CITES and the African Elephant

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-70
Author(s):  
Tatenda Leopold Chakanyuka
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Endangered Species ◽  
African Elephant ◽  
Illegal Trade ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Illegal Markets ◽  
Current Population ◽  
Ecological Imperialism ◽  
Ivory Trade ◽  
The Impact

Abstract This article focuses on the impact of the ban of international trade of the ivory of the African elephant under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. This species is overpopulated in some countries and threatened in other countries. Overall, its current population and the level of decline suggest a species that is endangered. The population disparities have created misunderstandings in terms of how to address the issues. Controversy has surrounded the two instances of legal sales of ivory, and the continuing ban on ivory trade from 1989 has contributed to animosity between pro-ban Western ‘conservationists’ and anti-ban African countries, with accusations of ‘ecological imperialism’ being levelled at some of the protagonists. The article observes that the vast global ivory market has largely been sustained by countries that have failed to effectively enact laws and/or enforce them, as well as failing to deal with corruption and illegal markets within their jurisdictions. It is argued that identifying such culprit countries and their role in promoting elephant poaching and ivory trade, and identifying the reasons behind the poaching and illegal trade, is crucial in reducing the incidence of poaching. The article argues that with a better understanding of the illegal trade, CITES can take deliberate steps to assist countries involved in the ivory trade where they need that support.

scholarly journals The African elephant: conservation and CITES

Oryx ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-119
Author(s):  
Robin Sharp
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Endangered Species ◽  
Loxodonta Africana ◽  
African Elephant ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Medium Term ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Elephant Conservation

Human beings have been making (and almost certainly trading in) ivory artefacts for some 10,000 years. Yet it is only 8 years since the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) placed a complete ban on international trade in elephant products by listing the African elephant Loxodonta africana on Appendix I at Lausanne in 1989. Nevertheless, at the 10th Conference of the Parties to CITES in Harare this coming June, the listing will be challenged again by three of the Southern African countries who originally opposed it. This article describes what has happened on the ground since 1989, the political developments, examines the downlisting proposals, and looks at possible ways forward in the short- and medium-term. The views expressed are personal to the author.

The ivory trade and elephant conservation

2004 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 309-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
DANIEL STILES
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Wildlife Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
African Elephant ◽  
Population Declines ◽  
Trade Restrictions ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Quantitative Evidence ◽  
Elephant Conservation ◽  
Ivory Trade

In response to significant elephant population declines in the 1970s and 1980s because of poaching for ivory, the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) banned the international trade in Asian and African elephant species by listing them on Appendix I in 1973 and 1989, respectively. Many southern African countries disagreed with the African elephant trade ban and have continued to argue against it since the mid-1980s. They maintain that their governments practise sound wildlife management policies and actions and, as a consequence, their national elephant populations have reached unsustainable size. They argue that they should not be penalized because other countries cannot manage their wildlife. Further, they say they need the proceeds from ivory and other by-product sales to finance conservation efforts. In 1997, the CITES Conference of Parties voted to allow Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe to auction off 50 tonnes of government ivory stockpiles to Japanese traders on a one-off experimental basis, which took place in 1999. Ivory trade opponents allege that this sale stimulated ivory demand, resulting in a surge of elephant poaching. Nevertheless, CITES voted again in 2002 to allow Botswana, Namibia and South Africa to auction off another 60 tonnes of ivory after May 2004. Trade opponents have launched an active campaign to prevent the sales, warning that they could provoke a renewed elephant holocaust. This paper reviews available quantitative evidence on ivory trade and elephant killing to evaluate the arguments of the ivory trade proponents and opponents. The evidence supports the view that the trade bans resulted generally in lower levels of ivory market scale and elephant poaching than prevailed prior to 1990. There is little evidence to support claims that the 1999 southern African ivory auctions stimulated ivory demand or elephant poaching. Levels of elephant poaching and illegal ivory trading in a country are more likely to be related to wildlife management practices, law enforcement and corruption than to choice of CITES appendix listings and consequent extent of trade restrictions. Elephant conservation and public welfare can be better served by legal ivory trade than by a trade ban, but until demand for ivory can be restrained and various monitoring and regulation measures are put into place it is premature for CITES to permit ivory sales.

Problems Related to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species

1996 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 421-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Matthews
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Endangered Species ◽  
Environmental Treaties ◽  
Political Concern ◽  
Environmental Treaty ◽  
Ivory Trade ◽  
As If

The Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has become one of the better-known environmental treaties, partly as a result of the considerable attention it received in connection with the restrictions it imposed on the ivory trade. Despite its successes, however, the text of the treaty has not kept pace with developments since it was first approved in 1973. It remains, for instance, an environmental treaty with some of the characteristics of a trade treaty, drafted as if it were to operate in a hostile world of non-parties. Instead, in contrast, it has been signed by 128 parties1 and functions at a time when public and political concern about the environment has never been greater.

Science, Love, and Anaconda Research

Anaconda ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Jesús A. Rivas
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Endangered Species ◽  
Illegal Trade ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Opportunities To Learn ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
The World

This introductory chapter provides an overview of anaconda research. It describes the author’s experience growing up as a herpetologist in Venezuela, which has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is the large number and ubiquity of snakes. The disadvantages are the lack of guidance and lack of opportunities to learn. After the discovery of an illegal trade of anacondas throughout the continent, the author decided to advocate for anacondas, using a grant from the Convention for the International Trade of Endangered Species to study the most fascinating snake in the world. The chapter differentiates between two kinds of biologists: hypothesis-driven ones and organism-driven ones. Hypothesis-driven biologists seek an organism that fits their question, but organism-driven biologists find the organism they love and let the organism indicate what has to be studied about it.

scholarly journals Speciesism and the Wildlife Trade: Who gets Listed, Downlisted and Uplisted in CITES?

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Hutchinson ◽  
Nathan Stephens-Griffin ◽  
Tanya Wyatt
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Endangered Species ◽  
Market Value ◽  
Wildlife Trade ◽  
Human Consumption ◽  
Illegal Trade ◽  
International Union ◽  
Survival Status ◽  
Wild Fauna ◽  
To Receive

Wildlife faces a number of threats due to human activity, including overexploitation from excessive and/or illegal trade. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is the main international legal instrument to address such overexploitation. However, not all species threatened by excessive trade are protected by CITES, leading to criticism that it is an instrument for the preservation of exploitation as opposed to the protection of wildlife (Goyes and Sollund 2016). This article explores whether CITES classifications can be said to perpetuate speciesist thinking. We highlight which species are more likely to receive protection by analysing which species are listed and how some species move between the CITES Appendices and comparing this to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) classifications for traded wildlife. We find that a species’ market value, charisma, and survival status form a complex set of characteristics that lead (or not) to the continual trade of some species, even though they are facing extinction from human consumption.

Is There Hope for Conservation in Africa?

1991 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Cartwright
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Endangered Species ◽  
Foreign Exchange ◽  
African Elephant ◽  
Environmental Stability ◽  
International Organisations ◽  
Natural Heritage ◽  
Conservation Measures ◽  
Effective Conservation

The listing of the African elephant in Appendix I to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in late 1989 provided a dramatic indicator of the overwhelming pressures threatening the natural heritage of a number of states in Africa. While both their leaders and international organisations express concern about the longterm environmental stability of many areas, the more immediate economic difficulties in producing enough food and obtaining sufficient foreign exchange to finance essential imports and service debts mean that effective conservation measures have been largely neglected.

scholarly journals The evolution of legal controls on rhinoceros products in Hong Kong—an Asian model worth considering

Oryx ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 209-214
Author(s):  
Tom Milliken
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Endangered Species ◽  
Illegal Trade ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Domestic Markets ◽  
Wild Fauna ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
Legal Controls

Although commercial international trade in rhinoceros parts, products and derivatives has been prohibited under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora since 1977, trade within national boundaries cannot be regulated under the Convention. As a result illegal trade to supply domestic markets persists and rhinoceros populations continue to decline. Hong Kong was the first government in Asia to address this problem. Over a period of 13 years Hong Kong authorities introduced regulations progressively restricting the trade until in 1989 all aspects of the country's rhino trade became subject to legal prohibitions. Hong Kong's experience offers a valuable model for other Asian countries.

scholarly journals Bear trade in the Czech Republic: an analysis of legal and illegal international trade from 2005 to 2020

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris R. Shepherd ◽  
Jitka Kufnerová ◽  
Tomáš Cajthaml ◽  
Jaroslava Frouzová ◽  
Lalita Gomez
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Endangered Species ◽  
International Collaboration ◽  
Illegal Trade ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Traditional Medicines ◽  
Wild Fauna ◽  
The Usa

AbstractThere is a large demand for bear parts in the Czech Republic, and this drives legal and illegal trade in various bear species sourced from outside the country. From 2010 to 2018, the Czech Republic reported legal imports of 495 bear parts, mostly as trophies from Canada and Russia. Illegal trade in bear parts and derivatives for medicine as well as trophies persists as evidenced by the number of seizures made by the Czech Environmental Inspectorate during this same period. From January 2005 to February 2020, 36 seizures involving bears, their parts and derivatives, were made totalling 346 items. Most cases involved trophies (skins, skulls, taxidermies) predominantly from Canada, Russia and the USA, followed by traditional medicines claiming to contain bear parts mostly from Vietnam and China. Three cases involved souvenirs or jewellery, and one case involved live bear cubs. The greatest number of seizures made originated from Vietnam, followed by Canada and Russia. As all countries involved in these incidents are Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), there is a mechanism in place to jointly tackle this illegal trade. International collaboration is essential if efforts to end the illegal international trade in bear parts and derivatives are to succeed.

Is There Hope for Conservation in Africa?

1991 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-371
Author(s):  
John Cartwright
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Endangered Species ◽  
Foreign Exchange ◽  
African Elephant ◽  
Environmental Stability ◽  
International Organisations ◽  
Natural Heritage ◽  
Conservation Measures ◽  
Effective Conservation

The listing of the African elephant in Appendix I to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in late 1989 provided a dramatic indicator of the overwhelming pressures threatening the natural heritage of a number of states in Africa. While both their leaders and international organisations express concern about the longterm environmental stability of many areas, the more immediate economic difficulties in producing enough food and obtaining sufficient foreign exchange to finance essential imports and service debts mean that effective conservation measures have been largely neglected.

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