African Elephants, Poaching, Ivory, Overpopulation And Habitat Loss; Tackled By A World Conservation Congress?

                                                    The recent world conservation congress that took place in the not so inexpensive city of Honolulu came up with some very impressive paper accomplishments. At least 85 motions were approved, and so animals and nature can rest assure that they are now properly protected. One senior conservation official proclaimed that elephants have had enough of the ivory trade. It is good that the conservation congress took place, because a month ago, before the conference, when elephants were still being slaughtered for their ivory, elephants apparently were not ready to make such an announcement.
                                                     There are over a billion people living in Africa, one of the fastest growing populations in the world. Was there one single motion that addressed overpopulation and the need to provide safe family planning to impoverished women? Overpopulation is a conservation concern. Overpopulation is not a conservation organization concern. There is a difference. Overpopulation contributes to environmental depletion. Conservation and animal type organization's coffers are far from depleted..
                                                     Declaring that the trade in ivory is illegal does not make the trade in ivory go away. Black markets are not easy things to stop, and newly passed, or even old, laws and agreements on paper may have no impact on the huge ivory black market. In fact, if not carefully thought out, wrong decisions and actions can cause the black market to grow.
                                                      The enormous loss of habitat from the huge growing human population does not allow for room for megafauna. The same reasons bison numbers and range are but a tiny fraction of their historic numbers and range in North America are the same reasons that are dooming large species of wildlife like elephants, lions, giraffes, and so forth.
                                                         Family planning and overpopulation should be important conservation concerns, but they are not. Conservation organizations and animal organizations are about making donors feel good, and not about taking principled stands and positions.
                                                           Everyone concerned with wildlife and conservation seems to have some conservation organization or animal organization that they are convinced is doing everything right. Having only the organizations marketing, propaganda, and some fawning media outlet upon which to rely, there continues to be enormous conservation failures, and enormous failure in simply exposing the failures of conservation organizations and their propaganda and claims.
                                                            One day, while there is still a little of nature and wildlife left, people might finally get serious and move conservation into the hands of capable, non corrupt governments that form coalitions to save and protect the world's diminishing wilderness and wildlife. Governments that will do everything they can, cooperatively, to ensure that adequate resources are in place to protect incredibly important biodiversity hotspots and world heritage places like the Congo, the Amazon, the few remaining rainforest of the Philippines, the increasingly rare rainforest of Borneo, the rest of Asia, and the world.
                                                        Meetings, expensive conferences, meaningless declarations, passed motions, amendments, unenforceable laws on paper, do not save wildlife and habitat. They do make people feel good and important. It is also great publicity and great for fund raising. And of course, a trip to Hawaii never hurts.