unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (10/22/89)
October 17, 1989
INTERNATIONAL MORATORIUM ON IVORY TRADE SUCCESSFUL
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (GP) -- Members of the international
environmental group Greenpeace reacted with cautious enthusiasm today
to the decision of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to ban the international ivory
trade.
The proposal was adopted by committee today and is expected to be
accepted by the CITES plenary later this week. This proposal includes a
mechanism to permit trade from elephant populations that can be clearly
proven to be stable or increasing in the future.
After a week of intensive lobbying, the Parties at the biannual CITES
meeting in Lausanne adopted a proposal to list all species of African
elephants on the Treaty's Appendix I list, the most stringent
protection offered under the convention. An Appendix I listing makes
virtually all trade in products from that species illegal.
However, the proposal also includes a stipulation to provide for
certain countries to have their elephant populations downlisted to
Appendix II, a less restrictive category that would allow the trade to
continue. In order to achieve this downlisting, these nations would
have to meet strict criteria to prove their elephant populations are
healthy. Downlisting could not take place before the next meeting of
the Parties at least two years from now. Conservationists fear that
this stipulation may encourage nations to stockpile ivory in hopes of
downlisting.
Greenpeace, other conservation groups and concerned delegations have
been fighting for a straight Appendix I listing as the best way to
force the closing of the international ivory markets that ruthlessly
encourage the poaching of elephants, pushing the species toward
extinction. It is believed that more than 90 percent of the ivory that
leaves Africa comes from illegally killed elephants. At the meeting,
delegates have described the African borders as porous and the
laundering of ivory, particularly through certain Southern African
states, is believed to be commonplace.
"The tide is turning in favor of the elephants, but this is not a
final victory. Elephants are not safe merely because they are on
Appendix I. Only ending the illegal trade and closing markets for
ivory will truly save the elephants," said Jeffrey Canin, head of the
Greenpeace International delegation to CITES, on behalf of the more
than 20 conservation groups present.
Conservationists and committed delegates were able to stave off
repeated attempts to weaken the Appendix I proposal with amendments
that would have permitted certain countries in Southern Africa to
continue trading ivory. Several Southern African States claim their
elephant populations are healthy enough to continue hunting for trade.
But, in the absence of dramatic improvements in the control of illegal
trade of ivory through Southern Africa, the amendments would have
simply spurred the continued poaching of African elephants, which has
slashed elephant populations from 1.5 million in 1979 to just under
650,000 today.
The Appendix I listing was not only fought by countries involved in
the ivory trade, but also by the CITES Secretariat, the supposedly
impartial body that administers the Convention. The Secretary General
of CITES, Eugene Lapointe, has openly lobbied against a ban on ivory
trading. He has accepted nearly $200,000 on behalf of CITES from ivory
traders, a glaring conflict of interest. The Secretariat was also
responsible for an ivory amnesty that allowed several hundred tons of
poached ivory to flood the markets, earning millions of dollars for
poachers and illegal ivory traders and spurring the deaths of tens of
thousands of African elephants. As a direct result, new stockpiles have
formed fueling conservationists' fears that there will be yet another
sanctioned amnesty. These and other actions by the Secretariat led the
more than 20 conservation groups attending CITES to publicly call for
the dismissal of Lapointe.
"The forces wrangling to continue the trade in ivory are formidable
ones. We must remain vigilant that the ban is viable and enforced and
not just a ploy to lull the public into a false sense of security about
the plight of the elephant," Canin said. Contacts: Jeffrey Canin,
Andrew Davis, Greenpeace in Switzerland: 21-45-3116, 3116, 3055, 3056
or after hours: 21/23-19-01 Blair Palese, Greenpeace DC: 202/462-1177
* Origin: TouchStone HST: A FINE Standard (509)292-8178 (1:346/1.0)
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