Jerome Taylor, The Independent 29 Oct 08;
Why are we asking this now?
Because the first officially sanctioned auction of raw ivory since 1999 kicked off in Namibia yesterday and made $1.2m (£770,000) from a commodity that it is normally illegal to sell. Over the next month, four southern African nations – Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe – will sell more than 100 tons of tusks that have either been collected from elephants that died of natural causes or were killed in population management schemes. The controversial auctions are expected to make as much as $40m, which will then be ploughed back into conservation programmes. It is only the second UN-approved sale of ivory to be held in almost 20 years.
But isn't the sale of ivory forbidden?
It is. An international ban on selling ivory came into force in 1989 after endemic poaching sent Africa'selephant populations into freefall. Between 1979 and 1989 the number of elephants in Africa halved from1.3 million to 625,000, with Kenya alone losing 85 per cent of itselephants. Since then, the number of pachyderms in Africa has climbed to approximately 450,000, but an estimated 20,000 are still killed every year by poachers who sell tusks on the black market, in a multi-million-dollar industry run by criminal syndicates around the world.
So why are the auctions going ahead?
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) – the regulatory body set up by the UN to enforce the ban – has given the four southern African nations special permission to hold a series of one-off auctions. There will then be a "resting period" of nine years in which no more ivory will be sold, in order to ensure that inter-national stocks of bona-fide ivory are safeguarded.
How did these auctions come about?
In the late 1990s, the four southern African nations, led by Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, began agitating for one-off auctions at which they might sell legally obtained ivory. They argued that in central African nations such as Chad, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic ofCongo, where elephants are still critically endangered, poaching remained rampant. Meanwhile elephant populations in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana were thriving and at times even becoming a problem. CITES agreed, and allowed them to sell 50 tons of ivory in 1999 to Japan, the only nation that the UN said had the necessary controls in place at the time to separate illegally sourced ivory from officially sanctioned tusks. Last year, CITES gave the same four nations permission to hold a second series of auctions and added China to the "buyer approved" list after the Chinese government successfully persuaded regulators that their officials were now much more active in combating illegal ivory.
Does everyone agree these auctions are a good thing?
Certainly not. Numerous scientists and conservation groups were furious when CITES approved the second auction last year, describing it as tantamount to a "death sentence" for the world's elephants. Their concern is that any legitimatisation of the ivory trade, even in those countries where elephants are doing well, will encourage poachers and consumers to carry on buying illegal ivory.
What are the main concerns?
Firstly, opponents of the auction are worried that the sudden influx of over one hundred tons of ivory on to the Japanese and Chinese markets will make it very easy for poachers to smuggle illegal tusks and pass them off as legally obtained. There are also fears that poachers in central, east and west Africa, where elephants are still highly endangered, will be encouraged to increase the amount of illegal poaching there.
So is poaching on the increase?
The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), has more than 20 years experience in tracking ivory smugglers and exposing their tactics. They believe poaching has risen in the run-up to the auction. Julian Newman, EIA campaigner, said yesterday: "CITES' own comprehensive international monitoring system for tracking illegal elephant products, has shown an increase in ivory seizures – driven by rising demand.
"Coupled with a lack of sufficient checks made by importing countries such as China and Japan, together with instability in some African range states, this could easily drag us back to the dark and bloody days of the 1980s, when we were seeing around 200 elephants killed by poachers each week." Disturbing reports from Virunga National Park in the Republic of Congo indicate that more than 10 per cent of its elephant population has already been lost to gangs of ivory poachers this year. Meanwhile, the Zakouma National Park in Chad is facing difficulties, with more than 700 elephants poached each year for their valuable ivory tusks.
Will Travers, head of the Born Free Foundation, said yesterday: "We are deeply concerned that these sales will open the floodgates to additional illegal trade.
"For some inexplicable reason some people think that all elephant populations are adequately protected and thriving. Nothing could be further from the truth. For many of the most vulnerable elephant populations, any increased poaching pressure will almost certainly result in localised extinction."
Can China be trusted to monitor illegal shipments?
CITES certainly appears to believe that China is doing enough to combat illegal smugglers, otherwise they would not have awarded them "approved buyer" status for the auctions. CITES' complex Elephant Trade Information System, which marks a country out of 100 for how effectively it tackle ivory smugglers, gave China just 5.6 points in 2002 which rose to 63 points yesterday.
However, earlier this year Chinese claims to be tackling smuggling were dealt a serious blow when the EIA leaked a Chinese government memo which admitted that in the past 12 years officials had lost track of 120 tons of ivory from the government's own official stockpiles. And in Kenya, which opposes the current auction, a number of Chinese nationals were convicted of smuggling in 22 out of 37 African elephant-range states. Conservationists claim the vast majority of the world's smuggled ivory is still bought by China.
Conservation groups have also criticised the British Government. Why?
Britain, representing the European Union, was among nine regional representatives of nations that supported China's bid to buy up ivory in these special auctions. Conservation groups have now called on Britain to ensure that no illegal ivory becomes mixed with and sold on as legally obtained tusks. Robbie Marsland, director of the UK branch of the International Fund for Animal Welfare said: "The Government must now ensure that elephants do not suffer as a result of this decision."
Should there be officially sanctioned ivory auctions?
Yes...
* Unlike black-market tusks, ivory sold at auction is from elephants that have either died or were culled.
* Any money made from the auctions will be ploughed into conservation programmes.
* Carefully monitored and legally sanctioned auctions might help stem the flow of black market ivory.
No...
* Selling ivory, even at sanctioned auctions, encourages demand and that inevitably encourages poaching.
* Elephant populations are stable in southern Africa but they are perilously endangered elsewhere.
* China is the number-one destination for illegal ivory, but it is not doing enough to combat illicit trade.
