EU urged to do more to tackle illegal trade in #Ivory

EU environment ministers are holding talks in the hope of agreeing a proposal for further ivory trade restrictions in the next two weeks to be presented at the CoP in Sri Lanka in May.

Ahead of that meeting, the EU is being urged to “be brave” and close its markets now like other nations including China.

It is alleged that European and Japanese markets fuel the illegal trade in poaching and the killing of elephants. There is also increased evidence of a link between the EU legal market in ivory and the illegal trade.

Many member states and international players are closing their markets to the illegal trade but the EU is said to be still “behind the curve”.

Speaking in Brussels, Kenya’s minister for tourism and wildlife Najib Balala, also co chair of the African Elephant Coalition, said: “All legal ivory markets – whether in Asia or Europe – fuel illegal trade, poaching and killing of elephants.”

The comments are backed by the 32-member state African Elephant Coalition (AEC) which has called on the European Union, as one of the world’s largest traders in ivory, to take immediate action to close its domestic markets.

Member states are formulating the EU position on ivory trade in advance of the 18th Conference of the Parties of CITES, the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species (CoP18), to take place in Sri Lanka, 23rd May – 3rd June.

Minister Balala met Jyrki Katainen,Vice-President of the European Commission, to make the case for the EU to end its ivory trade and close its domestic market. The Minister also met the Japanese Ambassador to the EU to communicate the concerns of the Coalition and to discuss how legal ivory markets in the EU and Japan fuel illegal trade, poaching and killing of elephants in Africa.

Elephants are declining significantly throughout Africa and Asia. Every year, at least 20,000 African elephants are killed illegally for their ivory and only bold action now can save this iconic animal from becoming extinct in many parts of its range within the decade.

Campaigners want the EUI to close its domestic ivory markets and follow the lead of China, the US, Taiwan, Singaporeand Hong Kong SARwho have taken, or are taking, steps to close their domestic ivory markets. During the last decade approximately 144,000 elephants were killed across Africa due to poaching.

Minister Balala said: “To assume – as many EU member states do – that there is no link between domestic ivory markets in Europe and Asia and illegal trade and killing of elephants in Africa is a flawed basis on which to develop EU conservation policy. Most other countries with significant legal markets have realised that there is a clear link between their domestic ivory markets and illegal trade and poaching and have closed them down. We call on the EU and Japan to follow suit.”

Campaigners say that legal markets can serve as a cover for laundering ivory from poached elephants into trade, including within the EU. Allowing the sale of ivory reinforces its social acceptability and makes it a desirable product to own or even invest in, further fuelling the illegal market and stimulating transnational wildlife crime. Ivory trafficking exacerbates conflict, corruption, and poverty, and weakens local and national security and governance.

In addition, following the agreement at CoP14 at The Hague in June 2007 to have a one-off sale of ivory stocks originating from Namibia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Botswana to Japan and China in 2008, poaching levels in east Africa spiked.

At the latest meeting of the CITES Standing Committee, in October 2018, parties from Africa, including AEC members and Asia, strongly supported the closure of all remaining ivory markets.

A number of EU member states have banned/are banning ivory trade including France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK, which in December 2018 adopted one of the toughest set of ivory trade restrictions in the world. “While we appreciate the measures taken by the EU and its member states so far, we consider it essential to take further action to close the internal market and external trade in worked ivory. Otherwise it will present a continuing threat to our elephants,” added Balala.

“We have always seen the EU as the global standard-bearer for promoting and protecting international biodiversity, whose high standards should be emulated and to which all others should aspire. Europe leads the way on many conservation issues and cannot afford to be behind the curve on the ivory trade.”

He added: “I therefore appeal to the European Commission and to EU Environment Ministers to demonstrate leadership by closing your domestic markets forthwith. As we cooperate more closely with the EU, particularly within the context of the Africa/EU partnership, we need Europe to join us and become a leader with those countries that are taking action to close domestic ivory markets around the world.”

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Zim's fight against CITES' ivory ban continues

By Sinikiwe Marodza

The UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species’ (CITES) ban on international ivory trade has done more harm than good within the SADC region, Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) has said.

Upon its enactment in 1989, the CITES ban on global ivory trading among member states was intended to reverse a sharp decline in the African elephant population, purportedly due to increased levels of poaching, but it has failed to serve its purpose.

As the world gets ready for the 18th CITES conference of parties (COP18) in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from May 23 to June 3 this year, Zimbabwe has promised to continue fighting for the ban to be lifted so that it is allowed to sell its stockpiled ivory and use proceeds to develop poor communities.

Southern African countries such as Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe have opposed the ban on trade in elephant products. They criticise ivory prohibition arguing that trade bans and stockpile destruction have a perverse effect of reducing supply, increasing prices and therefore incentivising further poaching.

These countries also argue that revenue from regulated ivory sales can be put to good use. The money can be used to finance the protection of elephants and their habitats and provide socio-economic benefits to communities who bear the costs of living with elephants.

In 2008, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe were allowed a "one-off" auctions to sell ivory from government-managed stockpiles to Japan and China under very strict conditions. Revenue from the sales was used to develop poor rural communities who live side-by-side with the elephants.

Zimparks public relations manager Tinashe Farawo said representatives of the authority will in May travel to Sri Lanka with the agenda to fight against the continued ivory trade ban.

“We have in the past years fought against the CITES ban, in fact the fight has never stopped and it will never stop until our wish is granted.

“It is time for all countries in the Southern African Development Community to join hands and support each other at the next CITES convention conference.

"There is no tangible evidence that trade bans have ever saved any species from extinction," Farawo said.

"It is imperative for our regional economy that SADC countries unite in defending our right to sustainably use our natural resources.

“The ban has not only affected Zimbabwe, but the whole of Southern Africa, and over the years we have been pushing for the ban to be lifted so that we use the proceeds of national stockpiles to fund conservation and support communities living near elephants ranges.

“Banning trade in ivory has not solved the problem of poaching, neither has it helped in protecting and controlling the population of elephants in Southern Africa. Rather, it has created a problem of overpopulation of elephants,” he said.

According to the World Wild Fund for Nature, Southern Africa has more than 700 000 elephants.

Instead of working to the people’s advantage, the elephants have turned into a liability as rural communities suffer from crop losses and in some cases lives have been lost in the human-animal conflicts.

“In Zimbabwe, we have more than doubled the number of our elephant carrying capacity.

“Under normal circumstances, our country should cater for only 40 000 elephants but now we have about 84 000 elephants, meaning that we have exceeded the carrying capacity.

“Elephants in Zimbabwe have in many cases destroyed people's crops and in some cases, attacked and killed people. Because of the over population, elephants are now destroying the vegetation which disadvantages the rest of the wildlife,” Farawo said.

Wildlife can be used to contribute towards building and developing African economies through trading of products such as ivory and elephant skins.

“Domestic trading of ivory is what we practice in Zimbabwe and it has done quite a number of things in terms of developing our nation.

“We have managed to build schools, hospitals, provide medicine and create employment for communities surrounded by elephants. Through an initiative called Campfire (Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources), in Zimbabwe we have done so much with the proceeds from these animals.

“Now imagine if the trade was done at an international level, how much could we have achieved by now?

“We want our people to benefit from the wild animals, not the other way round,” Farawo added.

Zimbabwe has an estimated 1001 tonnes of ivory in reserve in its stockpile, mostly from animals who die of natural causes.

CITES is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals. It was created out of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The convention was opened for signature in 1973 and CITES entered into force on 1 July 1975.

Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species in the wild, and it accords varying degrees of protection to more than 35,000 species of animals and plants.

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