‘Let us sell our ivory’
‘Let us sell our ivory’
The Southern Times
May 6, 2021
See link <https://southerntimesafrica.com/let-us-sell-our-ivory/ > for
photo.
Four South African countries, fed up with a 32-year-old-ban on the sale of
raw ivory, are spearheading an international lobby for a waiver that will
allow them to raise money for economic development and wildlife
conservation.
Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe are home to the largest herd of
African elephants in the world, and they are petitioning for a temporary
exemption to Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) restrictions.
The four sit on ivory stockpiles worth a combined US$700 million.
“We have asked for global intervention from various co-operating partners
to allow us to dispose of the ivory in our custody and we are having high
level joint discussions and we are making progress to see how we can unlock
these resources,” Mr Patrick Phiri, the Zambian Secretary for Tourism told
The Southern Times this week.
“Tourism sectors in our countries have almost collapsed because its driven
by tourists and if they don’t come, like has been the case lately, how do
we as countries raise the resources and that is why we are talking with
various players and looking up to CITES to review the ban.”
CITES banned the ivory trade in 1989 at a time the elephant population was
in grave danger. However, improved conservation and tighter anti-poaching
measures have seen the population in Southern Africa grow, with countries
saying they now exceed their carrying capacity.
In 2019, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe wrote to CITES raising these concerns
but were rebuffed.
This prompted Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority
spokesperson Mr Tinashe Farawo to at the time say: “If we are not allowed
to trade we will not take part in CITES discussions on elephants. Our
decision to sell ivory is not an emotional one. It is a scientific one
backed by facts. At Independence in 1980 we had 40,000 elephants and the
number has more than doubled and yet the land is not expanding.”
However, the International Union for Conservation of Nature says the number
of African forest elephants fell by more than 86 percent over a period of
31 years, while the population of African savannah elephants decreased by
at least 60 percent in the last 50 years.
A 2019 assessment by the organisation says Africa is left with 415,000
elephants from 10 million in 1930. But about 87,000 of those are in
Zimbabwe against the country’s carrying capacity of 55,000.
“We have 130 tonnes of ivory locked up while there are also 2,000 rhino
horns that we cannot sell because of the ban effected through CITES. Our
revenues are severely affected and this obviously will impact on our
abilities to conduct conservation programmes,” Dr Fulton Mangwanya, the
director-general of ZimParks told the media this week.
Safari Association of Zimbabwe president Dr Emmanuel Fundira added that the
continued CITES ban was not based on any scientific research.