A June 2007 meeting of the more than 170 countries that have signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora will decide on three proposals three that relate to decades-old struggle over the international trade in African elephant (Loxodonta africana) parts and products, and in particular, ivory.
Decades of Lax Trade Regulation, Increased Poaching
Until 1990, the legal international trade in African elephant ivory flourished. Ivory showed up as, among other things, carvings sold in Asia and jewelry sold in the United States and Europe.
The nations that signed onto the CITES treaty (which came into force in 1975) tried and failed to regulate this trade. Between 1979 and 1989, the number of African elephants plummeted from approximately 1.2 million to about 600,000. Entire elephant families were gunned down by poachers, their ivory funneled into the legal and regulated trade.
In 1989, CITES effectively banned the international commercial trade in ivory from African elephants by placing them on Appendix I. (The trade in Asian elephants was banned in 1975). Once this ban went into effect in 1990, the decline of elephant numbers in the wild halted and many populations stabilized.
At first, the ban worked. Demand for ivory in the United States dropped to a historic low, illegal trade was severely curbed and ivory factories and shops in Hong Kong closed down. A number of African governments reported that the ban had been a tremendous success in their countries.
But a resurgence in the illegal ivory trade, combined with habitat loss and conflict with humans is taking a heavy toll on elephant populations. By 2007, as few as 402,067 African elephants survived in the wild.
Chipping Away at the Ivory Trade Ban
Some southern African countries objected to the ban at inception, and they have requested permission to trade in ivory at each subsequent CITES meeting since 1989. To appease them, CITES:
- transferred the African elephant populations of Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe to a less protected status of Appendix II in 1997
- agreed to a "one-off experimental" export of 49.4 metric tones of stockpiled ivory to Japan in 1999
- transferred the population of South Africa to Appendix II in 2000
- agreed to a second "one-off" export of 60 metric tones of stockpiled ivory from Botswana, Namibia and South Africa in 2002 (This export has not occurred yet because certain conditions have not yet been met.)
These actions severely undermined the 1989 ban and have led to an increase in poaching and the illegal ivory trade, which is masked by the legal trade.
Recent Upswing in Poaching
Following the 1999 export of ivory to Japan, between January 2000 and June 2002, at least 2,563 tusks, 14,648 ivory objects or pieces and more than 6.2 metric tones of ivory were seized. During the same period, 1,059 or more African elephants were found poached for their tusks.
From October 2004 to April 2007, more than 41 metric tones of ivory have been seized, an amount that roughly translates into 20,000 elephants poached annually to supply illegal ivory markets.
Illegal ivory trade and elephant poaching are at their highest levels since the 1989 ban was established. Strong actions must be taken to bring poaching and illegal trade under control.
An international trade ban without any exception on international ivory trade and the closure of domestic markets for ivory are needed to protect elephants. By allowing the international ivory trade to continue—through occasional exports and by not recommending the closure of domestic markets for ivory (as CITES has done for tiger parts)—CITES has turned a blind eye to poaching and an illegal trade that threatens the species.
Posted April 17, 2007
