Conservationists scored a rare victory at a UN wildlife meeting on Monday when governments voted to reject contentious proposals by Tanzania and Zambia to weaken the 21-year-old ban on ivory sales over concerns it would further contribute to poaching.
The heated debate over the proposed sale of the two countries’ ivory stocks divided Africa, as it has in years past, at the 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Nearly two dozen central and east African countries came out against the proposals on the grounds that they would hurt already declining African elephant populations. Southern African countries, in contrast, argued the two nations should be rewarded for the conservation efforts undertaken and should have the right to manage their herds as they see fit.
“People born in 100 years, they should be able to see an elephant,” said Kenyan Minister of Forestry and Wildlife Noah Wekesa, whose country opposed the sales. “We should not lose this heritage that we have. We have a duty to make sure we increase the numbers of elephants.”
The ivory stocks the two nations wanted to sell come from natural deaths or controlled culling of problem animals.
Key to the defeat of the two proposals were concerns among many delegates and environmentalists that the sales would further exacerbate a poaching problem that some say is at its highest levels since the 1989 ivory ban.
Environmentalists welcomed the decision, which came on the same day that countries agreed on a conservation plan for African and Asian rhinos. Delegates agreed to step up enforcement against rhino poaching and work to slow the demand in Asia.
Until the rhino and elephant votes, environmentalists had achieved little at CITES. A proposal to ban the export of Atlantic bluefin tuna was defeated, along with a plan to regulate the coral trade and conserve sharks.
“After the way the week went for marine species, today’s decisions were much more positive, particularly the decision on rhinos, which was really a boost for conservation and morale,” said Carlos Drew, head of the World Widelife Fund delegation.
On the elephant proposals, Tanzania was asking to sell almost 90,000kg of ivory that would have generated as much as US$20 million. It said in its proposal that its elephant population has risen from about 55,000 in 1989 to almost 137,000, a 2007 study showed.
Zambia wanted to sell 21,700kg of ivory and bring in between US$4 million and US$8 million. It withdrew a request for the ivory sale and offered a compromise to allow a regulated trade in elephant parts, excluding ivory — a first step toward future tusk sales.
The two countries argued that their elephant populations had reached the point where they were trampling crops and killing too many people. They also said preventing them from selling the stocks would increase anger toward the beasts, which are seen as pests by affected communities.
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