Short-term fixes won’t save Africa’s wildlife from desperate poachers

“…As with the drug trade, real answers are long-term in nature. Increased attention must be paid to the higher-level echelons in the illegal ivory trade. Breaking up the sophisticated networks that get illegal African ivory from the poacher to the end purchaser may be more successful at disrupting the ivory trade than arresting any number of poor villagers. Without a source of payment for ivory, there would be no poaching.
But far more importantly, poaching is a symptom of a disease. Poverty-stricken villagers living in nations polluted by corruption often do not have the luxury of looking at the long-term costs of destroying the elephant population…”

The full article here:http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/821751.shtml#.UnQnOJQ6X5L

Illustration: Liu Rui/GT