Elephants get nine year break
2007-06-14 16:48
The Hague - A UN wildlife conference
extended a 1989 ban on African elephant ivory exports on
Thursday by another nine years, after sales from stocks, in a pact
hailed as a step to safeguard the giant mammals.
"This will allow human beings and elephants to co-exist in
Africa," Zimbabwe's Environment and Tourism Minister Francis
Nhema told Reuters of the deal approved by the 171-nation
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).
Cites backed an African plan, agreed after overnight talks
among ministers, to crack down on poaching while allowing
Botswana, Namibia, South African and Zimbabwe to make one-off
ivory sales.
They say their elephant numbers are rising.
The deal will let the four sell government ivory stockpiles
registered at January 31 2007, and then bar them from seeking
exports for nine years.
'Africa's finest hour'
Cash from sales will be ploughed back
into conservation and local communities.
Julius Kipng'etich, head of the Kenya Wildlife Service who
led his country's delegation in arguing for a ban, said it was
"Africa's finest hour, a proud moment for the continent, its
people and the elephant".
"This African solution to an African problem marks a great
step forward for wildlife conservation," Cites Secretary-General
Willem Wijnstekers said.
African nations had never before agreed
a common ivory front at Cites, which meets every three years.
He estimated the four African nations had stocks of 210-260
tonnes that can be sold to Japan, the only importer although
China is also seeking Cites approval as a buyer.
Stocks are from
elephants that die from natural causes, ivory seized from
poachers and shootings of "problem" elephants.
'Milestone in elephant history'
"We believe this will help the elephant," said Todd Willens,
head of the US delegation. Still, he said Washington opposed
exports by Zimbabwe, saying President Robert Mugabe's government
had failed to curb a rise in poaching.
"We'll give Zimbabwe a chance to prove us wrong," he said.
The compromise was far from the original demands at the June
3-15 conference in The Hague.
Kenya and Mali had argued for a total ban on ivory exports
for 20 years, saying 19 000 elephants are killed a year and that
poaching is pushing elephants towards extinction in many areas.
Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa had sought
regular sales, saying rising elephant populations were running
into increasing conflicts with people in rural areas. Ivory is
used mainly in jewellery and in carvings.
Conservation groups welcomed the compromise.
"This consensus is a milestone in elephant history," said
Susan Lieberman, director of WWF Global Species Programme.
And Zimbabwe's Nhema said the deal might let Africa focus in
future on other species - such as lions, cheetahs and leopards.
Numbers have fallen
Elephants, the world's largest land mammals, are under
pressure in many parts of Africa from poaching, loss of habitats
to farms and towns, pollution and climate change. Numbers have
fallen to 470 000-685 000 against millions decades ago.
"With good governance and proper management nine years may
be enough time for them to clamp down on the illegal ivory
market," said Professor Rudi van Aarde, an ecology expert at the
University of Pretoria.
Since the 1989 ban, a one-off sale of 50 tonnes of ivory was
approved in 1997 that raised $5m.
Another approved last
week - of 60 tonnes to Japan - would become part of the
stockpile sale.