NEW
YORK, N.Y. - Hillary Rodham Clinton outlined plans for an $80 million effort to
curb the poaching and trafficking of elephants in Africa, warning Thursday that
the continent's elephants could face extinction without swift action.
The
former secretary of state and her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, announced the
three-year project at the Clinton Global Initiative, telling activists and
supporters that the killing of elephants to support the sale of ivory around
the globe had reached a crisis point.
"Unless
the killing stops, African forest elephants are expected to be extinct within
10 years. I can't even grasp what a great disaster this is ecologically, but
also for everyone who shares this planet," the former first lady said.
Clinton,
a potential 2016 presidential candidate, said losing the elephant to extinction
"seems like such a rebuke to our own values."
The
Clinton initiative aims to prevent the killing and trafficking of elephants and
rhinos. It also hopes to address the demand for ivory in Asia and the United
States.
Several
conservation groups have banded together to prevent the slaughter, including
the Wildlife Conservation Society and the World Wildlife Fund. They noted that
trafficking has a national security element because some of the illicit
proceeds have helped terrorist organizations.
The
leaders of six African countries — Uganda, Burkino Faso, Gabon, Malawi, Ivory
Coast and Tanzania — joined the Clintons at the event, pledging their
co-operation, along with officials representing other African nations.
Ugandan
President Yoweri Museveni said the nations would support a moratorium on
imports, exports and sales of tusks and ivory until the elephant population is
no longer threatened.
"It
is time for the global community to act decisively against this plague,"
said Ali Bongo Ondimba, president of Gabon.
Clinton
championed the protection of wildlife while at the State Department. Wildlife
conservation groups have estimated that 35,000 elephants were killed illegally
in Africa in 2012.
The
project will support anti-poaching enforcement, including the hiring of an
additional 3,100 park guards, targeting the trafficking of elephants, levying
stiffer penalties for poaching and using sniffer dog teams at transit points.
"The
big problem is that the benefits of poaching and selling ivory are far greater
than the risk to the poachers," said chimpanzee researcher Jane Goodall,
who said poachers do not typically face long sentences if apprehended.