KEY POINTS:
The first legal auction of ivory in more than a decade began yesterday, despite warnings from scientists and conservation groups that the sale will lead to an increase in the illegal poaching of elephants.
Four southern African nations have been given permission by the United Nations to sell 108 tonnes of ivory from elephants that died of natural causes or were killed in population management programmes.
But many conservationists have said the sale will open the floodgates to illegal poachers who kill up to 20,000 elephants each year to sell ivory on the black market.
Bidding for nine tonnes of ivory held by Namibia began in a closed auction. Three further auctions are planned for South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe over the next four weeks.
Only China and Japan are allowed to buy the tusks following a decision by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) last year, in which it gave the two countries buyer status.
At the auction, China spent US$674,530 ($1.18 million) on 3840kg of low-quality ivory and Japan spent US$511,730 on 3386kg of smaller pieces.
Cites gave the four countries permission to sell their ivory hoards because their elephant populations were stable or increasing. Money made from the sales will be ploughed back into conservation programmes but critics fear the arrival of so much legal ivory in Japan and China will allow poachers to pass off illegal ivory as legally obtained. They also fear poachers in less stable countries, such as Chad and in the Congo Basin, will redouble their efforts to hunt elephants.
Michael Wamithi, a former director of Kenya Wildlife Service who now works at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, attacked Cites' decision to go ahead with the auction. "Allowing this exorbitant amount of ivory to flood the market, considering the level of elephant poaching occurring today, is just plain irresponsible," he said.
"Rangers on the front line in elephant-range states continue to lose their lives protecting elephants from poaching. By permitting legal trade in ivory, we are only encouraging the laundering of illicit ivory, thereby increasing illegal hunting activities. The situation is very clear; more ivory in the marketplace equals many more dead elephants and rangers."
An international ban on the ivory trade was introduced 19 years ago after Africa's elephant population dropped from 1.3 million in 1979 to little more than 600,000 10 years later.
The ban was intended to be permanent and worldwide but in 1997 a campaign led by the Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe persuaded Cites that elephant populations in the four southern African nations were stable and that carefully monitored sales of tusks should go ahead.
IS IT RIGHT TO SELL IVORY?
Why are we asking this now?
Because the first officially sanctioned auction of raw ivory since 1999 kicked off in Namibia yesterday and made US$1.2 million ($2.1 million). Over the next month, four southern African nations - Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe - will sell more than 100 tonnes of tusks that have either been collected from elephants that died of natural causes or were killed in population management schemes. The controversial auctions are expected to make as much as US$40 million, which will be ploughed back into conservation programmes.
But isn't the sale of ivory forbidden?
It is. An international ban on selling ivory came into force in 1989 after endemic poaching sent Africa's elephant populations into freefall. Between 1979 and 1989, the number of elephants in Africa halved from 1.3 million to 625,000 with Kenya alone losing 85 per cent of its elephants. Since then, numbers have climbed to approximately 450,000, but an estimated 20,000 are still killed every year by poachers who sell tusks on the black market.
So why are the auctions going ahead?
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) - the regulatory body set up by the UN to enforce the ban - has given the four southern African nations special permission to hold a series of one-off auctions.
How did these auctions come about?
In the late 1990s, the four southern African nations began agitating for one-off auctions. Elephant populations were thriving and at times even becoming a problem. Cites agreed, and allowed them to sell 50 tonnes of ivory in 1999 to Japan. Last year, Cites gave the same four nations permission to hold a second series of auctions and added China to the "buyer approved" list.
Does everyone agree these auctions are a good thing?
No. Numerous scientists and conservation groups were furious when Cites approved the second auction, describing it as tantamount to a "death sentence" for the world's elephants.
What are the main concerns?
Firstly, opponents of the auction are worried that the sudden influx of ivory on to the Japanese and Chinese markets will make it very easy for poachers to smuggle illegal tusks. There are also fears that poachers in central, east and west Africa, where elephants are still highly endangered, will be encouraged to increase the amount of illegal poaching there.
So is poaching on the increase?
The Environmental Investigation Agency, which has more than 20 years experience in tracking ivory smugglers, believes poaching has risen in the run-up to the auction.
Can China be trusted to monitor illegal shipments?
Cites appears to believe that China is doing enough to combat smugglers, otherwise they would not have awarded them "approved buyer" status for the auctions. Conservationists claim the majority of the world's smuggled ivory is still bought by China. Conservation groups have also criticised the British Government.
Why?
Britain, representing the European Union, was among nine regional representatives of nations that supported China's bid to buy up ivory in these special auctions. Conservation groups have now called on Britain to ensure that no illegal ivory becomes mixed with and sold on as legally-obtained tusks.
- INDEPENDENT
