
of complex ecological systems elephants
should not be accorded preference over other
elements of biodiversity;
every effort must be made to safeguard elephants
from abuse and neglect; and
elephant populations in the wild should
be managed in the context of objective based
management of the complex ecosystem in which
they occur.
Nobody should be in any doubt about our
commitment to these principles and our determination
to ensure that they will be respected. And
I want to emphasise that these Norms &
Standards apply to all protected areas as
well as private land on which elephants
occur.
Enforcement
For protected areas,
this oversight will be enforced through
the management plans submitted in terms
of the Protected Areas Act. For private
and communal land and for captive elephants
they will be enforced through the management
plans submitted as part of the permitting
process in terms of the Threatened or Protected
Species Act, or what we recognise as ”TOPS”.
The necessary amendments
to the TOPS Regulations, essentially to
the section on penalties and offences, will
be published for public comment, with a
view to finalisation before 1 May 2008.
While the guiding principles
were well-accepted, an issue that raised
significant public concern was the capture
and treatment of elephants in captivity.
There is widespread public concern about
the welfare of elephants in captivity.
Capture of elephants
and elephants in captivity
DEAT’s mandate and/or
responsibility to deal with the welfare
of elephants in captivity was thoroughly
canvassed.
Our legal advise was
that, while some of the concerns can be
effectively regulated during the permitting
process in terms of the TOPS Regulations,
DEAT’s Duty of Care as the permit issuing
authority in respect of elephants in captivity,
for example in zoos, circuses or elephant
back safaris, was limited to setting standards.
In other words, our
law making ability is focussed on elephants
in the wild rather than on wild elephants
in captivity.
Within our mandate,
we have nevertheless decided to prohibit
the capture of wild elephants except for
purposes of rehabilitation into the wild.
In the case of genuine orphans on private
and communal land they may be rehabilitated
and reintroduced into the wild or, as a
last resort, into bona fide sanctuaries
if they cannot be rehabilitated. This means
that the capture of elephants for commercial
exhibition facilities such as elephant back
safari industries or circuses will as of
1 May 2008 be prohibited.
Furthermore, the Norms
and Standards will also prohibit the import
and export of captive elephants and will
prevent intensive breeding, other than natural
birth, of elephants in captivity.
Regarding the approximately
120 elephants that are already held in captivity
in South Africa, I have committed to developing
within 12 months Minimum Standards for their
management, potentially including topics
such as care, maintenance and permissible
uses.
Compliance with these
standards, which will be drawn up in close
consultation with all interested and affected
stakeholders, will be a pre-condition for
the approval of management plans for keeping
captive elephants and consequently for the
permitting of these captive elephant facilities
in terms of the Threatened or Protected
Species Regulations (TOPS).
In addition, I have
discussed with my colleague, the Minister
of Agriculture and Land Affairs, the issues
related to captive elephants that arose
during our consultations and workshops,
including:
Housing;
Husbandry;
Training methods;
Treatment of working or performing animals;
Safety issues;
Contraception and other management options
to control numbers;
Indemnities; and
Transparency.
In particular, our department received numerous
complaints about alleged cruel and unethical
practices during the training of elephants
for elephant back safaris or circuses, including
the use of chains, ropes and electric prodders.
Expert opinion is that this type of ‘free
contact’ training is aimed at breaking the
will of the elephant by establishing a relationship
of dominance and is therefore totally unacceptable.
These issues, amongst
others, deserve the urgent and serious attention
of government. We have therefore agreed
that Norms - which could take the form of
a Code of Practice or another regulatory
instrument - and the policing and enforcement
of elephant welfare, will be dealt with
under the Animals Protection Act and the
Performance Animals Protection Act, which
resort under her jurisdiction.
The Department of Agriculture
will work on these issues in parallel with
DEAT’s work on the Minimum Standards. A
joint task team will be established by the
Department of Agriculture and DEAT, to be
lead at Deputy Director General level, to
deal with this issue as a matter of priority.
I am pleased to confirm
that the owners of elephants in captivity,
elephant scientists as well as various animal
rights/welfare groups are all well prepared
and very eager to engage in this process
and have indeed already put forward a number
of proposals in this regard.
Ladies and gentlemen,
cruel and unethical practices will be rooted
out. I trust that the culprits will heed
this early warning and clean up their house
before we finalise our regulatory instruments.
Adaptive Management
I have emphasised in
the past that “decisions on elephant management
are ultimately based on societal value systems,
since they involve trade-offs between different
things that are legitimately valued by society.
The divergence of views on elephant management
arises primarily from different values held
by different stakeholders. Scientific information,
alone, cannot resolve these value differences.
It is up to decision makers to set the value
systems and make the laws that underpin
them. “
Nonetheless, scientific
understanding remains a crucial component
for decision-making.
I am therefore delighted
with the progress that has been made by
the elephant science community (as reported
earlier by Dr Bob Scholes and Professor
Graham Kerley) since I announced in February
last year that this Department would contribute
R5 million to enhance elephant research
in South Africa.
‘The 2007 South African
Assessment of Elephant Management’ is the
first step in a long term Elephant Research
Programme that will continue to inform our
future law making and management practices.
This research is crucial to the continuing
debate whether elephant numbers need to
be reduced in South Africa, and if so, how.
Population management
In this regard, the
Norms & Standards allow for the use
of one or more of the following options
for population control:
range manipulation (meaning
water supply management, enclosure or exclosure,
the creation of corridors of movement between
different areas; or the expansion of the
range by acquisition of additional land)
removal by translocation;
introduction of elephants;
contraception; and
culling
These options recognise that management
objectives and local circumstances vary
from park to park. It is highly desirable
that the selected option, or package of
options, should be thoroughly tested against
the approved management plan and that local
stakeholders should be given a reasonable
opportunity to influence the process.
Our Department has recognised
the need to maintain culling as a management
option, but has taken steps to ensure that
this will be the option of last resort that
is acceptable only under strict conditions,
to quote from the Norms & Standards:
culling may be undertaken
only in terms of a culling plan prepared
by the responsible person with the assistance
of an ecologist who is a recognised elephant
management specialist and approved by the
relevant issuing authority that sets out
the conditions under which culling would
take place and the manner in which the cull
would to be implemented;
The culling plan must provide the issuing
authority with the following information
relating to the culling operation:
evidence that the actual or projected elephant
numbers at a specific location are incompatible
with the agreed land use objectives spelt
out in the management plan and that a reduction
in population numbers is therefore necessary;
evidence that all other population management
options, referred to in paragraph 15 have
been rejected by an ecologist after appropriate
consideration and evaluation;
proposed number of elephants to be culled;
proposed method of animal selection;
proposed time frames;
proposed culling methods; and
intended use of products.
Conclusion
Ladies and gentlemen,
the Norms and Standards document launched
today is a well balanced regulatory instrument
that adequately reflects our current societal
norms and scientific knowledge.
However, it is not South
Africa’s final word on elephant management.
That is the point of Adaptive Management
and why we continue to invest in research
and scientific analysis. In due course,
and if it becomes necessary, Government
may review its approach in response to emerging
scientific evidence and the ever-changing
values of our society.
In closing, I would
like to thank the many South Africans as
well as people from all corners of the world
for the robust but constructive way in which
they have engaged in the process of developing
these Norms & Standards.
I hope that stakeholders
with widely differing views and from all
points of the global compass will agree
that the consultative process was comprehensive
and that their views have been carefully
considered, if not always adopted.
Click here to read more: www.environment.gov.za/HotIssues/2006/elephant/elephant.html
Mava Scott (Acting Chief Director: Communications)
