International wildlife conference calls for an end to legal ivory markets

Delegates at an international wildlife conference in South Africa have approved a number of measures to crack down on the ivory trade, but have stopped short of reclassifying all elephants under the most highly protected category of endangered animals.

The 183 members of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), an international agreement to protect endangered plants and animals, are meeting in Johannesburg this week against the backdrop of a surge in elephant poaching in recent years in Africa.

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Tens of thousands of elephants have been poached in Africa the past decade to meet demand for ivory in newly affluent Asian economies, where it is prized for carvings and other decorative purposes.

Close domestic markets

CITES recommended on Sunday that countries with legal domestic ivory markets —  which are not regulated by the convention as its remit is cross-border trade  — start closing them down because they are seen as contributing to poaching.

Many conservationists say legal markets are used to launder trafficked ivory. The world's main ivory consumer, China, plans to close its domestic market.

However, Japan, which also has a large domestic ivory trade, has said the resolution does not apply there. The recommendation is not legally binding, so CITES cannot compel Japan to comply.

According to the BBC, Japan's environment minister told reporters there is no poached ivory in its market.

"It's very disappointing for the Japanese government to deny the existence of illegal ivory in their markets," Iris Ho, from Humane Society International, told BBC. "Any legal market serves as a very convenient cover for illegal ivory to be laundered."

CITES does not have the authority to compel Japan to comply. 

No selling stockpiles

Namibia and Zimbabwe failed on Monday to convince delegates that they should be allowed to export ivory — something they had argued would protect rather than further endanger Africa's elephants.

Members voted overwhelmingly to reject the proposals to sell tusks seized from poachers and taken from animals that had died naturally or been put down by the state.

"African elephants are in steep decline across much of the continent due to poaching for their ivory, and opening up any legal trade in ivory would complicate efforts to conserve them," said Ginette Hemley, head of the CITES delegation for conservation group WWF.

"It could offer criminal syndicates new avenues to launder poached ivory, undermining law enforcement," she said.

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A global ban on ivory sales was imposed in 1989 to stem a wave of poaching, but CITES allowed Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe to sell stockpiles to Japan in 1999. They were joined by South Africa in 2008 in a sale to China and Japan.

Namibia and cash-strapped Zimbabwe had both argued that the sales were needed to raise money for conservation and that their populations have been stable or growing, triggering conflict with poor rural farmers. Zimbabwe said it had a 70-tonne ivory stockpile estimated to be worth $35 million US.

Other African nations, such as Kenya, are strongly opposed to any reopening of the ivory trade on the grounds that it will stimulate demand and threaten its own elephants.

In the secret ballots, Namibia's proposal lost 73-27 and Zimbabwe's lost 80-21, both far short of the two-thirds required to pass.

"Ivory belongs to the elephants and ivory is worth more on a live animal rather than a dead animal," Kenyan Environment Minister Judi Wakhungu told Reuters.

Kenya, which also bans sports hunting, has for decades focused on wildlife-watching safaris and ecotourism as the main revenue streams from its big animals. In April, it burned 105 tonnes of ivory from 8,000 animals.

The southern African kingdom of Swaziland has tabled a proposal to sell rhino horn, but it is also unlikely to get the green light.

Reclassification rejected

Despite the ivory crackdown, efforts by some delegates to increase protections for elephants failed to pass.

In most African countries, elephants are listed under Appendix I, reserved for species regarded as highly endangered or threatened with extinction. Trade in such species or their byproducts for commercial purposes is banned.

But in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia, where the animals are more plentiful, elephants are listed under Appendix II, which allows some tightly-controlled domestic trade, such as the buying and selling of live animals and legal trophy hunting.

A proposal to list all the continent's elephants under Appendix I was rejected.

The committee's recommendations were approved by consensus and are likely to be approved at a plenary session on Tuesday or Wednesday. 

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