Zambia will fight for CITES exemption - Namugala

| Friday April 9, 2010 00:00

Zambia says it has lost about US$20 million in revenue from ivory sales after the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) member states rejected her bid to sell part of the country's ivory stockpile.

Speaking on her return from the just ended CITES meeting in Doha, Qatar, where the proposal by Zambia and Tanzania to sell their ivory was thrown out, Namugala regretted the move, but indicated that Lusaka would continue fighting.

 Zambia and Tanzania recently differed with Kenya over their application to CITES to enable them to sell their ivory stocks and reduce the elephant populations in the two countries.

 Kenya and 32 other African countries, with the support of the United States of America (US) and the European Union (EU) countries opposed the proposal by Zambia and Tanzania to sell 105 tonnes of ivory with Zambia availing 21.7 tonnes of ivory and Tanzania seeking to dispose off 90 tonnes of its stock.

But the other CITES governments, spearheaded by Kenya, argued that the one-off sale of ivory would heighten poaching and lead to the extinction of the elephant.

The governments also dismissed the two countries' request for relaxation of trade restrictions on their elephant populations by moving them from Appendix I - the highest level of protection under the Convention banning all international commercial trade in ivory - to Appendix II.

Key players in the anti-poaching and ivory trade constituency noted that should the two countries be given the green light, it would fuel poaching and increase domestic ivory markets in Africa and the Far East.

 'While the issue of whether sales should be allowed to proceed or not has dominated much of the discussions in Qatar, WWF and TRAFFIC believe the key driving force behind the ongoing elephant poaching is the continued existence of illegal domestic ivory markets across parts of Africa and Asia,' says Steven Broad, the executive director of TRAFFIC which is the wildlife trade monitoring network of WWF and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) report which highlighted some shortcomings was also formally presented to the delegates at the meeting.

According to the report, the illicit trade in ivory, which had been increasing since 2004, rose sharply in 2009 and there continues to be a highly significant correlation between large scale domestic ivory markets in Asia and Africa and poor law enforcement, suggesting that illegal ivory trade flows 'typically follow a path to destinations where law enforcement is weak and markets function with little regulatory impediment'.

'Poaching and illegal ivory markets in central and western Africa must be effectively suppressed before any further ivory sales take place,' Elizabeth McLellan, Species Programme Manager for WWF International, said.

The Zambian government requires about US$10 million annually for sustainable conservation efforts. Money from ivory and elephant skins sales would help in wildlife conservation.

According to Namugala the value of the ivory stockpile at the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA), the agency tasked to oversee wildlife in the country, is estimated at US$ 20 million. (Sila Press Agency)