ivory trade « Elephant Ivory Project

Posts Tagged ‘ivory trade’

Where In Africa Do Elephants Live?

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

Range of African elephants. Courtesy Defenders of Wildlife.

African savannah elephants are found in savannah zones in 37 countries south of the Sahara Desert. African forest elephants inhabit the dense rain forests of west and central Africa. The continent‚Äôs northernmost elephants are found in Mali‚Äôs Sahel desert. The small, nomadic herd of Mali elephants migrates in a circular route through the desert in search of water.

The availability of food and water are the most important natural factors in determining the distribution of elephants. Often they migrate from a permanent water source at the start of the rainy season and return when the water holes begin to dry up at the beginning of the dry season. Consequently, home ranges have been measured as large as 3,120 square kilometers.

In the last 35 years, elephants have been extirpated from large swaths of central African savannah. Population trends assessed from aerial censuses of five of the most protected Central African savannah national parks (in Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Chad and Sudan) demonstrate elephant declines in excess of 85% over the past 35 years. The same is true for Africa’s rainforest.

Overexploitation of elephants for their ivory has been a major factor in the massive population declines over the past two hundred years.

Tags: africa, african elephants, elephants, geography, habitat, ivory trade, range
Posted in Elephant facts | 1 Comment »

Sign the petition: STOP BLOODY IVORY

Friday, March 12th, 2010

Dear friends,

In the third week of March 2009, the worldwide UN ban on ivory trading could be lifted — a decision that could wipe out Africa’s vulnerable elephants. But a number of a African nations are pushing to uphold the ban. Let’s send them a stampede of support to save the elephants. Sign the petition below, and ask your friends to as well:

Sign the petition! https://secure.avaaz.org/en/no_more_bloody_ivory_fb/?vl

Illegal ivory being burned.

Tanzania and Zambia are lobbying the UN for special exemptions from the ban, but this would send a clear signal to the ivory crime syndicates that international protection is weakening and it’s open-season on elephants. Another group of African states have countered by calling to extend the trade ban for 20 years.

While researching the availability of ivory in gift shops and other retailers in Bangkok, I was shocked to see how popular and common illegal ivory is. If the ban is lifted for Tanzania and Zambia, it will provide political cover for retailers of ivory in the destination countries. It will also create an industrial complex based on the ivory trade. Once the ivory from this one-off sale is sold, there will be a vacuum for supply of legal ivory, but no dip in demand. The illegal killing of elephants will rise to meet this demand. Please join me in signing this important petition.

Our best chance to save the continent’s remaining elephants is to support African conservationists. We only have 5 days left and the UN Endangered Species body only meets every 3 years. Click below to sign this urgent petition to protect elephants,¬† — the petition will be delivered to the UN meeting in Doha:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/no_more_bloody_ivory_fb/?vl

Over 20 years ago, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) passed a worldwide ban on ivory trading. Poaching fell, and ivory prices slumped. But poor enforcement coupled with’experimental one-off sales’, like the one Tanzania and Zambia are seeking, drove poaching up and turned illegal trade into a lucrative business — poachers can launder their illegal ivory with the legal stockpiles.

Now, despite the worldwide ban, each year over 30,000 elephants are gunned down and their tusks hacked off by poachers with axes and chainsaws. If Tanzania and Zambia are successful in exploiting the loophole, this awful trade could get much worse.

We have a one off chance this week to extend the worldwide ban and repress poaching and trade prices before we lose even more elephant populations.

Across the world’s cultures and throughout our history elephants have been revered in religions and have captured our imagination — Babar, Dumbo, Ganesh, Airavata, Erawan. But today these beautiful and highly intelligent creatures are being annihilated. As long as there is demand for ivory, poaching and smuggling will happen, but this week we have a chance to protect them and crush the ivory criminals’ profits.

As long as there is demand for ivory, elephants are at risk from poaching and smuggling — but this week we have a chance to help stop it.

Sincerely,

Trip Jennings

Thanks to the organizers of this petition. Please check out their sites below.

More information:

http://www.bloodyivory.org/
http://www.bornfree.org.uk/

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species: http://www.cites.org

Tags: Cites, illegal ivory trade, ivory trade
Posted in Elephant News | 7 Comments »

African Countries at Odds On Attempts To Change ESA Status of Elephants + Selling Ivory Stockpiles

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

The African nations of Tanzania and Zambia have proposed change the Endangered Species status of African elephants to allow trade of ivory. But Kenya and Mali are leading an effort to stop them, saying lifting the ban would lead to increases in poaching on elephant herds.

And they have reason to be worried. From 2008 to 2009, illegal ivory seizures doubled, poaching death rate of elephants grew to nearly 10% and the price of ivory has ballooned to record levels.

From the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development:

Kenya and Mali are leading an effort to block a proposal by Tanzania and Zambia to change the endangered species status of elephants and sell off stockpiles of ivory…

Tanzania and Zambia followed official procedures when they issued their proposal for consideration at the Fifteenth Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Conference of the Parties in March. But Kenya and Rwanda say that because Tanzania proposed the one-off ivory sale without consulting neighbouring countries that share elephant populations, they have betrayed the ‚Äòspirit‚Äô of conservation in the region.

The proposal, which was filed on 17 November 2009, seeks to ‚Äútransfer the population of the African elephant, Loxodonta africana, from Appendix I to Appendix II‚Äù of CITES. Because Appendix I species are considered to be ‚Äúthreatened with extinction,‚Äù trade is only permitted in exceptional circumstances. However, if the African elephant is moved to Appendix II ‚Äì species that are not necessarily threatened with extinction, but could be if trade is not controlled ‚Äì avenues for trade will likely be opened up.

China and Japan would likely be the sole bidding countries if the ivory goes to auction, as the two countries have convinced CITES that their domestic regulations are capable of ensuring the ivory is not re-exported…

The African Elephant Coalition, a group of 21 member states opposed to the ivory trade, is arguing that the CITES panel charged with assessing the risk posed to elephants is downplaying the fact that auctions such as these can lead to increases in poaching.

Tags: africa, asia, endangered species, extinction, ivory trade
Posted in Elephant News | No Comments »