The Conflict

In 1989, realizing that poaching was out of control, that over half of Africa's elephants had been killed, and that their nations were losing a tremendous resource, eight African countries (Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia, Gambia, Zaire, Chad, Niger, and Zambia) agreed to support an international ban on the ivory trade to begin in January 1990. This measure has been called into question by some southern African countries after a decade of the ban. East African nations, however, support the ban.

Political

• Some who oppose the ban on the ivory trade perceive it as a form of "ecological colonialism"—that decisions as to how land in Africa should be used is being dictated by external groups in much the same manner as in...