eBusiness Weekly
Martin Kadzere
Zimbabwe is seeking permission from a United Nations body to sell ivory tusks seized from poachers or taken from animals that died from natural causes, an industry body said.
Legal international sales of ivory derive from existing stocks gathered from elephants that have died as a result of natural causes or from problem-animal control.
A global ban on ivory sales was imposed in 1989 to stem rampant poaching of elephants and rhinos, but UN’s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) allowed Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe to sell stockpiles to Japan in 1999.
Further approvals were granted in 2007 when three countries, alongside South Africa, were allowed to sell the tusks to Japan and China.
China, the world’s largest market for ivory imposed ban on ivory sales in December last year amid calls from wildlife activists to reduce slaughter of the endangered animals.
“It is now 10 years after the last auction and we are hoping we should be able to succeed,” Emmanuel Fundira, the chairman of Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe said.
“As the applicant, we have to convince CITES that the stockpile that we are holding was indeed recovered from poachers or taken from animals that died of natural causes.
“On the other hand, inspections will also be conducted on the receiving country to ensure their system are not porous such that the ivory might end up being illegally traded.”
Efforts to get a comment from Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority, a body charged with conservation, proved fruitless by the time of going to press. Due to a CITES ban on ivory trade, Zimbabwe has been unable to sell its huge stockpile of ivory, which now stands at nearly 100 tonnes. In the past few years, the country has battled a wave of poaching, particularly elephants and the rhinos.
In 2013, Zimbabwe witnessed one of its worst poaching in years when more than 100 elephants were poisoned in the, Hwange National Park, the country largest game reserve.
The last time Zimbabwe sought permission to sell ivory was ion 2015 when its joint bid with Namibia was turned down.
Member countries of the CITES rejected the proposals, saying African elephants were in steep decline across much of the continent due to poaching for their ivory, and opening up any legal trade in ivory would complicate efforts to conserve them.
Then, Zimbabwe sought CITES approvals to sell its 70-tonne ivory stockpile estimated to be worth about $35 million.
Other African nations such as Kenya strongly opposed to any reopening of the ivory on the grounds it will stimulate poaching.
Through balloting, Namibia’s proposal was defeated by 73 to 27, Zimbabwe’s by 80 to 21, both far short of the two-thirds required to pass. Swaziland’s was defeated by 100 to 26.
