Three nations ignore ivory ban
2003-12-15 08:42
Dakar, Senegal - Over 4 000kg of illegal ivory is on sale in Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Senegal, three countries singled out for failing to regulate a trade that's fuelling poaching and threatening the survival of elephants, wildlife advocacy groups said in a new report.
The three nations - which have nearly wiped out their own elephant populations - have virtually ignored a worldwide ban on ivory trade and their flourishing illegal markets are "driving elephant poaching" in West and Central Africa, according to a joint report released on Monday by Traffic, an organisation which monitors trade in endangered species, and the World Wildlife Fund, an international conservation group.
"These studies show just a snapshot of the problem," said Tom Milliken, director of Traffic for eastern and southern Africa. "When we factor in all of the uncontrolled manufacturing, buying and selling over a year, these numbers climb to frightening dimensions."
The UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or Cites, banned worldwide ivory trade in 1989. It lists elephants as an endangered species, but allows limited ivory trade in several countries that already had stocks to dispose of.
The Cites ban is currently applied in 164 nations - including Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Senegal.
But "all three governments are in breach of ivory market control requirements under international regulations", the 78-page report said.
The report said "inadequate legislation and poor law enforcement" have allowed ivory sellers to flourish.
"Not only is there a lack of political will to implement Cites, allowing traders to act with immunity from prosecution, corruption is preventing effective controls on the ivory trade," said Susan Lieberman, director of World Wildlife Fund International's Species Programme.
The three countries have nearly wiped out their own elephant populations, and so most of the illegal ivory comes from Congo, Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Central African Republic and Gabon - countries the report said comprised "Africa's most troubled region for elephant conservation".
In 1980, there were 1.2 million African and Asian elephants in the world. A decade later, that population had been halved. Elephant numbers have stabilised since, with 500 000 elephants in Africa and fewer than 50 000 in Asia.
The report said less than 550 elephants may still roam Nigeria and Ivory Coast.
In Senegal, they may have already been wiped out: Its Niokola Koba National Park was home to several dozen elephants just five years ago. Repeated aerial surveys in 2002 found no elephants, though ground evidence suggested there might be two.
On the net:
Traffic: www.traffic.org
World Wildlife Fund: www.wwf.org
- AP