Yahoo – AFP,
Kerry Sheridan, September 11, 2016
 |
| After fierce debate, including opposition from Namibia and Japan, a motion was adopted at the IUCN World Conservation Congress to urge closure of all domestic ivory markets (AFP Photo/Tony Karumba) |
Miami (AFP)
- In a bid to stop the killing of elephants for their tusks, world governments
voted at a major conservation conference to urge the closure of all domestic
ivory markets.
After
fierce debate -- including opposition from governments like Namibia and Japan
-- the motion was adopted on the final day of the International Union for
Conservation of Nature World Conservation Congress, a 10-day meeting that drew
9,000 people to Honolulu, Hawaii this month.
"Today's
vote by IUCN members is the first time that a major international body has
called on every country in the world to close its legal markets for elephant
ivory," said Andrew Wetzler, deputy chief program officer at the Natural
Resources Defense Council.
"It's
truly a landmark moment, and a victory for elephants that will hopefully be
repeated later this month at the next meeting of Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Johannesburg."
Although
the motion is non-binding, it "urges the governments of countries with
domestic ivory markets to take all necessary legislative and regulatory efforts
to close them," according to the IUCN.
Experts say
that domestic ivory markets help fuel poaching by allowing traffickers a cover
for their illegal imports and exports.
The United
States and China, among the biggest consumers of ivory, have already agreed to
enact near-total bans on their domestic markets.
 |
Kenya
Wildlife Services (KWS) rangers prepare a pyre in preparation for a burning
of
tonnes of ivory, rhino-horn and other confiscated wildlife trophies (AFP
Photo/
Tony Karumba)
|
At the IUCN
meeting, Japan and Namibia -- which also have thriving domestic ivory markets
-- sought to soften the language of the motion by making 20 different
amendments, but those efforts were rejected.
"The
global conservation community is stepping up," said Wildlife Conservation
Society President and CEO Cristian Samper.
"No
more domestic ivory sales. Elephants have had enough of the ivory trade and so
has the world."
Poaching
persists
CITES
banned the international commercial trade in African elephant ivory in 1989.
But illegal
poaching of endangered elephants for their tusks persists at dangerous levels,
according to research released at the start of the September 1-10 conference,
the largest of its kind in the conservation community.
Savanna
elephants have declined at a rate of 27,000 -- or eight percent -- per year,
with a total of 144,000 lost in less than a decade, said the findings.
Poaching
hotspots identified include Angola, Mozambique and Tanzania, where
"staggering population declines" were found, said the study funded by
Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Paul Allen.
 |
The US and
China, among the biggest consumers of ivory, have already agreed
to enact
near-total bans on their domestic markets (AFP Photo/Tony Karumba)
|
Other populations
face "local extinction" in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo,
northern Cameroon and southwest Zambia.
Wildlife
groups hailed the IUCN move and called for more action at the CITES talks in
Johannesburg later this month.
"There,
we remain hopeful the delegates will be emboldened by the IUCN vote to adopt a
resolution submitted by African governments that also calls for closure of
domestic ivory markets," said Samper.
"The
shutting down of domestic ivory markets will send a clear signal to traffickers
and organized criminal syndicates that ivory is worthless and will no longer
support their criminal activities causing security problems in local
communities and wiping out wildlife."
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