Using Market Incentives to Save the Elephants

The original motivation behind COMACO was to find a way to help improve the conservation of elephants in Zambia after Wildlife Conservation Society became witness to a cruel and relentless slaughter of this species across much of Luangwa Valley in the 1970’s and 80’s.  When coming face-to-face with a typical elephant poacher, the reality sinks in.  These are just simple, poor village people with few skills other than poaching and somebody somewhere engages them to hunt for ivory at prices that are a small fraction of their real value.  And so the trade goes.

The approach used by COMACO has reduced illegal hunting pressure on this species, not with law enforcement, but with market incentives that drive hunters to adopt better alternatives for themselves.  This is possible if the traditional leaders in a village are committed to ending poaching, as they know all the people who own guns and continue to perpetuate the destruction of wildlife in this way.  Because of COMACO’s strong commitment to helping communities achieve food and income security, their leaders are almost always cooperative and some of the Valley’s most notorious poachers have been reformed by COMACO.  Their lives are completely changed and if asked if they would ever go back to poaching, their answer is a near universal no.  Only 6% out of over 600 have returned to poaching.  In 2009, a Luangwa Valley-wide wildlife survey failed to find a single fresh elephant carcass less than two years old.  Ivory traders from outside the region may be having trouble finding willing hunters to do their dirty work.  It is a positive and hopeful sign for a conservation model that has evolved out of clear relationships with hunger and poverty that need a business solution to keep poachers self-employed and free from the temptation to return to their old ways.