World Sentinel | WWF and TRAFFIC: Ivory Sales Proposal Fails at CITES Meeting

 

Ivory Sales Proposal Fails at CITES Meeting

Newswire Services

March 28, 2010

Washington, DC -- Requests from Zambia and Tanzania to hold one-off sales of their ivory stockpiles failed during a United Nations species trade meeting that comes during a worldwide poaching crisis.
Governments participating in the United Nation´s Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) rejected proposals by Tanzania and Zambia to relax trade restrictions on their elephant populations by moving them from Appendix I -- the highest level of protection under the Convention banning all international commercial trade -- to Appendix II.
The two countries had also initially asked that they be able to hold a one-off sale of their ivory stockpiles. No commercial ivory sale is permitted if elephants remain in Appendix I, but an Appendix II listing allows some regulated international commercial trade.
Neither country was given permission to sell their ivory at this stage or relax trade controls on their elephant populations. The decisions come amid a poaching crisis destroying elephant populations in Asia and Africa.
"WWF and TRAFFIC believe the main factor behind the ongoing elephant poaching is the continued existence of illegal ivory markets across parts of Africa and Asia," said Crawford Allan of TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network of WWF and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

World Sentinel | WWF and TRAFFIC: Ivory Sales Proposal Fails at CITES Meeting

Kenya Welcomes Tanzania Ivory Ban | East Africa | English

 

Kenya Welcomes Tanzania Ivory Ban

Mike Sunderland | Nairobi 23 March 2010

Photo: AP

Kenyan Wildlife wardens keep a watch on confiscated elephant tusks at the Kenyan wildlife offices in Nairobi, Nov. 30, 2009

Kenya has welcomed the decision by The Convention on International Trade and Endangered Species to prevent neighboring Tanzania from selling part of its ivory stockpile.  The Kenyan government says putting ivory back on the market would stimulate illegal poaching in the region.
Speaking to VOA, Kenya Wildlife Spokesman Paul Udoto said the decision would help to ensure the continuation of one of Africa's most important conservation efforts.
"It is a victory for the African elephant," Udoto said. "It is also an opportunity for Kenya and like-minded partners to engage the other side of the argument."
Kenya was one of more than 20 countries from East and Central Africa that rallied against a proposal from Tanzania and Zambia to remove the African elephant from a list of endangered species.
The proposed change would have allowed the two countries to make a one-time sale of more than 100 tons of ivory; the profits of which they said would be used to fund further conservation projects.
Elephants can move freely across the border between Kenya and Tanzania at three main points where wildlife reserves straddle both countries.  Udoto argues that no decision regarding animal welfare in those regions should be made without consultation between the two nations.
"They are shared populations," Udoto said. "The elephants have no idea about the passports and the visas to cross over, and it was upon the two countries to have discussed this issue before being presented to Doha.  It is unfortunate that Tanzania moved ahead and took this to Doha without agreeing with us."
Experts say an insatiable demand for ivory from the Far East means many African countries are facing serious problems in controlling illegal poaching.
Speaking to VOA from the CITES summit in Doha, Save the Elephants Founder Ian Douglas-Hamilton said authorities must act to ensure all options stay closed to ivory buyers.  
"If the price of ivory is propelled upwards due to an increase in demand from the Far East, the poaching will definitely escalate and I think Kenya's really fearful that one-off sales would stimulate the market and increase the demand and that would definitely feed back down to increase the ivory poaching," Douglas-Hamilton said.
Douglas-Hamilton says the 1989 worldwide ban on ivory trade initially led to an increase in most significant elephant populations, a trend that continued until a few years ago.   
"Now what worries us is that we have seen a sudden escalation in poaching levels," Douglas-Hamilton said. "Everyone acknowledges that throughout the CITES program and that is why were particularly worried that we could see a return to the bad old days."

Kenya Welcomes Tanzania Ivory Ban | East Africa | English

Anna Brones: UN Ban on Ivory Threatened: Take Action to Protect Endangered Elephants

 

Beginning on Saturday, the world's nations will meet at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Doha, Qatar to consider lifting an ban on ivory trade that would permit one-off sales of stockpiled ivory. There's a lot at stake at this convention; if the UN ban is lifted, endangered African elephants could be wiped out.

According to Samuel LaBudde, a biologist with the Environmental Investigation Agency,

Every time CITES approves an ivory sale it translates into an open hunting season on elephants across Africa and a death sentence for tens of thousands of protected elephants. It would be a tragedy for elephants and a travesty of conservation principles for CITES to approve Tanzania and Zambia's applications to downlist protections for elephants.

Both Tanzania and Zambia have put forth proposals to CITES that would allow each country to a one-off sale of their ivory stocks. That stockpiled ivory equals about 112 tonnes. These proposals have been made despite the fact that intensive elephant poaching and illegal ivory trade occur within both countries.

What does a one-off ivory sale mean for the ivory trade and conservation in general? The last time a one-off ivory sale was permitted by CITES was in 2008, when Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe were allowed to sell a total of 108 tonnes to China and Japan. In the following year there was a global surge in the level of seizures of illegal ivory, with Tanzania responsible for almost half of the total 24 tonnes captured.

In fact, from 2008 to 2009, illegal ivory seizures doubled, the poaching death rate of elephants grew to nearly 10%, and the price of ivory ballooned to record levels.

Those increased death levels have a tremendous effect on a species that is already endangered. To raise awareness of the issue, and add to the scientific data in support of protecting elephants, a group of conservationists created the Elephant Ivory Project (EIP). The expedition, which will take place in the fall of 2010, is focused on pinpointing ivory poaching hot spots, aiding innovative elephant ivory forensics programs, and creating educational media to build public and political will to stop the illegal ivory trade. According to Trip Jennings, a team member of EIP,

Across the world's cultures and throughout our history elephants have been revered in religions and have captured our imagination -- Babar, Dumbo, Ganesh, Airavata, Erawan. But today these beautiful and highly intelligent creatures are being annihilated... As long as there is demand for ivory, elephants are at risk from poaching and smuggling -- but this week we have a chance to help stop it.

Many African countries and conservation groups are currently standing firm to uphold the ban, but they need our support. You can take action by signing this petition to save elephants and stop the bloody ivory trade. The petition calls on the nations of CITES to extend the ban for at least 20 years.

As the meeting in Doha unveils, global public opinion could tip the scales, and it's imperative that we all voice our opinion in support of this endangered species.

Anna Brones: UN Ban on Ivory Threatened: Take Action to Protect Endangered Elephants

Kenya steps up fight against ivory trade

Kenya steps up fight against ivory trade

By SATURDAY NATION Correspondent Posted Friday, February 26 2010 at 18:26

Kenya upped its campaign against international trade in ivory ahead of next month’s Doha Conference of Parties by hosting more than 20 diplomats to present its case.

Dubbed the bush breakfast, the Kenya Wildlife Service used Friday’s occasion to appeal to the envoys and their representatives, mostly from western Europe, to block attempts by Tanzania and Zambia to sell 110 tonnes of ivory.

The event was held at the symbolic ivory burning site where former president Daniel Moi set ablaze tonnes of tusks seized from poachers in 1989.

Kenya submitted a proposal for the March Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species (Cites) 15th Conference in Doha seeking to extend the moratorium on international trade in ivory to 20 years from the nine agreed in 2007 at The Hague.

KWS director Julius Kipng’etich told the diplomats that the spirit of The Hague agreement had been betrayed by the Cites secretariat and the Tanzania and Zambia governments.

Wiped out
“There is a clear disconnect between the spirit and the wording of the agreement,” he said, referring to a loophole in the wording of the moratorium that appeared to ban only Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia from selling ivory.

The four countries were allowed to conduct a one-off sale in 2007 after which the moratorium would take effect.

“It is illogical for the Cites secretariat to turn around and say that the moratorium was not binding on all parties,” said Dr Kipng’etich.

“If we allow the sale to go ahead, the entire West African elephant population will be wiped out in 10 years,” he said.

Breaking News, Kenya, Africa, Politics, Business, Sports, Blogs, Photos, Videos - Kenya steps up fight against ivory trade

AFRICAN INDABA - Newsletter

Elephant Ivory Auction Feedback

Gerhard R Damm

The auctions of over 100 metric tons of legal ivory to China and Japan were recently held in southern Africa. The long-delayed sales of stockpiled ivory in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe were being conducted over two weeks under close supervision of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The four countries are home to 312,000 elephants, and their stocks of tusks came from natural deaths or the culling of herds to keep the population under control. Namibia opened the bidding on 28 October, Botswana sold its 43 tons on 30^th October, while South Africa, with the largest sale of 47 tons, and Zimbabwe, 4 tons, followed suit on 6^th and 2^nd  November respectively. In total, a whooping 100 tons of ivory will enter the market.

CITES approved the export of the ivory stockpiles of the four African countries because they have been able to establish that elephant populations are now under control and being monitored in an acceptable manner. Proceeds from the auctions are required to be used to fund future conservation initiatives targeting threatened elephant habitat, and community development projects in areas where elephant populations have been interfering with local farming. 

The auctions were organized by the governments of the respective African countries and only authorized Chinese and Japanese merchants were permitted to bid. Under the agreement, the ivory is not permitted to be re-exported, even after processing. CITES says it will be working with governments, Interpol and several NGOs to ensure this is the case.

CITES calls the exceptional sale “an African solution to an African problem,” in reference to the problems associated with conservation initiatives that do not take the unique circumstances in different parts of the world into account. “While richer countries can often afford to promote conservation through strict protection, many poorer nations must do so in ways that benefit local communities and bring in much-needed cash for conservation,” CITES Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers has said in the past.

Critics fear that the exclusive auction to Japan and China, two of the world’s largest ivory markets, has the potential to trigger a bidding war between the two countries. This frenzy, they argue, could inadvertently drive up black market prices and thus create more incentive for poaching. Yet – the predicted “frenzy” did not happen! Other critics point out that the legal sales could boost poaching and illegal trade by making it difficult to distinguish between legal and illegal ivory in the marketplace and drawing attention to the fact that there is still demand for the controversial good.

But CITES representatives disagree with the critics. They say that their close monitoring of elephant numbers in the four countries, combined with the potential for increased wildlife protection provided by the proceeds of the auctions will, in fact, decrease poaching. “Some NGOs are saying that this will increase poaching because demand will be stimulated,” says Juan-Carlos Vasquez of CITES. “But we don’t have any evidence to indicate that this is the case.” Moreover, data collected by the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC shows that seizures of illegal ivory fell in the years following the last legal sale in 1999.

AFRICAN INDABA - Newsletter

Humans and elephants on collision course in South Asia

 

Humans and elephants on collision course in South Asia Download * Review of Human-Elephant Conflict Mitigation Measures Practised in South Asia [pdf, 1.69 MB] It is estimated that the amount of economic damage caused by human-elephant conflict amounts to millions of dollars in some countries © WWF-Canon / A. Christy WILLIAMS Related links * Read more about human-animal conflict 17 Nov 2008 Kathmandu, Nepal: Massive international investment in large-scale infrastructure projects in southern Asia will increase human-elephant conflict and cause more deaths on both sides unless much greater care is taken. A new report released today, funded by the World Bank as part of the World Bank-WWF Alliance for Forest Conservation & Sustainable Use, warns international investors that a clear strategy for keeping human-elephant conflict under control makes economic as well as environmental sense. It is estimated that the economic damage caused by human-elephant conflict amounts to millions of dollars in some countries and in many cases it is those responsible for new land developments that have to foot the bill.

WWF - Humans and elephants on collision course in South Asia

57 Wildlife Criminal Suspects Grabbed in African Crackdown

 

NAIROBI, Kenya, November 17, 2008 (ENS) - Africa's largest international operation against wildlife crime has netted 57 suspected illegal wildlife product dealers and 1,000 kilograms of powdered, carved and raw items of ivory in coordinated raids across five African countries. On the weekend, Kenya Wildlife Service, the Lusaka Agreement Task Force and INTERPOL personnel raided local ivory markets, airports, border crossings and smuggling points. Cheetah, leopard, serval cat and python skins, as well as hippo teeth also were seized. Kenya served as the coordination center for the simultaneous operation in the other participating countries - Congo Brazzaville, Ghana, Uganda and Zambia. More than 300 staff from the police, customs, wildlife agencies, national intelligence agencies and the Lusaka Agreement Task Force were involved in the operation across the five countries. Clement Mwale, right, of the Lusaka Agreement Task Force, displays an ivory necklace seized in a raid this weekend. Nairobi, November 17, 2008. (Photo courtesy Kenya Wildlife Service) "Kenya Wildlife Service used various specialized law enforcement units to conduct the operation. It is also in the process of modernizing and enhancing its law enforcement capacity through the acquisition of ivory detectors, and other specialized security equipment, in order to counter wildlife crimes more efficiently," said the KWS Director Julius Kipngetich.

57 Wildlife Criminal Suspects Grabbed in African Crackdown