The South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) has a long and proud record as South Africa’s premier research institute on international issues. It is an independent, non-government think-tank whose purpose is to encourage wider and more informed awareness of the importance of international affairs. It is both a centre for research excellence and a home for stimulating public debate.
Lauren Johnston, South African Institute of International Affairs
The demand for donkey hides to produce ejiao has led to a shortage of donkeys in China and increasingly worldwide.
Hawkers carry their produce to the market walking past a truck yard on on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Photo by Gideon Mendel/Corbis via Getty Images
Lesley Wentworth, University of KwaZulu-Natal and Deon Cloete, South African Institute of International Affairs
Countries in southern Africa should start focusing on greater regional interconnectedness and collaboration.
Coal operations at one of South Africa’s coal-fired power plants. Industrial policy needs to envisage less reliance on carbon.
Photo by Phill Magakoe /AFP via Getty Images)
Julius Gatune, Maastricht School of Management and Deon Cloete, South African Institute of International Affairs
The scenarios provide plausible and possible alternatives for futures of industrialisation. They also alert decision makers to desired and undesired development pathways.
Once cubs in captivity get too big to be stroked and cuddled by tourists, they’re sold into the canned hunting and Asian bone trade industries.
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Ross Harvey, South African Institute of International Affairs
La tecnología tiene un papel vital en la recolección de datos precisos sobre la vida salvaje. Pero no es suficiente para salvar a los elefantes de África.
Le squelette d’une lionne peut rapporter jusqu’à 2 000 euros environ.
Yu-Shan Wu, University of the Witwatersrand; Chris Alden, London School of Economics and Political Science, and Cobus van Staden, South African Institute of International Affairs
Not enough credit is given to the agency African governments have in their dealings with China.
Elephants in the Okavango Delta, Botswana.
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Cobus van Staden, South African Institute of International Affairs
Now that President Xi Jinping’s presidential term has been extended indefinitely, African governments need to plan strategically for their future engagements with the Chinese.
Chinese President Xi Jinping reviews the guard of honour on a state visit to Zimbabwe.
Reuters/Philimon Bulawayo
Cobus van Staden, South African Institute of International Affairs and Chris Alden, London School of Economics and Political Science
A narrow interest in whether Beijing actively pushed for Mugabe’s fall is based on the assumption that the China-Africa relationship is an isolated phenomenon.
South Africa lost over 1000 rhinos to poaching last year.
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Ross Harvey, South African Institute of International Affairs
The rhino horn auction in South Africa is a serious setback in the fight against poaching and the survival of wild rhinos. The chances of the horns remaining in the country are next to zero.
The international ivory trade ban is meaningless as long as legal domestic markets exist.
Tyrone Siu/Reuters
Ross Harvey, South African Institute of International Affairs
For the domestic ivory trade ban to be effective at preventing further elephant poaching, Chinese authorities need to signal explicitly that it will be implemented indefinitely.
Klaus Schwab, the World Economic Forum founder, holds his book about the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Reuters/Denis Balibouse
Understanding the connections between basic food demands and accessibility to water and energy is important when it comes to climate change and its impact on agriculture and livelihoods.
China plans to ban the ivory trade. The hope is that prices will be driven downwards and elephant numbers will improve.
Ross Harvey