Elephant, Kenya, 1999 Dead elephants, Kenya, 1988

Elephants Under Threat

Once again, elephants are under serious threat. The gradual recovery of their population since the ban on ivory trade is now undermined by recent decisions in 1997 and 2002 by the international community, allowing one-off sales of ivory.

Hundreds of thousands of African elephants were slaughtered during the 1980s to supply the insatiable demand of the world's ivory markets. EIA's investigations into the billion-dollar trade uncovered the movement of ivory from all over Africa to the carving factories of Dubai, and on to the consuming markets of the Far East. With the help of committed conservationists our campaign paved the way for the 1989 international ivory ban. Poaching levels plummeted as a result.

EIA continues to defend the ban in the face of mounting opposition from Southern African countries and Japan, traditionally the world's leading ivory consumer. However, the ban is being compromised. In 1997, at the 10th meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), a one-off sale of ivory to Japan was agreed - the first legal international ivory sale for almost a decade. Since the sale went ahead, there has been a marked,worldwide increase in seizures of illegal ivory in transit. In spite of this, as well as growing evidence of poaching, a second sale of ivory has now been approved. In November 2002, it was agreed that stockpiles from Botswana, Namibia and South Africa could be exported after May 2004 under certain conditions.

EIA is concerned that levels of consumer demand for ivory in countries such as Japan, China and Thailand far outstrips supply. Recent EIA investigations in the Far East reveal that ivory retail markets remain inadequately controlled and rely on supplies of illegal poached ivory. Between now and the second proposed sale, EIA will be closely monitoring levels of poaching in Africa and Asia, and the movement of illegal ivory worldwide.

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