Ivory Ban (CITES) (Hansard, 2 March 1999)

§ Mr. Meacher

The 1997 CITES Conference decided by a two thirds majority to transfer the elephants of Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe from Appendix I to Appendix II of the Convention. The Conference also agreed a one-off experimental export of stockpiled ivory to Japan to raise revenue for conservation and community development projects in the African countries concerned, provided that the CITES Standing Committee, which the UK now chairs, was content that strict conditions had been met.

At its 41st meeting last month, the Standing Committee examined a report prepared by the CITES Secretariat on verification missions made to each of the four countries concerned. The report concluded that the conditions had been met by all the countries except Botswana. After careful consideration of the report, the Standing Committee endorsed the CITES Secretariat's conclusions and agreed that Namibia and Zimbabwe should be authorised to sell and ship 13.8 and 20 tonnes of ivory respectively to Japan on or after 18 March 1999. The proceeds from the sales must be directed towards conservation and community development projects. Botswana cannot participate until full compliance has been verified by the CITES Secretariat.

The resumption of commercial trade is limited to this one-off trial shipment. There is no possibility of further shipments being made without the express permission of a future Conference of CITES Parties. The shipments themselves will be closely monitored by the CITES Secretariat who will ensure compliance with marking and registering requirements.

As part of the agreement, the CITES Secretariat had already established a reporting and monitoring procedure to assess illegal hunting and trade in elephants and elephant products. At the February meeting, the Standing Committee endorsed new measures, which the Government fully supported, to build on this by providing two new elephant monitoring systems. The United Kingdom has already offered to provide the first year's funding for the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) which will monitor legal and illegal trading in ivory. At the meeting, the European Union, United States and Japan pledged substantial funding towards the second part of the system, MIKE, (Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants), which will involve tracking, analysis and assessment of illegal killing and trends in poaching on a representative sample of sites across Africa and south Asia.

In addition, the Standing Committee agreed a mechanism to reinstate the elephant populations currently listed on Appendix II, to Appendix I of CITES if there is evidence of increased poaching or failure by any of the Parties concerned to comply with the conditions set by the 1997 Conference.

The Government believe that the proper implementation of the new pan-African and Asian elephant trade and poaching monitoring systems, together with the early warning system agreed at the meeting, should protect the elephant against the risk of any escalation in poaching caused by the very limited ivory trade agreed by CITES Parties. As Chair of the CITES Standing Committee, we will, along with the CITES Secretariat and others, continue to monitor the situation in Africa closely.

620W

The decisions taken at the last CITES Conference also addressed the problem of rising ivory stockpiles elsewhere in Africa. The risk posed by these stocks, which are difficult and expensive to protect, is frequently overlooked. For the first time, CITES has put in place a system for registering and auditing stocks and encouraging donors to buy them up for non-commercial purposes with the proceeds being re-invested in conservation trust funds established for that purpose. In practice, this is likely to mean destruction of much of these ivory stockpiles.

I recently announced that the Government are willing to offer up to £60,000 to fund new elephant conservation work in return for disposal of part of these ivory stockpiles. We hope that other donors—including conservation organisations—will also come forward to take stockpiled ivory out of the system and at the same time raise revenue for elephant conservation.