International organisations and the ivory sales ban debate: the case of Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana

On 26 June 2019, at the Wildlife Economy Summit at Victoria Falls, the leaders of the five southern African countries of the Kavango-Zambezi conservation area – Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, Angola and Namibia – raised the issue of lifting of the ban on the sale of ivory in order to allow them to sell their valuable stockpiles for conservation purposes and community projects. There is a growing demand amongst the Southern African states for an end to the international ‘one size fits all’ legislation which Zimbabwe’s President Emerson Mnangagwa argues prevents their countries from using the proceeds of sales of elephant ivory to help fund their conservation efforts. This argument is echoed by Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi, who controversially lifted the ban on elephant hunting in 2019, as part of Botswana’s policy initiative to protect rural communities, which have become the battleground in growing instances of human–wildlife conflict.