Switzerland-based IUCN is regarded as the most authoritative source on wild fauna populations and the report’s release at a United Nations conference on the global wildlife trade will lend a sense of urgency as some countries seek to keep the global ivory trade shut while others want to reopen it.
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A report presented to an global conference on protecting wildlife under the Convention on worldwide Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) warned habitat loss also posed a long-term threat to the species.
Analysis by wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic said the global trade continued unabated in 2015, with a continuing rising trend in large raw ivory shipments of 100 kilograms or more.
And at an annual convention for trade in endangered species, eyes are on elephants and rhinos.
Kenya is a member of the African elephant coalition that has lobbied the worldwide community to support a ban on ivory trade ahead of CITES meeting in Johannesburg.
And Southern Africa is now seeing the emergence of poaching as a threat, with declines in Mozambique and some parts of Zimbabwe, while major populations in Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe are stable or increasing, the report said.
The world’s main ivory consumer, China, has said it plans to close its domestic market.
Ivory has been used for centuries to make carvings, jewelry, furniture, piano keys and other items.
State House spokesman Manoah Esipisu said worldwide efforts are needed to deal with illegal trade in ivory products which he said drives supply and demand.
The number of Africa’s savannah elephants dropped by about 30 percent from 2007 to 2014, to 352,000, because of poaching, according to a recent study.
Tom Milliken, a report co-author, estimates that there are about 50 ivory seizures of more than half a ton, and sometimes as many as four tons, every year. Milliken says such big shipments are a sign that organized crime groups are involved in poaching.
“Nobody is really uncovering their identities and making arrests and prosecuting the people who are really behind this”, he said.
Some governments have the capacity to target ivory syndicates in the same way they prosecute drug kingpins, but are sometimes “more comfortable” going after low-level operatives rather than well-connected ringleaders, said Susan Lieberman of the Wildlife Conservation Society, a New York-based group.
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“This is yet another set of data clearly indicating that governments must take all necessary actions to address the crisis”, said Susan Lieberman, head of worldwide policy for the Wildlife Conservation Society.
