10 November 2008
Windhoek — The once-off ivory auctions in the four southern African countries including Namibia have netted in US$15.4 million.
The four countries - Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa - combined had 102 tonnes stockpiled ivory, which was auctioned to Japanese and Chinese registered traders between October 28 and November 6.
A statement from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) said last week the ivory sold was all from legal, government-owned stocks, most of it from elephants that died of natural causes during the last 20 years or were culled before 1994 as part of a population control programme.
The sales were authorised by the 172 CITES member states in July last year.
Through four auctions, conducted under the supervision of the CITES Secretariat and overseen by CITES Secretary General Willem Wijnstekers, US$15.4 million was raised from 102 tonnes of ivory which was sold at an average prices of US$157 per kg.
The first ivory auction, held in Windhoek, sold 7.2 tonnes of ivory for US$1.2 million. Botswana's auction, which was the second one, sold 43.2 tonnes of ivory for US$7.1 million, while Zimbabwe and South Africa sold 3.7 tonnes and 47.3 tonnes of ivory respectively. The two last auctions held on November 1 and November 6 netted in US$500000 for Zimbabwe and US$6.7 million for South Africa.
The Chinese traders paid US$8.9 million for 62.3 tonnes of ivory, while their Japanese counterparts bought 39.4 tonnes of ivory for US$6.5 million.
Although critics suggest that legal sales of ivory boost illegal trade, the levels of poaching and illegal trade have been closely monitored by CITES since the first experimental sale took place in 1999, said the statement.
"The analysis of seizure data shows no correlation between the controlled ivory sales and an increase in poaching," it said, adding, "In fact, levels of illegal ivory trade decreased in the two years following the first one-off sale.
Poaching levels appear to be more closely related to governance problems and political instability in certain regions of the continent."
CITES banned all international commercial ivory trade in 1989 but in 1997, it agreed to allow Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe to make a first experimental sale from their existing legal stocks of raw ivory.
The ivory, which weighed almost 50 tonnes and represented 5446 tusks, was sold to Japan in 1999 and earned some US$5 million. The funds were used for elephant conservation activities and the poaching levels in Africa decreased during the two subsequent years to the sale.
The buyers of the ivory were all approved traders from China and Japan, which were given the green light to buy the ivory in July this year, after the CITES Standing Committee which oversees the operation of the convention, concluded that they had adequate national legislation and controls to ensure that any ivory imported would not be re-exported and that domestic manufacturing and trade requirements had been met.
Under the agreement reached by CITES in July last year, the countries that sold the ivory are obliged to use the funds raised exclusively for elephant conservation and community development programmes within or adjacent to the elephant range.
Once the ivory has been exported from southern Africa the CITES Secretariat will verify that the ivory that they first audited in March 2008 is the same ivory that arrives in China and Japan and that it is correctly entered into the national registers.
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