Namibia pushes for ivory sale rights

Ulhas Joglekar ulhasj at bom4.vsnl.net.in
Wed Apr 12 18:39:58 PDT 2000


Tuesday 11 April 2000

Namibia pushes for ivory sale rights NAIROBI: Southern African countries were pushing for the right to sell stockpiled ivory at a conference to discuss trade in endangered animals and plants. Tirngeni Erkana, head of Namibia's delegation, said their proposal for an annual quota to sell stockpiled ivory is justified because it comes from natural mortality and legal slaughter to thin the herds rather than from elephants killed by poachers. The southwestern African nation has a stockpile of 35-36 tons, and wants to sell two tons per year, he said. ``In my country, we have kept the level of poaching to a minimum,'' he said. ``On average we lose two or three elephants a year. It is a question of monitoring the system. ``I do not understand why after we have taken effective management of our elephants, we should be punished,'' Erkana said. South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe have also submitted ivory sales proposals to the conference of the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. Elephants, whales and other large animals will probably steal the limelight from smaller animals and plants during the 10-day conference, said Willem Wijnstekers, CITES secretary general. ``Our discussions on elephants, whales and sea turtles, I am sure, at times are going to be difficult and heated, sometimes even emotional,'' Wijnstekers said. ``This does not do sufficient justice to the many other important proposals we will have to decide upon in the coming weeks.'' Some 2,000 delegates from 151 countries and scores of non-governmental organizations dealing in conservation and environmental issues are at the conference. At least 60 proposals on different species will be discussed, including whether to forbid all trade in the Asian urial, a wild sheep; the coelacanth, a unique living fossil fish; the hwamei, a songbird; and the Chinese happy tree. Debate on a proposal by Kenya and India to ban all commerce in elephants is expected to dominate the conference. CITES lifted a ban on limited trade in some elephant products such as leather in 1997. Indian delegation head Suresh Sharma said although India and Kenya both want to protect their elephants, India's problem is particularly serious because of the 100-to-1 female to male ratio in the Indian herd. Only Asian male elephants have tusks. In African elephants, both females and males have tusks. Both nations say allowing trade in any type of elephant product increases poaching. Sharma said India has seen an increase in poaching since CITES lifted the ban on the ivory trade in 1997 for the one-time sale. He said an average of 100 male elephants are killed each year. However, Gordon Shepherd, director of international policy for the World Wildlife Fund, wanted the status quo. ``It is not yet time to do ivory trade. It is still a danger,'' he said. ``But it is difficult to poach elephants for skins.'' (AP) For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service
|Disclaimer|
For comments and feedback send Email © Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. 2000.



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list