IFAW: Threat to elephants as ivory stockpile sales loom
Friday, 29, Sep 2006 12:00
The fate of the world's elephants could be decided next week at an international meeting discussing controversial ivory stockpile sales. Sixty tonnes of ivory could be approved for auction, putting elephants across Africa and Asia under renewed threat of poaching for their tusks, despite an international ivory trade ban introduced 17 years ago.
The warning comes from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), which opposes any decision to allow the "one-off" sale of stockpiled ivory from three Southern African nations - an amount equivalent to more than 3,500 dead elephants - at the CITES Standing Committee meeting in Geneva (2-6 October 2006).
Botswana, Namibia and South Africa were granted permission by CITES in 2002 to sell 60 tonnes of ivory stockpiles, despite widespread opposition by many governments and NGOs. The sale is dependent on certain conditions being met, such as effective monitoring of the illegal killing of elephants (MIKE), sufficient trade enforcement and the revenue being used for conservation and community development.
IFAW's wildlife campaigner, Raul Matamoros, said: "IFAW is opposed to the stockpile sales as we fear that any legalised sale will stimulate demand and increase the black-market trade. We do not want history to repeat itself: the last experimental stockpile sale of ivory in 1999 resulted in a rise in poaching incidents and ivory seizures. If the international community is serious about saving elephants, then all ivory stockpiles should be destroyed, and the trade in ivory banned. Only once we remove the commercial value of ivory will the poachers' bullets stop."
Key issues to be discussed at the meeting include:
" Assessment of whether Japan, the prospective buying country, has met minimum requirements for importing ivory; " Whether the Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) data is sufficient to provide the base-line data CITES requires.
Huge seizures of ivory occur regularly - over 20 tonnes have been seized in the past 12 months - despite the current levels of protection. IFAW is therefore urging decision-makers to oppose the sales and hopes the UK Minister for Biodiversity, Barry Gardiner MP, will show leadership in the EU on this issue.
Ends
Notes to editors
CITES - the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species - came into force in 1975 amid growing concern over the human impact of unregulated trade in endangered species. Today more than 160 countries are signatories to the convention.
For more information, please contact:
Rosa Hill, IFAW Press Office, tel: 0207 587 6715; mob: 07801 613 530; email: rhill@ifaw.org