CITES Considers One-Time Ivory Sale in Zambia & Tanzania

GreenTracker| Tanzania and Zambia want a one-time sale of ivory approved to clear out stockpiles of the precious tusks of long-dead elephants.

Kenyan officials are warning that if sales are approved in neighboring countries, elephant poaching will soar. Poaching of elephants has risen seven-fold in Kenya since a one-time ivory sale was approved in 2007 by CITES — the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species — for four African countries.

Last year 271 Kenyan elephants were killed by poachers, compared with 37 in 2007, Omandi said.

At the CITES meeting in Qatar from March 13-25, Tanzania is asking the 175 members to allow it to sell almost 200,000 pounds (90,000 kilograms) of ivory. It noted in its proposal that its elephant population has risen from about 55,000 in 1989 to almost 137,000, according to a 2007 study. via AP

Without restrictions, elephant populations were declining from 1.3 millioin in 1979 to 600,000 in 1989 when ivory was banned worldwide.

In other countries of Africa, the elephants are gone. Sierra Leone, in northwest Africa, lost its last elephants in December, and Senegal has fewer than 10 left, he said. In China, there are only 300 elephants left. (See Elephants jostle for a little room in today’s LA Times)

Tribesmen and elephants have lived together for centuries in Tsavo East, a huge expanse of wilderness where some 6,000 elephants live. Today locals are increasingly turning to poaching. Reality is that an average set of tusks can net $2,000 or more locally — a massive sum to an impoverished rural family living on lands where the seasonal rains haven’t come in the last five years, ruining crops and spreading hunger.

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