Partial Lifting of Ivory Trade Ban too Soon
11/21/99
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Title: Partial lifting of ivory trade ban too soon
Source: Reuters
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: November 21, 1999
A Kenyan wildlife expert said today the limited lifting of a
worldwide ban on trade in ivory is encouraging illegal poaching of
Africa's elephants.
Paula Kahumbu, scientific adviser to the Kenya Wildlife Service, said
29 elephants had been killed this year for their ivory in Kenya's
Tsavo National Park - five times the average over the last six years,
when a total ivory ban was in effect.The figures appeared to confirm
environmentalists' concern that a partial lifting of the ban for
Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia, a decision opposed by Kenya, could
spark a resurgence in poaching.
"Kenya has conducted population surveys on key elephant populations
this year, and these data, together with additional information on
poaching and illegal trade in ivory, has convinced the authorities
that the reopening of legal trade was premature," Kahumbu said.
The United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES) banned all trade in ivory 10 years ago to try to stem
the slaughter of African elephants.
Earlier this year it allowed Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to sell
60 tonnes of ivory to Japan on an experimental basis.
Kahumbu said in a statement the Kenya Wildlife Service had received
support from 21 other African countries for a proposal to return all
African elephants to 'most protected status'.
Kenya Wildlife Service director Nehemiah Rotich told a recent meeting
of delegates from African states that the partial lifting of the ban
was threatening all African states with elephant herds - and all
Asian elephant populations.While Kenya is relatively well resourced
in terms of wildlife law enforcement, some other countries lack the
resources and the money to counter organised poaching, he said.