caller. tuesday, clarence page who writes for the "chicago tribune." on wednesday, columnist se cuff, who also has a show on glenn beck's website. and the series wraps up thursday. watch each day starting at 9:15 eastern on cspan. >> welcome to old cow town museum, wichita, kansas. >> brent and trace waking up the city for 22 years and we think we've got a heck of a start. that's why the mayor comes in every wednesday. today, he's going to be talking a little bit about the problem we're having in the city with taxi cabs. >> june 2nd and 3rd, book tv and american history tv explore the heritage and literary culture of wichita, kansas. >> rather modest looking paper

wrap binding, but it contains an alphabetical list of the members of senate and house of representatives done in 1831. i believe this was issued only as it says here for the members' immediate use only. they were not supposed to loan this out because it would tell you exactly where everybody lived, so you could go and button hole them punch him if you didn't like it. >> watch on june 2nd and 3rd on cspan 2 and 3. >> your country men have faith in you and expect you to make the decisions. the issues will not be in black and white. don't be afraid to consider your doubts, but don't be paralyzed by them. be brave. make your judgment then move

forward with confidence knowing there's never 100% certainty, you have honestly chosen the right course. do this and the american people will always back you up. >> watch commencement speeches by notable figures from the past three decades online at the cspan video library. >> earlier today -- that demand for elephant ivory is at a high. senator john kerry chaired the committee and asked about whether china should reinstate the import ban on ivory. the hearing is about an hour and a half. >> the hearing will come to order. thank you for coming. i apologize for starting a few

moments late. i realize that the issue that we're going to discuss today may seem to some to be slightly off the beaten path our community has tackled, but i believe strongly that one of the responsibleties of our country has been to make sure issues deserving attention receive focus. whether people believe that before they've heard about the issue or not, whether they're on the front pages of our national consciousness today or not, it's our job i think to help put them there. and certainly, even if we aren't today thinking much about the global implications of poaching in africa, i can guarantee that we will be if it goes on.

in other words, a country with a deep convection that has rallied to the defense of our bald eagle and american bison. it's just a matter of time before we awaken to poaching consequences and if we don't act now, then the time will come too late. it would come too late for the elephan elephants, these enormous, lumbering, majestic animals, which have been a sent mental favorite with people the world over. they are a living connection to prehistoric times and a reminder of our responsibility of the future by preserving the past. just as we have fought to save tuna, salmon, sharks, tigers, whales, the american eagle and other endangered species, here, too, we have a responsibility to future generations to live out our steward caretaker

responsibleties. how shockingly destructive and historically shameful it would be if we did nothing while a great species was criminally slaughtered into extinction and yet, here we are in the midst of one of the most tragic assaults on our shared inheritance where an elephant's dead ivory is prized over its living condition and where money only makes matters worse. yes, we have a lot of urgent, every day problems that consume our politics. i am more than well aware of that. deficits, unemployment, terror. challenges that we know too well and numerous enough to make anyone dizzy. but history reminds us that we never have the right to turp our backs on the values that define us. it is said that the elephant never r forgets. well, nor should we.

we're fortunate to have a strong panel of witnesses who will help us shine a spotlight on this horrific trade. like all of you, i was shocked and saddened by recent news report of the mass poaching of elephants in cameroon and the surge in elephant and rhino. the pictures are heartbreaking. they stand as a grim reminder of our capacity to inflict harm on the natural world. but i would also emphasize here the human costs of traffic ikin need to be focused on. this is a multi-million dollar criminal enterprise. the trade stretches from the african savannah to the asian marketplace an the united

nations office on drugs and crimes ranks it as a significant form of transnational crime. poaching is not just a security threat for africa. it is also a menace to developing economies and it thrives where government is weakest. poachers with heavy weapons are a danger to lightly armed rangers and civilians as well as to the animals that they target. they operate in remote territories and cross borders with impunity raeking havoc on villages and families. militias are wiping out entire hurds and killing anyone that gets in their way. we also know poaching is interwoven into some of africa's most brutal conflicts and many of those combatants are essentially members of gangs, preying upon the communities. one begets the other and they're

interrelated. in the democratic republic of congo, reports charge that all parties including the army, have participated in this lucrative trade. multiple reports describe armed men coming across the borders from sudan r or from somalia to kill elephants and smuggle out the ivory and the scope of lethality is only increasing as armed groups expand their criminal networks and profit from the lucrative trade in conflict minerals and ill lisle timber. it's all part of the network. i learned that a long time ago when i was a prosecutor. don't take my word for it. just look at the facts. according to the african wildlife fund, poachers have claimed more than 900 rhinos across africa these last three years.

between 2007 and 2011, rhino poaching increased by 3,000% in south africa alone. black market prices for these commodities are surging. with rhino horn at times more valuable per ounce than gold. and if that's not troubling enough, consider that more than 23 metric tons of illegal ivory were seized last year. that's nearly 2,500 elephants. the net effect of these depp rr is more insecurity, more violence and more corruption, not to mention the devastation of existing and potential opportunities for tourism and economic development. and ultimately, the deprivation with respect to the stability of whole regions. so given these very real risks, i am convinced it is incumbent on all of us to ask what's

causing this resurgence in poaching and what can be done to combat it? the demand side of this equation is crucial. according to u.n. assessments, east asia is the primary destination for ivory and other products. people are buying it. the chinese government with some substantial seizers but clearly, a lot more needs to be done. on that front, i want to recognize the work of the u.s., fish and wildlife -- the service is vigorously prosecutoring illegal ivory importers here in the united states but we have other options as well. along with several members of this community, he apologizes,

wanted to be here today. senator coops is the chair and he's concerned about it, but he simply had a conflict. i've introduced legislation, s2318 to expand the state department's rewards program to include national crime so that we can include international efforts to reduce trafficking of all kinds and we'll hear today from our witnesses that the international community has also expands its efforts to track money and to follow that money through the the trafficking business. before it's too late, we need to explore how we can strengthen our partnerships with regional law enforcement services to help enhance their capacities to protect their communities and patrol their borders. and safeguard their country's natural resources. i'm pleased to note that dr. julius is here. he is the director of the kenyan

wildlife service and we appreciate his presence here today and with that, i want to welcome our witnesses. we scheduled this hearing on somewhat short notice. i appreciate his leadership. he is the founder of save the elephants and has spent the last 40 years working on elephant conservation in africa. john scanland is secretary general on endangered species of wild fawna and flora and tom cardemom is the managing director of financial integrity. so, gentlemen, we welcome you here today. this is what out of the ordinary

hearing. i'm going to ask senat-- >> thank you for everything you are doing. i was just sharing with dr. douglas hamilton before we began that my own experiences traveling in uganda, kenya, tanzania, included visiting a national park that had been almost empty of wildlife. i was left haunted by the destruction to god's creation. in the decade since then, there has been this cycle, where recognizing the value of preserving elephants has also led to improvement for the nations that host these amazing creations and creatures and has also led to a steady drop in the

benefits, the proceeds from the illegal trade. in animals and in poaching. what we're here to consider today is an unfortunate vortex that's going to opposite direction. just as in central africa, a number of countries have suffered from the lord's resistance army because of a lack of central control, a lack of organized opposition. so, too, we put at risk majestic species. biodiversity, the opportunity to preserve amazing wildlife and habitat and the prospects for development, conservative. there's been a report that details just how many billions of dollars. terrorist groups who operate outside the rule of law. to chairman kerry, i know my

ranking senator reflect what is a broad community across the house and senate republican committee and who welcome your effort to make sure we put conservation at the top of our multinational agenda for moving forward the people and nations of africa. thank you. >> thank you very much. again and again i say to you thank you for your concern and leadership in this area. thank you for being with us. why don't you just -- i think you have to press your butts ton there. >> thank you, mr. chairman. senator john kerry. >> can you pull the mike a little closer? >> i'm deeply grateful for this response from the highest political levels in the united states of america and i'm honored to appear before this

committee. i have actually appeared both in the '70s and '80s on this particular issue when the elephants were in peril. we are now again in that situation. what's happening to elephants is appalling, more so since we have been these ivory crises before and should have found solutions by now. quickly to summarize by points, in case i run out of time, escalating crisis in africa. it is driven by demand in china. the demand exceeded the supply. it creates security threats as well as impacts. much of the trading being led by organized crime which undermines good governments, peace

stabilized security and causes the killing of elephants on a massive scale. urgent action is critical to stem this decline. the solutions are to increase funds and environmental guidance through programs managed by u.s. fish and wildlife service in the state department including u.s. aid funding. we should explore opportunities to use the resources of permanent security to address this global security threat because otherwise, if allowed to develop, it could breed something that comes back to hit you. we should use new ways of thinking outside the box, using high-tech solutions and above a

all, we should work more closely in partnership with china to reduce demand at the highest levels of diplomacy. i want to thank quickly, the role the u.s. has played in working to con serve african elephants. the u.s. fish and wildlife service has provided consistent funding through the african elephant conservation fund and then this u.s. aid which has helped save landscapes where elephants live and collectively and worked together with the state department, these u.s.-led efforts have made a huge impact in the past. i can't forget the ngos. who have played a critical role and have always been out there in the front line. wwf, wildlife conservation society, i4, wildlife

conservation network, nature con ser vansy. among others. we've been there before with this elephant crisis. elephants were nearly exterminated in the victorian era and it was only in the early 15th century. where animals for the first time became tame and approachable and exposed to tourism. unfortunately, the ivory trade surged in the '70s and '80s driven by prosperity in the far east. this caused massive losses. 700 tons of ivory a year on average representing about 70,000 elephants left africa

annually for the best part of the decade. the estimated population dropped to nearly half that in the mid-80s and in most of the savannahs of east africa, central africa and with a few exceptions in southern africa, there were massive drops in numbers. the evidence now is that strong demand for ivory has resurged again. i'd like to talk about a case study in kenya, where save the elephants conducts minute research by recording the births, deaths and population dynamics of about 500 elephants. this has allowed us to record that elephants recovered very well in the last two decades up

until about 2008. we found that it was a steady increase in poaching and the tipping point was reached in 2008 where the elephants nosed over starting with the big drought and ending with a big decline which is ending at the present. this has caused terrible suffering for the elephants. the big bulls have been largely wiped out and now, the big cows are being attacked and the females, the maare being remove. the worst hit place in africa is central africa. there's good domination of this -- the paper is coming out and it will show that central

africa's lost more than half its elephants in the last ten years. i want to say that all these threads of information have come together. they've cross triaingelated and quickly. at the front line, there are scientists, there are wildlife departments, wardens, there's the press, journalists and there are the ngos. the second line is african elephant specialties group of the international union for the conservation of nature. they have a program that coordinates reports coming in and increasingly this is being put immediately on public record. they have an elephant trade information service that tracks illegal ivory and it relies on very hard data that gives the big picture. across the world.

in 2009, 2010 and 2011, there has been a rapid escalation in the seizures of illegal ivory. tom millikin referred to 2011 as -- because it exceeded all others. finally, the program that really allows us to get a handle on what is happening is monitoring the illegal killing of elephants, which is a program of the convention on international trade and endangered species. data gathered from this program has shown that illegal killing again matched what happened with the ivory data. it increased from 2006 on and finally, last year, it was a record bad year in levels of illegal killing of elephant. this covered all four regions of africa.

once again, the center was shown to be the worst, but east africa was bad. west africa's so small that there's hardly anything left there, but now, even southern africa, that formerly had been well protected, had levels of illegal killing that were beyond the level that experts think is sustainable. the implications for security are enormous. this crime is opportunistic. in large tracks of africa, the poachers target the softest populations and they'll move from one population to another. the reason we game so worried was because it was a well protected population. and if that could happen in a well product eprotected populat

feared it could happen elsewhere and we wrote a paper that would be on the record in nature. the worst case that has been recorded recently is this terrible incident that took place in cameroon where upwards of 400 elephants were killed by heavily armed militia. they traveled probably 1,000 miles on horse back to get there. they may have come from sudan or chad. and it's interesting that they're now avoiding the park of zakuma in chad because it has received good funding and has now become a slightly hard target to hit. also, in goramba, there's been

another massacre where an army helicopter was involved. and again, a group of elephants were shot down. now, despite the fact that the over all picture is very dire, there are some success stories that point to what can be done. there have been successes recently in places that have received good funding and good programs with strong aid support. these include parks in gabon, zacuma in chad, national parks in kenya, central african republic. in zacuma, elephants were being killed at the rate of 800 per year and dropped to 7 last year. in kenya's largest national

park, poaching gangs have been confronted and the reduction in the number of poached elephants has been observed from the air and independently confirmed. likewise in northern kenya, a similar surge has resulted in the killing of elephants over the last six weeks. the way that we have to tackle this problem, there are three main ways to confront elephant poaching in the field, to reduce the illegal trade and to reduce excessive demand. the methods that i know best to use in northern kenya. in the northern range truss area. this is an ngo that makes deals with communities so that they get a benefit from the conservation option.

the people of kenya are being settled and can adopt a conservation option which will benefit them. it is vital that when they do so, they do so with good governments and the movement in northern kenya is to get that good government so that the community elects officials, the chairman and treasure er and doesn't escape those essentials which could lead to corruption. the result is you get support from the communities and we've seen amazing increase in information about poachers coming in there. but of course, they also need a good informer network, which comes from that. a rapid response and poaching team. skilled trackers, local volunteers. we want in northern kenya to create role models of african conservationists who have been looked up to and found a conservation effort based on

local values. local range of forces can become an elite. i personally believe that high-tech solutions can help. we have got to think outside the box. tracking elephants by a gps and satellites has been pioneered by save the elephants. in kenya, central africa and south africa, it's now proved greatly to be useful in improving elephants' security. to defect wounded animals and mortality and to relate that to the patrol centers with instant feedback. if there were a possibility to engage such a u.s. agency as darfur to enhance those intellectual and financial resources, it could help to save elephants and to promote stability. we dream of developing a high-tech color that will incorporate more senses and can be