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.
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
Ross Harvey, South African Institute of International Affairs
In the absence of trading ivory, other solutions have to be found to fund conservation and support communities living on the front line of the battle against poaching.
CITES has become the premier multilateral arrangement to tackle illegal wildlife trafficking.
Ross Harvey
Ross Harvey, South African Institute of International Affairs
The focus of CITES is not solely on the protection of species. It also promotes controlled trade that is not detrimental to the sustainability of wild species.
Elephant numbers across the continent declined by roughly 70,000 between 2006 and 2013.
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Erica Penfold, South African Institute of International Affairs
In the region, the Southern African Development Community will have a critical role to ensure the targets of the sustainable development goals are met over the next 15 years.
Michael Otieno, a pharmacist, dispenses anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs at a hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. Among the new sustainable development goals is promoting mental health and well being and achieving universal health care.
Reuters/Thomas Mukoya
Erica Penfold, South African Institute of International Affairs
The sustainable development goals will be ratified by the United Nations next week but there are a few lessons it should learn from the failed millennium development goals.