Customs authorities and police throughout the world are being asked to inform the Species Survival Network about any seizures of elephant ivory they have made over the past two years. The request is meant to provide governments meeting in October as Parties to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) with accurate information to consider as they make decisions about the ivory trade.
The urgent request came Monday from Will Travers, who chairs the Elephant Working Group of the Species Survival Network, an international coalition of 65 nongovernmental organizations committed to the strict enforcement of the CITES treaty.
The seizure of three tons of illegal ivory by the Spanish Civil Guard's environmental branch Seprona on Friday prompted Travers to call on all customs agencies to report whatever seizures they have made since CITES last met in November 2002.
"The success of the Spanish authorities in painstakingly tracing this massive haul of ivory from a much smaller amount confiscated last year indicates that all too often we merely see the tip of the tusk when it comes to the ivory trade," Travers said.
Seprona began an investigation last year after seizing 240 pounds of elephant hair, some of which had been made into jewelry, the agency said Friday.
They uncovered 3.4 tons of raw and worked ivory in a Madrid store. The store owner had a license to hold about half a ton, so Seprona seized the rest. "The ivory seized could have come from the sacrifice of more than 400 animals," the agency stated.
Will Travers discovers an elephant carcass left by ivory poachers. (Photo courtesy Born Free)
"Our fear is that while thousands of kilos of ivory may be seized, these seizures go unreported," said Travers, who also serves as CEO of the Born Free Foundation, a British wildlife conservation organization.
Previous investigations carried out by the Species Survival Network (SSN) and published by the Born Free Foundation indicate that while confiscation of illegal ivory accounts for tens of thousands of kilos each year, this may be only 10 percent and 20 percent of the actual amount of ivory illegally traded.
A CITES ban on international trade in elephant ivory has been in place since 1990, so any ivory that crosses international borders does so illegally.
For the last five years the SSN Elephant Working Group has compiled a database of ivory seizures and poaching incidents with the cooperation and help of many Customs Authorities and Wildlife Enforcement Agencies around the world. This is part of an effort to build as accurate a picture as possible of the extent of the illegal trade in ivory.
Travers said, "It's estimated that Africa's elephant population is half what it was 25 years ago and some people say that's an optimistic assessment. What we do know is that the survival of many of the continent's elephants is highly precarious."
Elephant numbers appear to be stable in a few countries in Southern Africa, but Travers says the situation facing elephants in West and Central Africa is "particularly bleak."
In countries with civil unrest or war such as Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, both countries where elephants were once numerous, Travers fears "numbers may have fallen by up to 90 percent during the same time."
"Of great concern are proposals to relax the current restrictions on trade in ivory that will be put forward at the next meeting of the 166 Parties to CITES due to meet in Bangkok, Thailand, this October," Travers said. "It's essential that delegates are given the facts so that they do not make ill-informed decisions that could hasten the further decline of elephant numbers both in Africa and Asia."
Elephant tusks seized in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo courtesy TRAFFIC)
At their last meeting in Santiago, Chile in November 2002, Parties to the CITES treaty voted to allow one time ivory sales by Botswana, Namibia and South Africa in principle. The approvals are dependent on strict conditions for controlling the controversial sales, which the three countries have not yet been able to meet.
The ivory is held in existing legal stockpiles that have been collected as elephants died of natural causes or as a result of government regulated problem animal control.
Despite a postponement of the sale of ivory, if conditions set down by the CITES Standing Committee are met South Africa, Namibia and Botswana will be permitted to sell stockpiled ivory following CITES 2004. Conservationists, including Travers, fear that the poachers and smugglers will take advantage of the approved legal ivory trade to mask their illegal activities.
They are circulating a petition calling for a total ban on the sale of ivory.
At the upcoming CITES 2004 meeting in Bangkok, Namibia is proposing that in addition to the 10,000 kilograms of ivory it has approval in principle to sell, that it be allowed an annual export quota of 2,000 kg of raw ivory, trade in worked ivory products for commercial purposes, and trade in elephant leather and hair goods for commercial purposes.
South Africa is seeking approval to allow trade in elephant leather goods for commercial purposes.
In its preliminary assessment of the Namibian proposal, the CITES Secretariat said June 14, "The Namibian population of the African elephant cannot be characterized as being small, it does not have a restricted area of distribution, nor has there been any decline in the number of individuals in the wild."
The Secretariat recognized that Namibian would accumulate the ivory for the annual sale it is seeking "from natural and management-related mortalities." The Secretariat said it would take approximately 307 elephants - around 2.7 percent of the current population - to supply the 2,000 kg Namibia wants to sell each year.
As the Secretariat attempted to calculate the impact of the annual export quota Namibia proposes, it cited estimates of the amount of Namibian ivory seized in the illegal trade, but was not able to draw firm conclusions about the exact amount seized. This is reason for Travers' request that customs agencies come forward with any information they may have about ivory seizures.
Travers asks that anyone with information about seizures of elephant ivory contact him at: will@bornfree.org.uk
The 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES will be held at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre, Bangkok, Thailand, from October 2 to 14.
The Secretariat said June 14 that the Conference of the Parties "has recognized that the nature of the trade in African elephant products necessitates a wider dialogue with other range States of the species."
The sixth Dialogue meeting of African elephant range States is scheduled to be held in Bangkok from September 28 to 30. The Secretariat said that its final opinion on the Namibian and South African proposals for trade in elephant parts "will be informed by the views expressed at that meeting and any conclusions that it draws."
