Despite ban, African ivory flows to Asia

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Despite ban, African ivory flows to Asia

ANNE CHAON

March 16, 2010

 

AFP

 

A booming black market in African ivory linked to Asian crime syndicates may

scupper efforts by Zambia and Tanzania to hold a one-off sale of tusks, experts

and delegates at a UN wildlife trade meeting say.

 

At its last gathering in 2007, the UN-backed Convention on International Trade

in Endangered Species (CITES) voted a nine-year moratorium on exports of African

ivory.

 

The ban went into effect in 2008, after South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and

Zimbabwe carried out a one-time sale to Japan and China of stockpiled ivory.

 

But Zambia and Tanzania are now asking the 175-nation body, meeting in the

Qatari capital Doha until March 25, for permission to unload their own ivory

stocks, also taken legally from animals that died naturally or were culled.

 

The two countries require a two-thirds majority for their bids to be approved.

 

A coalition of 23 elephant-range nations not only opposes the measure, but wants

to extend the ban on ivory sales to 20 years.

 

" The 2007 moratorium was meant to ensure there would be no markets (for ivory)

in neighbouring countries. At first, it created panic among the poachers, " said

Cosma Wilungula Balongelwa, a delegate from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

 

But they regrouped and now operate with military force and tactics, he said.

 

" They fire on herds with rocket launchers. In Salonga Park - at 36,000 square

kilometres the largest in Africa - our 140 rangers are completely overwhelmed. "

 

In less than two months, hundreds of elephants in the DRC have been slaughtered

by commando-style poachers, he said.

 

" These are not amateurs. A local network would never be able to handle this

volume of contraband. "

 

The upsurge in poaching has caused experts to question the wisdom of allowing

exceptional sales of state-held ivory.

 

In 2007, CITES enforcement officials argued that the moratorium combined with

the one-off sale, which raised $US15.4 million ($A16.8 million) earmarked for

conservation, would depress the price of illegal ivory and thus discourage

poaching.

 

Instead, the tally of elephants killed by poachers has soared, especially in

central Africa.

 

In Kenya, the number has jumped from 47 in 2007, to 145 in 2008, to 234 last

years.

 

And in Chad, one of the northern-most elephant-range nations, the number of

tuskers in the wild has plummeted from 3885 in 2005 to 617 at the end of 2009,

according to government figures.

 

In all these countries, trafficking has taken on military dimensions, said

Celine Sissler-Bienvenu, an expert on illegal ivory trade at the International

Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

 

" In December, 80 poachers entered the Central African Republic from Sudan and

killed 36 elephants. Then they moved into the DRC and Cameroon. They had heavy

arms and were divided into three units - shooters, cutters and transporters, "

she said.

 

Powerful acids melted the elephants' flesh so that tusks could be extracted

quickly.

 

Evidence also points to the " increasing role of Asian-run crime syndicates in

moving large volumes of ivory from Africa to Asia, " said Tom Milliken, who

monitors illegal trade in east and southern Africa for green group TRAFFIC.

 

" At home, China claims to have a tightly controlled regime for trading in ivory,

and imposes the death penalty for large-scale infringements. Chinese nationals

living in Africa seem oblivious to this, " he said.

 

Several African delegates, asking not to be named, also blamed mafia-like

networks linked to buyers in China.

 

A study published in Science last week recommended that the Zambian and

Tanzanian proposals be voted down until the impact of ivory sales is better

understood.

 

" The immediate fear is that ... allowing one-off sales in any African nation

will stimulate the market for illegal ivory everywhere, particularly in those

countries where law enforcement is inadequate, " said one of the co-authors, Rene

Beyers, a researcher at the University of British Colombia.

 

Zambia holds 21 tonnes and Tanzania 89 tonnes of legally taken ivory stocks.

 

But DNA analysis of contraband seized in Asia has indicated both countries are

also among the most significant source of illegal ivory, according to the paper.

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