The first act of the European Union as a full member of The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), may well jeopardise the future of African elephants.
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Wakhungu will lead the Kenyan delegation to the meeting on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora which has began in South Africa. More than a million pangolins have been killed within a decade.
“And it confirmed what many of us have feared for some time – one of our planet’s most treasured species is on course for extinction at the hands of poachers and traffickers”.
If proposals submitted to the meeting by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia are adopted, they will clear the way for these countries to sell stockpiled ivory on the global market.
But in Kenya, where elephants can not be owned and where any hunting is forbidden, the animals are seen as a bigger draw for tourists wanting to see them in the wild. Many European nations have thriving ivory markets – selling supposedly antique ivory.
Earlier this month, during IUCN World Conservative Congress, the US, France and 29-member AEC countries strongly urged countries to close their domestic markets for commercial trade in raw or worked elephant ivory. Their scales are being used in traditional Asian medicine and their meat is a highly valued delicacy.
The charity, of which Prince William is a patron, will host an global conference on the protection of endangered species in South Africa, BBC News reports.
This document has been submitted by Angola, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, Niger and Senegal: countries that are deeply affected by threats to their elephant populations. They also ignore persistent reports alleging the misappropriation of funds raised by previous ivory sales.
Others are concerned that high-profile rows over the elephant proposals, which could all fail to pass, will distract from work on enforcement to end the scourge of poaching. Muchinguri-Kashiri also points to the economic contribution the hunting industry makes towards conservation efforts and the “huge losses” it would suffer if the killing of elephants for trophies were curtailed. But the protection was weakened in 1997 and 2000 when populations in four countries (Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe) were down-listed to Appendix II (a less endangered status) to allow two sales of ivory stockpiles to Japan and China in 1999 and 2008. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.
CITES had allowed a one-off sale of elephant ivory that was completed in 2009.
These southern African countries argue that they should be able to sell their ivory stock, while also acknowledging that their endogenous wildlife must be protected.
A group of elephants, believed to have been killed by poachers, lie dead at a watering hole in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park, in October 2015.
“A continued split-listing of the African elephant is akin to a declaration by Cites to open the ivory trade for business”.
It focused on the challenges posed by illegal trade in wildlife and the opportunities presented by legal and sustainable trade, and the role of CITES in advancing the SDGs.
“Any sale, however legal, increases risks to the animals”, she said.
Nonetheless, we met local people who approved of the killing trade: many blamed the elephants as the cause of their suffering, as they would often trample their fields destroying their crops and leaving their families hungry.
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The researchers argue that the best place for ivory is on an elephant.
