Care2 update: CITES is hearing our demands! In 2019, it rejected a motion by Zimbabwe, Nambia, and Botswana that would have legally allowed ivory trading again! But the fight isn't over yet -- many loopholes remain, and some African countries, as well as Japan and the European Union, are still eyeing the money to be made in this industry. We need to keep the pressure up to convince CITES to vow to never again permit the international sale of ivory.In the ten years leading up to 2016, Africa lost more than 100,000 elephants to poachers. Some conservationists warn that at that rate, African elephants could go extinct in less than a decade.
Yet with that clarion warning, some governments want to roll back the clock and reopen the international ivory market, putting the rest of the remaining herd in danger. The governments of Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Namibia, as well as Angola, are working together to propose a plan that would turn back the prohibition on the international ivory trade that has been in place for
three decades.
Sign to make sure that the ivory ban is never lifted. Currently, the ivory trade is governed through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) the treaty charged with protecting endangered animals. The presidents of these five countries believe that locals have the right to profit off ivory as a resource.
It's as if ivory could be exploited like oil or minerals and didn't come from a living animal with a fragile population. The Southern African governments plan to make their proposal at the next CITES meeting. The most recent event was canceled in Sri Lanka due to the Easter bombings in that country, but a new meeting will surely be scheduled soon and if these five governments get their way,
the doors to the ivory market would be opened once more. We cannot let this happen. Please sign the petition and tell CITES not to cave. Tell them the ivory ban must stand. 