Godfrey Harris — A life of purpose for a brighter tomorrow

I am deeply saddened to announce the passing of Godfrey Harris, former Managing Director of the Ivory Education Institute, on 6 January 2026.

Godfrey was a passionate supporter of sustainable wildlife conservation in Africa. He believed that protecting elephants and other wildlife must go hand in hand with recognising the needs, rights and livelihoods of rural communities that share their land with wildlife. Above all, he believed in the power of public education and environmental communication to build understanding and support for conservation approaches that work.

I worked closely with Godfrey for several years. We learnt from each other, exchanged ideas and shared a commitment to ensuring that African voices were heard in global wildlife conservation debates. He travelled to Southern Africa several times at his own expense, engaging governments, conservation authorities and communities.

Before his death, Godfrey gave me permission to continue the work of the Ivory Education Institute and take responsibility for its leadership. His eldest son and other family members supported this decision.

Godfrey Harris requested that his tombstone carry the words: “At least I tried.”

I believe the greatest tribute we can give him is to continue trying.  His wish was for the work he started in Southern Africa to continue to receive support.

“I hope someone will see the path I have trod in Southern Africa over the last several years as a way to enhance the economic well-being of rural areas and reverse the suffering of wildlife caused by starvation, overcrowded reserves, and the effects of climate change,” said Godfrey in his eulogy before he passed away. “Many of these concepts are explained in published articles written by my collaborator in South Africa, Emmanuel Koro.”

Godfrey believed that as long as there is no promotion of free speech to hold wildlife managers accountable, the threat of wildlife mismanagement remains.

Therefore, I am inviting everyone worldwide who supports accountable wildlife management to help establish the Harris Africa Institute for Environmental Communication in his honour. I have already identified the site on which the institute will be built in Southern Africa, a region which has the world’s largest elephant population. The aim of the institute is to empower people to communicate their conservation needs while demanding transparency and accountability in environmental management.

“At least I tried.” — Godfrey Harris

Donate today: Support the Harris Africa Institute for Environmental Communication. Click on the PayPal link:  https://paypal.me/Ivoryeducationinstit. All major credit and debit cards accepted.

 Every contribution — US$1, US$5, US$20, US$100 or more — will help build an institution dedicated to empowering Africans and others to communicate environmental issues freely, confidently and effectively.

All donations will be published on this platform monthly. Anonymous donors’ donations will be published without their names.

Environmentally yours,
Emmanuel Koro
Managing Director,  Ivory Education Institute
E-mail: ekoro@ivoryeducationinstitute.org                                                                                                    

About the news hub

Why our stories matter

Meet Miracle Elephant-Attack Survivor Biggie Shoko

An early-morning walk to work became a fight for survival when an elephant bull knocked Biggie Shoko to the ground and trampled him near Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park.

A walk to work becomes a fight for life

It was early morning when Biggie Shoko left home for work, walking through the wild and peaceful surroundings that tourists from around the world pay to experience.

Suddenly, a powerful elephant swept him off the ground with its trunk and slammed him onto the hard earth. Acting on instinct, the huge animal began trampling him as his cries rang out.

“As the huge elephant bull was stomping on me, I started crying and screaming: ‘Hey, elephant, leave me alone. I want to work for my family.’ Then the bull left me alone.”

“I was attacked by an elephant while walking to work early in the morning,” Shoko said. “Passers-by rushed me to Hwange Hospital, where I spent days. I still do not know how I survived that elephant attack, and I live in fear that the bull might strike again.”

In an interview, Shoko’s wife and daughter said they were relieved that he had survived, recovered from his injuries and returned to work. Life would have been extremely difficult without him, the family’s only breadwinner.

The daily cost of coexistence

Shoko was fortunate to survive. Other elephant-attack victims are killed, leaving behind widows and orphans. Some sustain injuries that permanently disable them, making it impossible to care for themselves and their families.

In other cases, elephants wipe out entire crop fields and leave households facing hunger. This is the daily reality for African communities that share land with elephants.

Hwange National Park under pressure

Support reporting from the ground

To continue receiving African elephant and ivory news, please donate any amount to support our on-the-ground newsgathering and writing.

All donations will be published on this platform monthly. Anonymous donors’ contributions will be published without their names.

Letter To the Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China

Following letter was sent to the Prime Minister of China. A copy of the letter in PDF format is at the end of the page.

October 30, 2018

The Honorable Li Keqiang
Prime Minister of China
People’s Republic of China
Beijing, CHINA

Dear Premier Li :

The Ivory Education Institute strongly applauds the People’s Republic of China’s decision to permit its hospitals to trade in domestically-raised tiger bones and rhino horn.

While many Western animal rights groups will react automatically and negatively to this  initiative because it will confuse their one-size-fits-all approach to wildlife conservation,  students of governance will recognize the carefully-crafted policy that China has forged.

From our perspective, you have done it exactly right. Now it is up to the farmers and their  support groups in Southern Africa to put pressure on their individual governments to join  China in seeking a change in CITES regulations to reflect this new policy.

As an organization fully committed to achieving a similar, carefully calibrated and properly  controlled market for ivory, I hope you will be able to turn your attention to saving  elephants suffering in overpopulated herds in Southern Africa.

I look forward to working with your delegates to the CITES Conference of the Parties in May-2019 on this and other questions.

Sincerely

Godfrey Harris
Managing Director

View the Letter in PDF format

Following email communication was sent to Mr. Knell, President of the National Geographic Society on March 1, 2018

Dear Mr. Knell:

POLITICO for February 28, 2018 quotes you as follows:

“100 elephants a day are being slaughtered for ivory.” Given the prestige of the National Geographic Society and the incomparable platform it offers you, I would hope that you could prove the number of elephants you claim are poached per day before you repeat that number again in public. The Humane Society of the United States has long claimed 96 per day (derived from a 2010 estimate of 35,000 elephants killed in a 12 month period divided by 365.)

As you know, the Speaker of the California Assembly adopted the number for a bill she sponsored that bans virtually all ivory trading in the state. That bill became law. But as we note in our lawsuit appeal arguing to have the law declared unconstitutional, the number was never proven, details were never provided, the caveats accompanying the number were never revealed and a differentiation between animals killed for their ivory and those that died of natural causes was never established by any responsible public official in California.

The number has become the opposite of an urban myth; it is the big lie repeated so often that it takes on a Goebbels-like ring of verified truth. Check with the Natural Resources Defense Council. They use the number as if it were brought down from Mt. Sinai by Moses. Please do not add to the intellectual dishonesty this number implies by associating the National Geographic Society with its dubious provenance.

And one more thing. When groups like the Society publicly lament the death of elephants without equal concern for the rural populations who live among them and for the damage the elephants do to the land they occupy, these groups are playing into the hands of the poachers. Nothing the gangs that control the poachers want more than a limit on ivory supply without any alteration in demand. That, of course, increases the price of raw ivory and makes poaching even more lucrative. Ever think that what you are doing by addressing only a part of the elephant equation may do greater damage  than might occur without your intervention?

Godfrey Harris
Managing Director, Ivory Education Institute
520 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Suite 204
Los Angeles, CA 90049-3534 USA