About the Poachers

The week has been long for Jim Nyamu who has walked from town to town and state to state, completing 400 of the 560- mile walk for his Ivory Belongs to Elephants Walk campaign. In his heart and on his mind were the people of his homeland, Kenya. On September 21, 2013 terrorists attacked shoppers at the affluent Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi. At least 67 men, women, and children were killed, dozens more missing. The Islamist group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack. The attack was the worst national tragedy in Kenya since the UN Embassy bombing in 1998, a local Kenyan said. The poaching crisis and terrorism are deeply connected. Sales from ivory contribute to at least 40% of terrorist organizations’ coffers. Jim reminds us that if we enforce the poaching ban enacted in 1989, we will cut the terrorists off at the knees.

Nyamu indicates that it is not a terrorist group that is decimating the elephant species, but local poachers. Jim remains steadfast in his message that we must engage the poachers in wildlife conservation to save the elephant species, restore the environment, sustain local lives and communities, and protect tourism. These are the people who hold the key to the world’s love affair with Africa. He insists that we must educate, train, and employee the boys, men, and even some women who live in communities outside the perimeter of the reserves, off the radar, vital to the protection of the animals and land they share.

The residents’ intimate knowledge of the land and habits of their wildlife neighbors create the perfect opportunity for them to learn and adapt important conservation skills and become scouts. Scouts protect land barriers between encroacher and wildlife, reduce human-elephant conflict, monitor  the remaining elephants, and so much more. They earn the needed respect and income to serve and protect the vast expanse of land where elephants, hyenas, lions, and rhinos once flourished. Through the efforts of the Elephant Neighbours Center and the Kenyan Wildlife Service, Jim proposes to change the tide for the poachers who are caught in the middle. Training will require time and money.

Kenya welcomes an average of 1 million visitors per year, over 100,000 visitors from the US alone.  Kenya only receives about $856.7 million dollars in revenue from tourism. If Kenya loses its tourism due to threats of violence or loss of wildlife in the area, conservation dollars will plummet. Then, as Jim reminds us, there will be no elephant or animal to visit. Jim points to Somalia as an example: There are no more elephants in Somalia, according to Nyamu. Terrorist groups are plentiful and tourism is dead. Moreover, it’s easy for terrorist groups to recruit locals to join with such a lack of resources.

In the US, where our respected visitor Jim Nyamu is walking his 560 miles to educate about poaching, we remain fearful of terrorism. In the years since 9/11 and more recently in Boston, MA we triage the situation but have not addressed the source, the people involved in these groups. In Africa, they are the source to end poaching and limit the financial means of terrorist cells. Jim recognizes that Americans are interested in learning how to contribute to ending poaching. He has been walking and talking. He speaks with scores of people, classes, and organizations throughout his American visit. And, his message is clear. Create opportunities for the local communities to limit poaching and cripple terrorist activities.

The world’s expectation is that Africa’s people, the fauna and flora wait at the gate to greet visitors at its door with a glass of champagne, candle-lit dinner, and serenading wild animals in the night. In a recent interview with NPR, however, Jim warns us that if the world loses the elephant, this romance will crash into the rocks. We must protect wildlife and the African continent’s ecosystem, engage and educate local Africans, maintain the tourism trade, and weaken terrorist organizations like Al-Shabaab.  It’s relevant to say in this case that in this vicious cycle of fear, greed, and need, one of the keys to success and the end of the game for terrorists is to foster the people of Africa and put a stop to poaching.

We must invest our efforts into the global consciousness through real-world solutions and refrain from reactionary fear tactics. Only then may we experience that out-of-body dream safari, courtesy of the Kenyan scouts whose reputation is to welcome you with open arms, with a bright and genuine smile, willing to share homes, communities, land, and elephants with you.