Do not allow Tanzania to hold a one-off sale of its ivory stockpile and downgrade the level of protection for elephants
Tanzania has formally applied to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) to sell over 100 tons of its ivory stockpile to Japan and China in addition to lowering the category of endangered Tanzanian elephants so that they can be allowed to trade in products of elephant hunting. Tanzania has attempted to do this in the past, having made a similar proposal in 2010. Despite being rejected, they are returning with their application for the upcoming convention meeting.
Elephants are already in great danger from a variety of factors, with poaching at the forefront. Tanzania claims that all money made from the sale of its ivory stockpile would go towards conservational efforts for maintaining elephant communities. However, this claim is at odds with the desire to downgrade the elephant protection level set by Cites. Allowing the trade of elephant products would only make conservation more difficult as hunting would become encouraged. This is in a country which already has a large illegal ivory trading base and has long faced difficulties enforcing anti-trafficking laws. Furthermore, the Environmental Investigation Agency claims that these kinds of sales only serve to severely perpetuate the issue. Director Mary Rice has said that ”…dumping more than 100 tons of ivory onto the market will only serve to further confuse consumers as to the legal status of ivory, stimulating fresh demand, spurring the black market and leading to more poaching.”
The member states of Cites must be made to understand the flaws inherent in this proposal and encouraged not to approve it. Allowing this application to pass will only undo many years of effort already put into protecting an endangered species and promote the trade, as well as the hunting, of these animals. Demand that Tanzania’s proposal be put down.
