Delegates on Tuesday heard the official report from last week's
African elephant range states meeting, and some expressed
concerns about its conclusions as the 12th Conference of the
Parties (COP12) to the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) entered its
second day.
After many behind-the-scenes comments on Monday about the
closed-door African elephant range states meeting, delegates
officially focused on the report's so-called consensus in
support of the ivory trade proposals of Botswana, Namibia,
Zimbabwe, and South Africa.
Kenya reacted strongly to the report presentation, arguing
that the consensus was forced upon the participants. "Parties
from Central and West Africa expressed great reservations about
the implications of the reopening of the ivory trade," said Dr.
Paula Kahumbu of the Kenya Wildlife Service. "Reopening the
ivory trade will have implications beyond the borders of the
proponent states."
Kahumbu also noted that some African countries had expressed
concerns about the report, but were not given an opportunity to
review it before it was finalized and distributed.
"There has been an escalation in illegal trade in ivory,"
added Kahumbu. The lack of financial resources, she pointed
out, makes it impossible for most African Parties to deal with
increased poaching to supply the illegal ivory trade. She also
noted that the CITES system for Monitoring the Illegal Killing
of Elephants, established in 1997, was not operational. "We
don't have a mechanism to stop ivory trade if it is reopened,"
said Kahumbu. "We don't have baseline data; we don't have a way
to measure the impact of this decision."
In closing, Kahumbu noted that Asian elephant range states
were not allowed to participate in the range states meeting,
and that ivory-consuming countries also have a role to play in
deciding whether to reopen the international ivory trade.
"Elephants are a concern to the world," she said. "They are a
global heritage…all the countries of the world should be
involved in making these decisions."
In another exchange, a delegate from Kenya pointedly asked
for Japan's response to the recent seizure of 6.3 metric tons
of ivory in Singapore, which had originated in Zambia and was
reportedly destined for Japan. Japan responded that it was
investigating the matter.
A Chinese delegate attributed the recent growth in the
illegal ivory trade to several factors, including the
CITES-approved 1999 "experimental" export of 50 metric tons of
ivory from Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe to Japan. The
delegate stated that many people "misunderstood the decision
and believe that the international ivory trade had
resumed."
The Chinese delegate also credited the increase to the fact
that the "sale and export of ivory and ivory products for
personal effects is legal in some countries. This sends the
wrong signal." Furthermore, the delegate added, "The market in
some countries for ivory products made in China is still in
existence." China will soon adopt stricter measures to control
its domestic ivory market and would like to work with CITES
Parties to eliminate the illegal international ivory trade, the
delegate concluded.
Committee I Fails Leopards and
Markhors
Leopard hunters were given reason to cheer on Tuesday. Every
year, thousands of African leopards are killed by hunters, and
their carcasses are exported and imported as trophies.
Committee I (at the COP, the Parties split into two committees
to discuss species proposals and other documents) decided to
eliminate annual reporting requirements for countries that
allow the export of leopard carcasses, a species that's listed
on Appendix I. Eliminating these detailed reports—required of
any country given a special privilege to export these
trophies—could further damage leopard populations.
What's more, the committee agreed to increase Tanzania's
leopard trophy export quota from 250 to 500 per year. "The
committee's agreement to increase Tanzania's leopard export
quota is outrageous," said Dr. Teresa Telecky, director of the
Wildlife Trade Program for the Humane Society of the United
States. "Tanzania has provided no scientific basis for this
increase. Tanzania exceeded its leopard export quotas in four
out of five recent years. The committee's decision rewards bad
behavior." The committee's decisions will be forwarded to the
COP plenary for approval later in the meeting.
Committee I also did a favor for hunters of the Asian
big-horned sheep called "markhor" by approving the removal of
annual reporting requirements for the export of markhor
trophies. It also increased Pakistan's export quota from six to
12 markhor per year. This decision will also be forwarded to
the COP plenary for approval.
On the positive side, Committee I did support a plan
submitted by the CITES Transport Working Group (of which The
HSUS is a member) to improve methods used to transport live
animals who are traded internationally. The committee also
supported international efforts to conserve tortoises and
freshwater turtles, particularly those species traded
internationally as food. Finally, the committee set up a
working group to consider the conservation of sea
cucumbers.
Committee II
Meanwhile, Committee II considered a proposal by the
Secretariat to eliminate the term "endangered species" from
name of the CITES treaty (the proposal was withdrawn by the
Secretariat after a large number of Parties spoke in
opposition) and voted down a proposal by Chile to improve
regional representation on two of CITES's technical
committees.
