African Elephants (Hansard, 25 October 1989)

§ Mr. Michael
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimate he has made of the current rate of depletion of the number of elephants inhabiting the African continent; and whether any improvement on the rate of depletion over the past 10 years is expected.

§ Mr. Trippier
Accurate information about the rate of decline is difficult to obtain, but it is generally accepted that in the last 10 years the population has declined by about 45 per cent. In the light of this, the recent CITES conference agreed the inclusion of the African elephant in appendix I of the convention. We hope that the stricter controls which will now apply to this species will halt its decline and that numbers will increase.

§ Mr. Michael
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what evidence is available on the effectiveness of the British Government's contribution to international efforts to save the African elephant from extinction.

§ Mr. Trippier
The Government have played their full part in international efforts to save the African elephant from extinction and were instrumental in the setting up of the CITES ivory trade monitoring unit. We were, however, dissatisfied with the effectiveness for conservation of the controls on ivory trade and in June we called on our European partners to introduce a ban on the import of African ivory and to support appendix I listing for the African elephant. I am delighted that the appendix I listing was approved at the recent CITES conference.

§ Mr. Michael
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what fresh initiatives he proposes to take to help secure the future of the African elephant(a) through specifically British initiatives and (b) through joint action with European and other nations on a worldwide basis.

§ Mr. Trippier
At the recent CITES conference, the United Kingdom strongly suported the proposal to include the African elephant in appendix I of the convention. Furthermore, we were successful in obtaining approval for our resolution urging all party states to implement appendix I controls with immediate effect. It is for the African Governments concerned to work out a long-term conservation strategy to ensure the survival of this species, but we are always ready to consider any proposal from African countries for assistance with measures to conserve their populations of elephants.