Publisher's Weekly Review
Somerville (Africa's Long Road Since Independence) examines the 21st century's persistent and illegal ivory trade in the face of the failure of the 1989 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Since 9/11, many Western governments and NGOs have viewed the ivory trade as intimately connected to the funding of insurgent groups throughout Africa. Somerville believes this framing obscures a long history of governmental corruption and ignores real frustration about local land-use policy in East and Southern Africa. He asserts that locally workable, sustainable-use solutions, rather than NGO-mediated antipoaching measures, will ensure long-term elephant and human survival. Somerville's chronological, country-by-country narrative shows that the ivory trade has been externally driven since "the last millennium BCE." More recently, European colonial governments funded themselves through licensing, regulation, and exports, providing for "colonialism on the cheap" at the same time that indigenous hunting was severely restricted by wildlife-management programs. By the time African countries gained their independence, the structures and abuse of government systems and safari tourism were in place, and the smuggling trade well established. Those seeking to understand the political and economic complexity of the ivory trade will appreciate Somerville's clear analysis. Maps & tables. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Choice Review
In the introduction, Somerville (Univ. of London and Univ. of Kent, UK) writes that this book is not "a plea for the conservation of elephants, or a defence of any one particular approach to the ivory trade and conservation." Rather, it makes a compelling case for sustainable use and inclusion of Indigenous people's livelihoods in elephant conservation. The author uses firsthand knowledge and scores of contacts to reconstruct the history of elephant utilization by humans and the interaction of politics and economics in the ivory trade and its impact on conservation. This thoroughly researched volume delves into intricate detail regarding the historical and current status of elephants and ivory trading in each nation and the various sub-regions. Conservation of charismatic megafauna such as elephants typically yields controversy, with factions having opposing viewpoints laden with emotion. African elephant conservation epitomizes this; some groups advocate sustainable use and limited, regulated ivory trade, and others advocate complete protection and destruction of ivory stocks. Somerville makes a powerful case for the former. This book will likely be controversial because emotions and stakes are so high. It will serve as an excellent addition to an advanced course or seminar on conservation biology, sustainable use, or wildlife policy. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. --John F. Organ, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Library Journal Review
This rigorous history of the ivory trade comes at a time when the elephants' plight-e.g., a population drop of 30 percent in the last seven years; 100,000 elephants killed in Africa between 2011 and 2014-has been much in the news. Somerville (journalism, Univ. of Kent; Africa's Long Road Since Independence), formerly a BBC journalist who spent three decades working in Africa, argues that trade bans and ivory burnings are cosmetic, doing little to negate the corruption and crime that underlie poaching. Somerville's analysis of the booming ivory trade under colonial rule is masterly: more firearms, more organized trading, and greater demand for ivory in the West meant escalated killing. He shows the more pernicious, lasting effect to be the alienation of indigenous people from control over wildlife, which happened when British game officials banned Africans from hunting while encouraging white trophy pursuers. Eschewing simple solutions, Somerville concludes that community-based conservation and a regulated, strictly limited trade system might be the most effective approach. VERDICT Deeply sourced and meticulously argued, this book should be a required text for students of Africa's political economy, particularly the ivory trade. Readers generally interested in conservation issues may have a tougher go of it, as the plethora of dates, numbers, and acronyms tend to have a dizzying effect.-Robert Eagan, Windsor P.L., Ont. © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
