Yahoo News 16 Jul 08;
China's approval for the first time as a bonafide buyer of ivory drew flak Wednesday from some conservationists who blame the country for stoking the illegal ivory trade.
One of the world's biggest consumers of elephant ivory, China was given the go ahead on Tuesday to participate as a licensed buyer in an upcoming auction of 108 tonnes of ivory from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
"This sale has literally given the green light to the international poaching syndicates and organised crime and will present a nightmare to poorly resourced wildlife enforcement agencies in Africa," said Animal Rights Africa.
"In real terms this represents the death of an estimated 7,699 South African elephants (1.8 tusks per elephant and 3.68kg per tusk)," said a statement from the organisation, which is based in South Africa.
The decision to approve China for the auction was made by the standing committee that oversees the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
"All the proceeds of the sale are to be used exclusively for elephant conservation and local communities living side-by-side with elephants," it said in a statement.
A date for the auction has not yet been announced but CITES spokesman Juan Carlos Vasquez told AFP he envisaged it would take place "in the next three months."
While some animal rights campaigners were angry at China's participation, others recognised that the country had made an effort to be responsible on this issue.
"China has acted rather successfully against its own illegal domestic ivory market," said Tom Milliken, the east and southern Africa director of TRAFFIC, a monitoring network for the wildlife trade.
"Now China should help other countries do the same, especially in central Africa where elephant poaching is rampant and Chinese nationals have been implicated in moving ivory out of the region."
Susan Lieberman, director of the international species programme at the World Wildlife Fund, said she was satisfied with the decision as China had come along way.
"China did everything that it was asked to do," Lieberman said.
The auction of government-owned stockpiles includes 51 tonnes of ivory from South Africa, 43 tonnes from Botswana, nine tonnes from Namibia and three tonnes from Zimbabwe.
CITES would "closely supervise this sale and evaluate its impact on elephant population levels throughout Africa," Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers said in a statement.
"We will continue monitoring the Chinese and Japanese domestic trade controls to ensure that unscrupulous traders do not take this opportunity to launder ivory from illegal origin," the CITES chief said.
But Animal Rights Africa spokeswoman Michele Pickover slammed CITES as a pro-trade organisation that had failed wild animals.
"What is even more abhorrent is that the South African government is already licking its lips at the prospect of this dishonourable and blood-soaked deal. We are also horrified that Britain and the EU supported this sale."
CITES, which groups 173 countries, banned international trade in ivory in 1989. But from 1997 onwards it authorised a few African nations to hold ivory sales at regular intervals.
The upcoming auction is the second organised by CITES since 1999, when Japan -- which has also won approval for the upcoming sale -- bought 50 tonnes of Ivory from Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe for five million dollars.
China's booming economy and its traditional demand for ivory has pushed up prices to 750 dollars (470 euros) a kilogramme.
China's participation in the auction was approved by nine of the CITES permanent committee members. Australia, Ghana and Kenya voted against the move and there were two abstentions.
African elephants once numbered millions but are now thought to have a population of between 400,000 and 600,000. Experts say about 20,000 elephants fall prey to poachers every year.
CITES is an international agreement between governments that aims to ensure that trade in animals and plants does not threaten their survival.
