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China eyes slice of SA's ivory
stockpile March 01 2008 at 11:18AM By Sheree Béga China, one of the world's largest traders in illegal ivory, is vying to buy up South Africa's massive elephant ivory stock which has built up over several years as the result of a worldwide ban. But conservation authorities must first decide whether China is a suitable destination for the ivory, the national Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism said this week. Last June, South Africa received permission from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (Cites) for a one-off sale of its ivory - around 40 tons from the Kruger National Park alone - to Japan. 'It will be sold with the additional ivory' "It will be sold with the additional ivory, which has been approved by Cites from provinces and SanParks, which will be verified by the Cites secretariat in April and decided upon by the Cites standing committee in July," Mava Scott, a Department of Environmental Affairs spokeswoman, said. "China has also requested to buy ivory but still needs to be approved by the standing committee in July." The ivory sell-off comes after Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk presented the publication on Monday of the Final Norms and Standards for Elephant Management in South Africa, which lifted a 13-year moratorium on the culling of elephants in national parks. Due to come into effect on May 1, culling would only happen under strict conditions and would be a "last resort" if measures to control burgeoning elephant populations - including range manipulation, translocation and contraception - failed, Van Schalkwyk insisted. Scott revealed: "The products from elephants which might be culled will be stockpiled, as has been done before. A nine-year ban on ivory trade will begin once the ivory sale approved in 2002 and 2007 has taken place," 'It still stimulates demand and the incentive to cull' Though iconic and charismatic, "proper regard must be given to the impact of elephants on biodiversity", said Van Schalkwyk. But the possible culling of the giant mammals has provoked a huge outcry from organisations like Animal Rights Africa (ARA), who declared that elephants in southern Africa now faced "a bleak and cruel future" because the government had opened the door to "elephant genocide". "Only time will tell the extent to which this happens, but with economic and political pressures on managers to make elephant by-products available to the market, every elephant in South Africa now has a price on its head," ARA said. Steve Smit, a trustee of ARA, termed the norms and standards "an attempt to undermine the entire international ivory ban to make money". He explained that South Africa would be allowed to build up a legitimate ivory stockpile, governed by tight Cites regulations, for sale internationally, which worked "well in theory". "But at the end of the day, it still stimulates demand and the incentive to cull." ARA planned tourist boycotts and international protests with other animal rights organisations to remove culling as an option in the government's approach. "Obviously, we're looking at our legal options too. We're quite hopeful that common sense and morality will prevail," said Smit. o This article was originally published on page 13 of Cape Argus on March 01, 2008 http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20080301090529318C934825 |
