CITES approves one-off sale to be followed by moratorium
Today, the CITES Standing Committee has approved, in Geneva, the one-off sale of 108 tonnes of legal ivory stockpiles from four southern African countries to Japan and China. This decision paves the way for the automatic start of the subsequent nine year moratorium on trade in ivory.
Elephant stocks in southern Africa have grown thanks to massive nature conservation efforts. The situation in western, central and east Africa however still gives rise to concern. In 2002, CITES COP12 in Santiago de Chile had already agreed on the one-off sale, which would be subject to certain conditions - e.g. adequate administrative structures in the importing countries. At COP14 in 2007, the one-off sale of 108 tonnes of legal ivory from Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa was confirmed with the support of the EU and, after intensive brokering by the German EU presidency of the time, it was linked to a subsequent nine year moratorium. All the proceeds of the sale approved today are to be spent on nature conservation projects in Africa.
The moratorium should in particular serve the purpose of monitoring the development of poaching and illegal trade as there is controversy on whether legal trade offers additional incentives for poaching or if it helps to eliminate the illegal market. A review by the CITES Secretariat has shown that the total quantity of legal ivory from the southern African countries is significantly smaller than estimated at the last COP.
After an inspection mission to China in 2008, the CITES Secretariat had recommended to the Standing Committee, the supreme CITES body between sessions, to admit the country as a trading partner as it believes that China fulfils all conditions imposed by the contracting parties. It is also the Federal Environment Ministry's understanding that the experience of the one-off sale/moratorium will only make sense if the two major buying markets, Japan and China, are involved at the same time. To have a legal market in Japan parallel to an illegal one in China would not be a good basis for drawing conclusions for the future.
From the point of view of the Federal Environment Ministry, efforts must be stepped up worldwide over the next years in order to combat the illegal ivory trade. Germany and China have already agreed on strengthening their cooperation in particular at the level of customs authorities. It is also of utmost importance to combat poaching in Africa.