CITES throws out West Africa’s bid to have CITES tighten screws on SADC elephant population
HARARE – A desperate bid by Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Mali, and Senegal to have CITES tighten screws on SADC and have the region’s elephant population transferred from Appendix II to Appendix I, has been thrown out by CITES for lacking merit.
The West African countries made the proposal to CITES in an apparent attempt to muddy the waters and thwart SADC’s proposal to have restrictions on ivory trade lifted.
Southern African elephant states, which are home to about 200,000 elephants, half of the total number still roaming earth, argue that selling off their ivory stockpiles will fund conservation efforts for decades.
CITES are unconvinced by SADC elephant range states submissions, fearing that lifting restrictions on ivory trade would open the floodgates to poaching.
CITES Secretariat has requested concerned parties to provide further submissions on the proposal, especially on how safeguards would be implemented if the proposal, which is facing heavy odds, is to be considered.
On other hand, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Mali, and Senegal had moved to make their own proposal, arguing that the Loxodonta Africana was on the decline and hence screws needed to be tightened for elephant populations of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Appendix I comprises migratory species that have been assessed as being in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of their range.
Parties whose species are listed in Appendix I shall endeavour to strictly protect them by prohibiting the taking of such species, restoring their habitats, mitigating obstacles to their migration and controlling other factors that might endanger them.
CITES Secretariat found the proposal was based on inaccurate information.
CITES noted that proponents of the proposal argue that there is a decline in the biological species Loxodonta africana a as a whole, yet the proposal concerns only the populations of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Burkina Faso, Equatorial, Guinea, Mali, and Senegal’s proposal would result in the prohibition of international trade for primarily commercial purposes in African elephant specimens of wild origin, including from the four range States concerned.
“The impact of the adoption of the proposal on the current regulations for trade in ivory would be minimal because international trade in ivory for primary commercial purposes has been prohibited since 2008,” CITES Secretariat said.
“If adopted, trade ivory would continue to be subject to provisions in Article III of the Convention, as has been the case since 2008.”
The West African nations’ proposal doubts the reliability of national population totals reported in Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
The West African countries made the submission even as CoP10 in 1997 Parties determined that the populations of Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe did not meet the criteria for inclusion in Appendix I and the same view was reached for the population of South Africa at CoP11 in 2000, CITES noted.
CITES noted that there had been a decline in population in Botswana between 2006 and 2015 but that seemed ambiguous and may be the result of uncounted elephants, range expansion, seasonal movements into and out of the surveyed area.
Range expansion had been observed into the west towards Namibia and into central Botswana, with notable numbers of elephants observed for the first time in a survey in 2015 in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.
Elephant populations in Namibia and South Africa had increased, CITES noted.
“Overall, the available information does not seem to indicate that the populations of African elephant of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe have undergone a marked decline, and therefore, they may not meet the criteria for their inclusion in Appendix I that is mentioned in paragraph C of Annex 1 of Resolution Conf. 9.24 (Rev. CoP17),” CITES Secretariat said in their provisional assessment of the proposal.
South Africa and Zimbabwe had been consulted over the proposal on 9 June 2022, but that there had been no immediate response from them.
CITES Secretariat provisionally concluded that “the information provided in the supporting statement does not indicate that any of the four African elephant populations that are the subject of this proposal underwent marked declines in their populations in the wild.”
“The populations of L. africana of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe are not small, and the area of distribution of the species in the four range States is not restricted.”
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild animals and plants has 184 signatory Parties and any of them is entitled to bring a proposal to the Conference.
The Conference of the Parties meeting is CITES’ ultimate decision-making body. The decisions it takes in November will shape the future of international wildlife trade and conservation.
