African
States Call For Renewed Ban On Ivory Trade
Wednesday,
June 30, 2004
|
Delegates
from a dozen African countries pressed yesterday
for a renewed international ban on the ivory trade,
saying that the recent easing of restrictions could
devastate elephant populations |
Leaders of national wildlife and hunting agencies said
at the conclusion of a two-day conference in Paris that
in addition to fearing for the animals' future, they wanted
to reduce the number of deadly battles between game reserve
guards and poachers seeking to kill the elephants for
their tusks.
The
tusks are a sought-after good, used for everything from
aphrodisiacs to buttons.
"There
is an absolute demand for the halt to ivory sale,"
said Bernard Perty, spokesman for the International Fund
for Animal Welfare, which hosted the conference.
The
delegates, most of them from west and central African
states, were meeting to draw up a common position ahead
of October's meeting of the U.N. Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Specific
proposals included more national protections for the elephants
and their habitats, international involvement in censuses
and promotion of eco-tourism as an economic alternative
to hunting.
The
ivory trade was reduced dramatically in 1989 with the
passage of a global ban, but the CITES secretariat lifted
the ban on some southern African countries with large
elephant populations amid claims that the animals were
destroying the environment.
Botswana,
Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, none of which were
represented at the Paris conference, have partially renewed
their ivory trade since 1997.
Some
nations are concerned that a reopening of the trade could
lead to more poaching, particularly troublesome because
poachers are becoming better armed and more aggressive
in their tactics, the delegates said. Dozens of people
have been killed in clashes between poachers and guards
in the last few years.
While
the global elephant population stabilized after the 1989
ban, it is still far below the 1.2 million estimated in
1980. Africa has between 300,000 and 500,000 of the pachyderms,
while Asia has fewer than 50,000 (Associated Press/News24.com,
June 30).
Published in UN Wire . http://www.unwire.org/
Copyright - National Journal Group – Year 2004
