HC Deb 01 December 1999 vol 340 c199W
Mr. Banks

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans the Government have to(a) oppose any change to the status of elephants at the next Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species which would allow any further international trade in elephant ivory and hides and (b) to consult with EU partners with a view to adopting a common EU position along such lines; if he will inform Parliament of the result of such consultations with EU partners in advance of the conference; and if he will make a statement. [100298]

Mr. Mullin

The 1997 Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) agreed an experimental one-off transhipment of ivory to Japan from Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. This took place in July 1999, under stringent safeguards agreed by the Conference and CITES Standing Committee. Proceeds from the sales are being directed back into elephant conservation and community programmes. There can be no further trade in ivory unless the next CITES Conference, to be held in Nairobi in April 2000, agrees a specific proposal to permit this.

A key element of the 1997 decision was the setting up of new pan-African and Asian systems to Monitor Illegal Killing of Elephants (known as MIKE), together with an Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS). The MIKE system in particular is new and has not yet progressed to the state where Parties can expect it to produce reliable data in time for the CITES Conference next April.

The UK is Chair of the CITES Standing Committee and we were closely involved in devising and implementing the safeguards under which the 1997 experiment is being carried out. We regret that several Parties have submitted proposals to the next Conference without waiting for the full effects of the experiment to be monitored by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the UNEP CITES Secretariat. The Government believe that any change to the status of elephants at the next CITES Conference would be premature at present. We have made this known to the European Commission and our European partners. A meeting of the EC CITES Committee has been brought forward to 14 January 2000 at the request of the UK and we will seek a common EU position as soon as possible after that meeting takes place. I will inform Parliament of the outcome.