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Environmentalists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Thursday urged the government to reverse its decision to tax rather than ban poaching, saying the move put millions of dollars in conservation funds at risk.
“With this measure aimed at maximizing income, the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN) will not be able to do its job of preserving endangered species,” said the head of the organization, Cosma Wilungula , to journalists at a press conference.
In a joint decision this month, the DRC’s ministries of environment and finance said killing, possessing or selling protected species would be allowed on payment of a tax.
It now costs $ 2,885 to kill a forest elephant, while the amount to kill, eat or sell a mountain gorilla is $ 1,925.
“This decree does away with (the crime) illegal trafficking in protected species,” Wilunga said, warning that donors would not pay around $ 32 million used for conservation each year if the rule was upheld.
He added that the relatively low tax payments would create a profit incentive for poaching, with elephant ivory costing up to $ 600 per kilogram (2.2 pounds) in the local market and a baby gorilla from worth $ 100,000.
This month, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee removed DRC’s vast Salonga National Park from a list of endangered sites, praising conservation efforts, especially for forest elephants and bonobo monkeys.
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