U.N. allows controversial China ivory imports

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*U.N. allows controversial China ivory imports*

Thursday, July 17, 2008

By Eliane Engeler, AP

GENEVA -- A U.N. panel granted China permission Tuesday to import elephant

ivory from African government stockpiles despite opposition from some

countries and environmental groups.

 

The standing committee overseeing the U.N. Convention on International Trade

in Endangered Species, or CITES, voted 9-3 with two abstentions that China

qualified for the exception needed for the one-time auction because it has

dramatically improved its enforcement of ivory rules.

 

Ivory trade was banned globally in 1989, but reviving elephant populations

allowed African countries to make a one-time sale a decade later to Japan,

the only country which had previously won the right to import.

 

Last year, CITES authorized Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe to

make a second sale of 108 tons of government stocks. The body's spokesman,

Juan Carlos Vasquez, said after Tuesday's vote that China and Japan would

bid for their share of ivory at an auction later this year.

 

" China has strived for this status for a long time, " said Wan Ziming, a

member of the Chinese delegation.

 

Still, there was opposition to China's inclusion in the latest auction from

African countries Ghana and Kenya, which joined Australia in trying to block

the decision. Those in favor included Britain, the European Union and Japan.

 

 

" It's very evident that China has made an enormous commitment, " Tom

Milliken, a senior investigator at Traffic, the world's largest wildlife

trade monitor, said Monday. " Seizures are occurring at a very fast clip

these days. The government is putting a lot more in enforcement efforts. "

 

Wan said the Chinese would do their best to ensure that " illegal ivory

cannot enter into the legal market. "

 

But some environment groups disagreed and said their case was strengthened

by the Chinese government's revelation that it lost track of 121 tons of

ivory over a dozen years that probably was sold on illegal markets.

 

China told the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species

in 2003 that the " shortfall " -- equal to the tusks from about 11,000 dead

elephants -- was accumulated between 1991 and 2002. The Associated Press

obtained the document last week from the Environmental Investigation Agency,

a watchdog based in Washington and London that was seeking to prevent China

from gaining permission to trade ivory.

 

Allan Thornton, the agency's chairman, said last week that China had left

too many questions unanswered to be given the right to import. He said

trading of ivory -- a booming black market commodity, with tusks, jewelry

and trinkets bringing in millions of dollars for smugglers and sellers since

the 1989 ban -- was " out of control. "

 

The agency said more than 20,000 elephants a year are killed illegally in

Africa and Asia for the ivory black market, and that Chinese nationals have

been implicated in illegal ivory seizures in more than 20 African nations.

 

Milliken, who was part of CITES' original mission to China in 2005,

disagreed.

 

" Does illegal trade continue? Yes. But that's probably inevitable, " Milliken

said, adding that Japan showed that one-time ivory sales had no correlation

with a rise in illegal smuggling.

 

Trade in elephant ivory far eclipses any demand for other animals' tusks.

 

Much of the ivory destined for China is carved into jewelry and ornaments

bought by tourists from other parts of Asia.

 

After the sale, the four southern African countries will not be allowed to

export ivory again for nine years and must use the sale proceeds for

programs to protect their elephant populations.

Copyright © 2008 The China Post.

 

 

 

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