The neoliberal elephant: Exploring the impacts of the trade ban in ivory on the commodification and neoliberalisation of elephants

This paper uses a case study that explores the impacts of the ivory trade ban on elephant management in Namibia to illuminate the processes and complexities associated with the commodification and neoliberalisation of nature. The paper demonstrates that the ivory trade ban neither prevents the commodification of elephants, nor hampers the neoliberalisation of nature. By tracing Namibia’s experience associated with applying market based approaches to elephant conservation, this paper highlights that the ivory trade ban is only one obstacle among many which prevent the commodification of the ‘living’ elephant. Analysing Namibia’s experiences alongside the wider debates informing elephant conservation reveals that actors of preservation and sustainable utilisation produce elephants. In particular, during the events leading up to the 1989 ivory trade ban, advocates of preservation produced a very lucrative representation of the elephant that relies on market mechanisms. This image has become a powerful commodity that competes with parts of the biophysical elephant (particularly its ivory) and therefore creates new and contesting ways in which elephants can be commodified.