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Leading ivory trade investigator killed in Kenya Leading ivory trade investigator killed in Kenya
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Esmond Martin, whose groundbreaking investigations contributed to the fight against elephant poaching, died after being stabbed at his home in NairobiEsmond Martin, whose groundbreaking investigations contributed to the fight against elephant poaching, died after being stabbed at his home in Nairobi
Agence France-Presse Bibi van der Zee
Mon 5 Feb 2018 10.49 GMTMon 5 Feb 2018 10.49 GMT
Last modified on Mon 5 Feb 2018 11.30 GMT Last modified on Mon 5 Feb 2018 13.24 GMT
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A world-renowned ivory investigator whose detailed reports contributed to the fight against elephant poaching and the illegal wildlife trade has been killed at his home in Kenya, police said on Monday. A well-known American ivory trade investigator who pioneered efforts to combat elephant and rhino poaching has been killed in his home in Nairobi, prompting an outpouring of shock and revulsion across the conservationist world.
Esmond Martin, 75, died after being stabbed at his house in the Nairobi suburb of Langata on Sunday afternoon. Esmond Martin, 75, died after being stabbed in his house in the Nairobi suburb of Langata on Sunday. His wife, Chryssee Martin, found his body. Martin had led global investigations into illegal wildlife trading since the 1970s, and was a charismatic and familiar sight at wildlife conferences.
“He was found dead in his house and had stab wounds,” said a police officer. “An investigation has been launched.” Initial reports suggest that police believe the attack was part of a botched burglary. But there are also concerns that the murder may have been related to Martin’s work.
Martin, an American who lived in Kenya for decades, focused on the demand end of the illegal ivory supply chain, describing, quantifying and analysing the Asian ivory markets in China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Laos and elsewhere. Elephant and rhino numbers have plummeted catastrophically on the African continent in the last 50 years as a result of the illegal trade in ivory and rhino horn.
His groundbreaking investigations are credited with contributing to China’s decision to close its legal ivory markets last year, said Paula Kahumbu, a leading Kenyan elephant expert and chief executive of Wildlife Direct, a conservation group. In East Africa, elephant numbers have almost halved, while in some countries – Tanzania for example – the fall has been as high as 60% over five years. Demand for rhino horn has seen rhinos similarly affected, with a 9,000% rise in poaching in South Africa between 2007-14. But ivory and rhino horn are hugely profitable and are an important revenue source for illegal gangs, although the banning of ivory sales in China last year is believed to have brought ivory prices down.
“He was one of the most important people at the forefront of exposing the ivory trade, addressing the traffickers and dealers themselves,” Kahumbu said. Martin, a geographer by training, played a crucial part in bringing this international black market to global attention. He began documenting the illegal trade in wildlife in the 1970s, looking in detail at the movement of elephant ivory and rhino horn among other substances.
Poaching has killed an estimated 110,000 elephants over the last decade, with transnational organised crime syndicates taking over the illicit trade. “No one was doing this at that point,” Dan Stiles, who worked with Martin for many years, told the Guardian. Martin and Stiles would go on to record data about the movements of ivory and rhino horn that “provided data and numbers for what had, up until then, been anecdotal. Once you had the data you could then monitor the trade. He really woke up the world to what was going on.”
The most recent figures, for 2016, showed the illegal ivory market continues to thrive with with record ivory seizures despite a decline in poaching. A number of campaigners against elephant and rhino poaching have been murdered in the last few years, and though most occur out in the parks, in conflicts with armed poachers, last year campaigner Wayne Lotter was shut at point-blank range in Tanzania while in a taxi home.
Latest figures show 197 people were killed around the world last year defending land, wildlife or natural resources. There appears to have been little progress in the investigation of Lotter’s murder, but a source close to the investigation said that three people were charged last year in connection with Lotter’s murder.
Latest figures show 197 people were killed around the world last year defending land, wildlife or natural resources - almost four a week.
“Esmond was one of conservation’s great unsung heroes,” said Save The Elephants founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton, who, along with Martin and Stiles would document the catastrophic fall in elephant numbers and bring the issue to the world stage.
“His meticulous work into ivory and rhino horn markets was conducted often in some of the world’s most remote and dangerous places and against intensely busy schedules that would have exhausted a man half his age … He was my friend for 45 years and his loss is a terrible blow both personally and professionally.”
“He was a giant of a man in his field – quite literally, his tall, gangling figure and shock of white hair made him an unlikely undercover investigator,” said Greg Neale, ex-environment correspondent at the Telegraph. “But that was part of his role as he sought to understand the extent of the rhino horn (and ivory) trade, often putting himself at real risk in some of the world’s most lawless places to establish the economic and cultural background to the forces driving the rhino and elephant towards extinction.”
Kaddu Sebunya, president of the African Wildlife Foundation said: “He was a passionate individual who contributed tremendously not only to the conservation community, but governments all over the world in his devotion in highlighting ivory and rhino horn smuggling.”
“He was tireless in his efforts to protect elephants and rhinos,” said John Scanlon, head of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites). “His research and findings across multiple continents had a real impact. He was a longstanding and highly regarded member of the Cites technical teams looking into the poaching of elephants and smuggling of their ivory. He will be sadly missed by all at Cites but his legacy will live on.”
Illegal wildlife tradeIllegal wildlife trade
The defendersThe defenders
KenyaKenya
AfricaAfrica
ConservationConservation
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