Asian elephant experts want ivory ban to stay
Date: 31-May-02
Country: CAMBODIA
Delegates attending the World Conservation Union's Asian Elephant Specialist Group meeting in Phnom Penh said resuming the trade in African ivory would send the wrong message to poachers and spur hunting of Asia's dwindling elephant population.
"Reopening legal trade in African ivory will send signals to ivory traders and poachers who may be led to believe that trade in Asian ivory has also been legitimised," the delegates said in a joint resolution.
Vivek Menon, executive director of the Wildlife Trust of India, said Japan and several southern African countries were expected to lead the move for limited ivory sales at a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in November.
"Ten or 11 countries are expected to put in proposals to down list the African elephant and to resume trade," Menon told reporters.
CITES comprises 156 signatory countries and meets once every two years to decide if a species should be traded or not.
Asian elephants have been protected by a global ban on trade since 1976. African elephants were placed on the protection list between 1989-1997.
But between 1997 and 2000, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe were allowed limited sales of ivory to Japan, one of the biggest ivory consumer nations, said Menon.
There are an estimated 37,000-45,000 Asian elephants in the wild, about half of those in India, according to experts.
