A vendor attempting to sell a chunk of dried elephant skin and an ivory tusk at a traditional medicine shop in the sprawling grounds of Golden Rock pagoda in Mount Kyaikhteeyoe, a major religious pilgrimage site for Myanmar Buddhists. Myanmar's wild elephants are being poached in record numbers due to surging demand demand for their hide for traditional medicine, WWF shas warned. Romeo Gacad/AFP
A vendor attempting to sell a chunk of dried elephant skin and an ivory tusk at a traditional medicine shop in the sprawling grounds of Golden Rock pagoda in Mount Kyaikhteeyoe, a major religious pilgShow more

Asia

Skin cure fad drives up Myanmar elephant poaching

At least 20 elephant corpses have been found stripped of their skin in two sites the wildlife NGO monitors so far in 2017 – more than are usually killed in a whole year.

YANGON // Myanmar’s wild elephants are being poached in record numbers with at least 20 killed this year due to surging demand for their hide, WWF said on Monday, warning the species is facing a “crisis”.

Hunters are increasingly targeting mothers and calves, using poisoned arrows to inflict a slow and agonising death before stripping them of their skin, the wildlife group said.

At least 20 elephant corpses have been found stripped of their skin in two sites the wildlife NGO monitors so far in 2017 – more than are usually killed in a whole year.

Global wildlife law enforcement specialist Rohit Singh said poaching at the Bago Yoma and the Irrawaddy Delta sites, both in the south, had reached crisis point.

“If the current trend continues then you’re going to lose the wild elephant population [in these areas] in the next 1-2 years,” he said.

“The sex ratio was already screwed up so any more pressure on young or breeding females will have serious, serious implications.”

Elephant skin has become one of the latest animal products to be touted by some as having medical properties, although there is no scientific support for those claims.

WWF estimates there are 1,400 to 2,000 elephants roaming wild in Myanmar, thought to be the second-largest population in South-east Asia after Thailand.

But their numbers have dwindled as Myanmar has emerged as a key hub in the $20 billion (Dh73.45bn) a year global wildlife trafficking trade.

Myanmar’s government said in January that elephant poaching has jumped tenfold in recent years, driven by growing demand for skin and body parts used in traditional medicine.

At a wildlife market hidden behind Myanmar’s famed “Golden Rock” pilgrimage site earlier this year, there were chunks of the hide on sale for a few dollars a square inch.

Vendors promised that a paste made of its ash and coconut oil would cure eczema, while ground up elephant teeth would smooth and whiten skin.

But experts say the majority of elephant products go to feed neighbouring China’s inexhaustible taste for exotic animals.

Much of the trade runs through the country’s lawless eastern periphery, controlled by a sophisticated criminal network who are thought to be armed and funded by powerful “kingpins” in China.

“It’s organised crime, so we are dealing with organised criminal gangs,” said Mr Singh, adding that WWF was working with local communities and government to try to clamp down on poaching.

* Agence France-Presse

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”