Ivory debate resumes this week

ANIMAL rights groups continue to oppose requests by Namibia and two other southern African countries to be allowed to have a one-off ivory sale.

One such group is the Survival Species Network (SSN). On Sunday, a Namibian delegation headed by Environment and Tourism Permanent Secretary Dr Malan Lindeque left for Geneva, Switzerland, to attend the 54th Standing Committee meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).The meeting, which started yesterday and ends on Friday, will decide whether to allow Namibia, Botswana and South Africa to sell a stockpile of 60 tonnes of ivory, which was tentatively approved by Cites in 2002.Yesterday, SNN President Will Travers was quoted as saying: “We remain seriously concerned that the basic conditions for resuming trade in ivory have not been met.”Travers said that the re-opening of ivory exports would send a dangerous message to poachers and illegal ivory dealers that unfettered international ivory trade had resumed.Last month, a Namibian conservation scientist, Louisa Mupetami with the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, told The Namibian that they were hopeful that Namibia would get approval from Cites.Mupetameni is also part of the Namibian delegation to the meeting.At a Cites Conference of Parties held in Santiago, Chile, in 2002, Namibia was allowed to sell 10 000 kg of ivory but under strict conditions.But this, Namibia was told, could only take place once the country had implemented tighter conservation measures which would convince Cites’ Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) programme that an ivory auction would not open the door to poaching.The sale, which was planned for the beginning of 2004, has yet to take place.Countries that are parties to Cites also insisted that MIKE must report baseline information on the levels of illegal killing of elephants and that potential ivory importers such as China and Japan were verified to have sufficient internal controls in place to prevent illegal ivory sales.MIKE’S database report on elephant range states will be tabled at the Geneva meeting.MIKE’S overall goal is to provide information needed for elephant range states to make appropriate management and enforcement decisions and to build institutional capacity for the long-term management of their elephant populations.The African elephant was placed on Cites Appendix I in 1989 after wholesale poaching of the animals.Cites Appendix I is a group of highly endangered species in whose products trade is not allowed.Namibia last sold ivory in 1998 and the N$3,9 million generated was deposited into the Game Products Trust Fund, which supports projects and research, particularly in community conservancies.Cites came into force in July 1975 and Namibia became a party to it in 1991.On Sunday, a Namibian delegation headed by Environment and Tourism Permanent Secretary Dr Malan Lindeque left for Geneva, Switzerland, to attend the 54th Standing Committee meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).The meeting, which started yesterday and ends on Friday, will decide whether to allow Namibia, Botswana and South Africa to sell a stockpile of 60 tonnes of ivory, which was tentatively approved by Cites in 2002.Yesterday, SNN President Will Travers was quoted as saying: “We remain seriously concerned that the basic conditions for resuming trade in ivory have not been met.”Travers said that the re-opening of ivory exports would send a dangerous message to poachers and illegal ivory dealers that unfettered international ivory trade had resumed.Last month, a Namibian conservation scientist, Louisa Mupetami with the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, told The Namibian that they were hopeful that Namibia would get approval from Cites.Mupetameni is also part of the Namibian delegation to the meeting.At a Cites Conference of Parties held in Santiago, Chile, in 2002, Namibia was allowed to sell 10 000 kg of ivory but under strict conditions.But this, Namibia was told, could only take place once the country had implemented tighter conservation measures which would convince Cites’ Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) programme that an ivory auction would not open the door to poaching.The sale, which was planned for the beginning of 2004, has yet to take place.Countries that are parties to Cites also insisted that MIKE must report baseline information on the levels of illegal killing of elephants and that potential ivory importers such as China and Japan were verified to have sufficient internal controls in place to prevent illegal ivory sales.MIKE’S database report on elephant range states will be tabled at the Geneva meeting.MIKE’S overall goal is to provide information needed for elephant range states to make appropriate management and enforcement decisions and to build institutional capacity for the long-term management of their elephant populations.The African elephant was placed on Cites Appendix I in 1989 after wholesale poaching of the animals.Cites Appendix I is a group of highly endangered species in whose products trade is not allowed.Namibia last sold ivory in 1998 and the N$3,9 million generated was deposited into the Game Products Trust Fund, which supports projects and research, particularly in community conservancies.Cites came into force in July 1975 and Namibia became a party to it in 1991.