Illustration: Shen Lan/GT

Western media has always portrayed China's presence in Africa in an adverse way, likening it to neocolonialism. Their main fodder has been the rising poaching incidences in some African countries such as Kenya and South Africa that have been linked to the Chinese.

There is little doubt that poaching has hit a crisis level in Africa. Since 1960, the black rhino population has gone down by 98 percent while fewer than 900 African mountain gorillas are still alive.

Conservationists estimate that between 30,000 and 38,000 elephants are killed annually for their ivory. In 2014, 1,215 rhinos were killed by poachers in South Africa. That is one rhino killed every eight hours. Out of the 157 poaching-related cases detected in Kenya in the past three years, less than five percent of them have been prosecuted and only three of those convicted have been sentenced to jail.

China continues being blamed for the rise in this illicit trade due to the fact that it is the world's largest consumer of ivory. However, in May 2015 China agreed to phase out legal, domestic manufacture and sale of ivory products. As a result, ivory prices plummeted by almost half. This commitment seems to have set the pace for the current, ambitious anti-poaching campaign by China in Africa, which has caught many by surprise.

In Botswana, China has donated $1.7 million to boost the latter's anti-poaching efforts while in neighboring Zimbabwe, the Chinese government has donated 40 new vehicles and equipment to improve the counter-poaching and conservation capabilities of the country's Parks and Wildlife Management Authority. China's hunger to end poaching in African countries has not stopped there; in Kenya, it recently donated 40 vehicles, fitted with surveillance equipment to curb illegal killing of the wildlife.

That the Chinese government is proactively fighting the poaching menace was well captured recently when its ambassador to Kenya Liu Xianfa stated that China would continue engaging Kenyan institutions and communities to bolster conservation of its treasured wildlife. He said: "Like Kenya, China places a high premium on eco-environmental and wildlife protection. Chinese philosophy and cultural traditions emphasize that nature and humanity are linked."

Besides stating that Beijing was working on its 13th Five-Year Plan that roots for the pursuit of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development, the envoy said that China had established an international fund for elephant conservation to help African countries strengthen protection of wildlife.

The ambassador's public statement corroborated President Xi Jinping's address to the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit held in South Africa in December 2015 where he pledged additional support to promote wildlife and ecological conservation in Africa. To augment the government's efforts, Chinese companies operating in a number of African countries are not only creating awareness of the ills of poaching, but they are also cooperating with conservation bodies to preserve wildlife in national parks.

China House, a non-governmental body based in Nairobi, is one entity that has volunteered to go around African countries with the anti-poaching crusade. Its founder and CEO Hongxiang Huang says he has been engaging Chinese communities in Kenya to participate in wildlife conservation such as de-snaring. To Huang, since some wildlife challenges in Africa are related to the Chinese, it means that the Chinese are part of the problem, and therefore they need to be part of the solution.

Apart from ensuring that it becomes a good citizen in Africa, where it has in the recent years laid down massive infrastructural projects and billions' worth of investments, China sees its latest anti-poaching efforts as a move to help African nations continue enjoying much-needed tourism revenues.

Kenya, for instance, earns millions of shillings in foreign exchange out of tourism. According to the Kenya Tourism Board, the tourism sector recorded the highest number of arrivals ever at 1,265,136 as on December 31, 2011, earning the country $1 billion. However, these fortunes have been turned upside down as poaching increased, impacting negatively on visitor arrivals.

China's anti-poaching efforts should be wholly supported. This is because poaching is not an African or a Chinese problem but a global one that calls for a universal solution.

Poaching networks, like those of illicit drugs, are complicated and deeply ingrained in society. Furthermore, poaching networks are highly liquid due to the returns from the illegal business, and therefore, able to get some political backing from some quarters. To break such networks, therefore, is quite a tall order.

Besides the international and national anti-poaching strategies, local communities need to be involved. One such plan is the tenBoma model in Kenya where enforcement officers and communities form a network of wildlife intelligence and information sharing. When combined with sophisticated data analysis, the collaboration can lead to early detection of criminal poaching gangs and intervention before the killing of animals.

Improved security especially in border points can also play a pivotal role in reducing poaching in Africa. But to be effective, it needs to take a multi-nation approach. Namibia has started implementing this strategy where it deploys its armed forces along its borders to curb poaching.

It is through more education, awareness and solid law enforcement that the poaching war will be won. China has started the walk, and African countries need to come on board and support it. But the US and Europe should not be left behind, either.

The author is a journalist on African issues based in Nairobi, Kenya. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn