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69-449: Zakouma is Chad's oldest national park, established by the nation's government in 1963. Its wildlife have been threatened by the ivory trade and poaching , including by Janjaweed members. In May 2007, militia forces attacked the park's headquarters for its stockpile of 1.5 tons of ivory seized from poachers over the years, and killed three rangers. The Chadian government began working with African Parks in 2010 to help manage and protect

138-465: A complete ban on ivory. It underlined that the ivory traders rewarded by CITES with the amnesties were running rings around the system. Despite these public revelations by the EIA, and followed by media exposures (including ITV 's The Cook Report ) and appeals from African countries and a range of well-respected organisations around the world, WWF only came out in support of a ban in mid-1989, indicating

207-427: A concern in areas of Africa, it is not the only threat for the elephants who roam its wilderness. Fences in farmlands are becoming increasingly more common; this disrupts the elephants' migration patterns and can cause herds to separate. Some CITES parties (member states), led by Zimbabwe , stated that wildlife had to have economic value attached to it to survive and that local communities needed to be involved. Ivory

276-479: A difficult position. It is well documented that publicly it opposed the trade but privately tried to appease these southern African states. However, the so-called Somalia-Proposal, presented by the governmental delegation of the Republic of Somalia, of which nature protection specialist Prof. Julian Bauer was an official member, then broke the stalemate and the elephant moratorium with its ban of elephant ivory trade

345-454: A group of eminent elephant scientists responded with an open letter in 2002 which clearly explained the effects of the ivory trade on other countries. They stated that the proposals for renewed trade from southern Africa did not bear comparison with most of Africa because they were based on a South African model where 90% of the elephant population lived in a fenced National Park. They went on to describe South Africa's wealth and ability to enforce

414-429: A large upsurge in ivory poaching, with about 70% flowing to China. At the 2014 Tokyo Conference on Combating Wildlife crime, United Nations University and ESRI presented the first case of evidence-based policy-making maps on enforcement and compliance of CITES convention where illegal ivory seizures were mapped out along with poaching incidences The ivory trade has steadily been a reoccurring problem that dwindled down

483-751: A massive decrease compared to previous years due to improved efforts to protect Zakouma National Park's wildlife. Sixty elephants were reportedly killed by Sudanese poachers in early 2010, prior to African Parks' involvement. In 2015, CNN reported that there were no elephants poached in the park since late 2011, and no ivory removed from Zakouma in the previous five years. There were very few, if any, known elephant births between 2010 and 2012 due to environmental stresses, but 23 calves were born in 2013, approximately 50 calves were born in 2014-15, and 70 were born in 2016. There were reportedly no elephant poaching incidents since 2016. In April 2023, however, five elephants were killed and their tusks removed in southern Chad, outside

552-518: A minority within the African elephant range states. To reiterate this point, 19 African countries signed the " Accra Declaration " in 2006 calling for a total ivory trade ban, and 20 range states attended a meeting in Kenya calling for a 20-year moratorium in 2007. Using criteria that had been agreed upon at the 1989 CITES meeting, among much controversy and debate, in 1997 CITES parties agreed to allow

621-776: A new control system involving CITES paper permits, registration of huge ivory stockpiles and monitoring of legal ivory movements. These controls were supported by most CITES parties as well as the ivory trade and the established conservation movement represented by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Traffic and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In 1986 and 1987, CITES registered 89.5 and 297 tonnes of ivory in Burundi and Singapore respectively. Burundi had one known live wild elephant and Singapore had none. The stockpiles were recognized to have largely come from poached elephants. The CITES Secretariat

690-457: A second aircraft was purchased, and a rapid response team called the "Mambas" (after the snake of the same name ) was formed to enhance security. 23 guards were killed protecting Zakouma since 1998, including seven in 2007, four between 2008 and 2010, and six in 2012. Chadians celebrated the park's fiftieth anniversary in February 2014. Zakouma held a ceremony to commemorate the occasion, which

759-616: A stark warning that poaching in Africa was not for only local markets, but that some of the ivory syndicates from the 1980s were operating again. 532 elephant tusks and over 40,000 blank ivory hankos were seized, and the EIA carried out investigations which showed that this case had been preceded by 19 other suspected ivory shipments, four destined for China and the rest for Singapore, though often en route to Japan. The ivory originated in Zambia and

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828-819: A system which increased the value of ivory on the international market, rewarded international smugglers and gave them the ability to control the trade and continue smuggling new ivory. Further failures of this "control" system were uncovered by the EIA when they gained undercover access and filmed ivory carving factories run by Hong Kong traders, including Poon, in the United Arab Emirates . They also collected official trade statistics, airway bills and further evidence in UAE, Singapore and Hong Kong. The UAE statistics showed that this country alone had imported over 200 tonnes of raw and simply prepared ivory in 1987/88. Almost half of this had come from Tanzania where they had

897-613: Is a species of bird in the Lybiidae family. It is found in Central African Republic , Chad , Sudan , South Sudan , and the extreme northeast of Democratic Republic of Congo and northern Uganda . It occurs in woodlands of the eastern Sahel, between 200m and 1200m altitude (and as high as 2134m in western Sudan). This species is monotypic. The black-breasted barbet's range is largely in South Sudan. It

966-619: Is estimated that 60% of the 2,300 Kordofan giraffe remaining on Earth are living in Zakouma National Park. During a study of the park's terrestrial small mammals, nine rodent and two shrew species were recorded. Rodents included the African grass rat , Congo gerbil , Guinea multimammate mouse , Heuglin's striped grass mouse , Johan's spiny mouse , Kemp's gerbil , Matthey's mouse , African striped ground squirrel and Verheyen's multimammate mouse . Shrew species reported in

1035-688: Is said to have lost at least 60 percent of its elephants in the past decade. Esmond Martin has said, When the exchange restrictions imposed upon Japan after the Second World War were lifted during the late 1960s, it began importing huge amounts of raw ivory. Martin said that Chinese carvers mainly sold ivory products to neighbors in the 1990s and not to internal buyers in China: These were supplying shops selling trinkets to tourists and businessmen from Asian countries such as Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia, where

1104-660: The Siniaka-Minia Faunal Reserve and Bahr Salamat Faunal Reserve , in 2017. Zakouma National Park is part of the Sudano-Sahelian vegetation zone, and has shrubland , high grasses and Acacia forests. Plants recorded in the park include Combretaceae and Vachellia seyal . A variety of large mammals have been recorded in Zakouma, such as Cape buffalo , African elephant , Kordofan giraffe , hartebeest , African leopard , and lion . It

1173-399: The 14th century BCE . Transport of the heavy commodity was always difficult, and with the establishment of the early-modern slave trades from East and West Africa, freshly captured slaves were used to carry the heavy tusks to the ports where both the tusks and their carriers were sold. The ivory was used for piano keys, billiard balls and other expressions of exotic wealth. At the peak of

1242-531: The 1980s. It may also be due to the exploding number of Chinese able to purchase luxury goods. A study funded by Save the Elephants showed than the price of ivory tripled in China during four years following 2011 when stockpile destruction of ivory became more popular. The same study concluded that this led to increased poaching. A 2019 peer-reviewed study reported that the rate of African elephant poaching

1311-399: The 2000s, although reported size estimates have varied from more than 4,000 elephants in 2002, to fewer than 900 in 2005, and approximately 400–450 by 2010. There were an estimated 4,300–4,350 elephants in Zakouma in 2002. There were 3,885 and 3,020 elephants in the park in 2005 and 2006, respectively. There were approximately 450 elephants in the park between late 2012 and April 2015. Following

1380-449: The African elephant population was estimated to be around 1.3 million in 37 range states , but by 1989, only 600,000 remained. Although many ivory traders repeatedly claimed that the problem was habitat loss, it became glaringly clear that the threat was primarily the international ivory trade. Throughout this decade, around 75,000 African elephants were killed for the ivory trade annually, worth around 1 billion dollars. About 80% of this

1449-503: The Appendix One listing through CITES came as a blow to this movement. Zimbabwe may have made the career of some biologists, but it was not honest with its claims. The government argued the ivory trade would fund conservation efforts, but revenues were instead returned to the central treasury. Its elephant census was accused of double counting elephants crossing its border with Botswana by building artificial waterholes. The ivory trade

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1518-687: The Asian ivory syndicates are most destructive buying and shipping tonnes at a time. Contrary to the advice of CITES that prices may be depressed, and those that supported the sale of stockpiles in 2008, the price of ivory in China has greatly increased. Some believe this may be due to deliberate price fixing by those who bought the stockpile, echoing the warnings from the Japan Wildlife Conservation Society on price-fixing after sales to Japan in 1997, and monopoly given to traders who bought stockpiles from Burundi and Singapore in

1587-614: The Uganda Wildlife Authority, which has led to an investigation of the ones who should have been safeguarded that amount of ivory. As a result, five of the Wildlife Authority staffers have been suspended so far. Major centers of ivory trafficking in Vietnam include Mong Cai, Hai Phong and Da Nang. One of the major traffickers of illegal ivory from Togo is a Vietnamese, Dao Van Bien. A 22-month sentence

1656-516: The West. The novel Heart of Darkness , by Joseph Conrad , describes the brutal ivory trade as a wild, senseless wielding of power in support of the resource-hungry economic policies of European imperialists, describing the situation in Congo between 1890 and 1910 as "the vilest scramble for loot that ever disfigured the history of human conscience." However, the southern Africans have always been in

1725-535: The amnesty, and elephant expert Iain Douglas-Hamilton commented on the Burundi amnesty that it "made at least two millionaires". EIA confirmed with their investigations that not only had these syndicates made enormous wealth, but they also possessed huge quantities of CITES permits with which they continued to smuggle new ivory, which if stopped by customs, they produced the paper permit. CITES had created

1794-449: The anti-ivory culture wasn't so strong, They were also exporting worked ivory wholesale to neighbouring countries. The Chinese were buying some ivory products for themselves, but only a small proportion. Born Free Foundation CEO Will Travers said that, Even if we managed to close down all the unregulated markets around the world, there would still be a demand for illegal ivory coming from countries such as China and Japan. To demonstrate

1863-413: The bulk of the ivory—similar to the control of stocks when stockpiles were amnestied in the 1980s. Before the sale took place, in the wings China was seeking approval as an ivory destination country. In 2014, Uganda said that it was investigating the theft of about 3,000 lb (1,400 kg) of ivory from the vaults of its state-run wildlife protection agency. Poaching is acute in central Africa, which

1932-424: The demand for ivory has decreased as a result of new consumer awareness through education about the connection between buying ivory and the killing of elephants. China's increased involvement in infrastructure projects in Africa and the purchase of natural resources has alarmed many conservationists who fear the extraction of wildlife body parts is increasing. Since China was given "approved buyer" status by CITES,

2001-497: The forest elephants of Africa and Asia, both of which were used to supply the hard ivory preferred by the Japanese for the production of hanko , name seal stamps used like a signature. Prior to this period, most name seals had been made from wood with an ivory tip, carved with the signature, but increased prosperity saw the formerly unseen solid ivory hanko in mass production. Softer ivory from East Africa and southern Africa

2070-878: The importance of the "lethal use" principle of wildlife to WWF and CITES; even then, the group attempted to water down decisions at the October 1989 meeting of CITES. Tanzania, attempting to break down the ivory syndicates that it recognized were corrupting its society, proposed an Appendix One listing for the African Elephant (effectively a ban on international trade). Some southern African countries including South Africa and Zimbabwe were vehemently opposed. They claimed that their elephant populations were well managed and they wanted revenue from ivory sales to fund conservation. Although both countries were implicated as entrepôts in illegal ivory from other African countries, WWF, with strong ties to both countries, found itself in

2139-474: The international ivory trade. Led by Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe , they had some success through CITES. Mugabe himself had been accused of bartering tonnes of ivory for weapons with China, breaking his country's commitment to CITES. On 16 November 2017, it was announced that US President Donald Trump had lifted a ban on ivory imports from Zimbabwe implemented by Barack Obama . The debate surrounding ivory trade has often been depicted as Africa versus

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2208-466: The ivory trade, pre-20th century, during the colonization of Africa , around 800 to 1,000 tonnes of ivory were sent to Europe alone every year. World wars and the subsequent economic depressions caused a lull in this luxury commodity, but increased prosperity in the 1960s and early 1970s saw a resurgence. Japan , relieved from its exchange restrictions imposed after World War II , started to buy up raw (unworked) ivory. This started to put pressure on

2277-421: The lack of ivory controls in China, the EIA leaked an internal Chinese document showing how 121 tonnes of ivory from its own official stockpile (equivalent to the tusks from 11,000 elephants) could not be accounted for, a Chinese official admitting "this suggests a large amount of illegal sale of the ivory stockpile has taken place." However, a CITES mission recommended that CITES approve China's request, and this

2346-431: The law within these boundaries. By comparison, they made it clear that most elephants in Africa live in poorly protected and unfenced bush or forest. They finished their appeal by describing the poaching crisis of the 1980s, and emphasized that the decision to ban ivory was not made to punish southern African countries, but to save the elephants in the rest of the world. Southern African countries have continued to push for

2415-406: The nonprofit conservation organization African Parks ' assumption of management in 2010, and its extensive law enforcement and community engagement efforts, poaching dramatically declined and the herd has since stabilized, and has started to breed again. The park had 636 elephants as of 2021. More than 100 elephants were killed in 2006 . Seven elephants were reportedly killed in 2007, marking

2484-547: The numbers of elephants, estimates of poached elephants and official ivory statistics. Activists such as Jim Nyamu have described current ivory prices for poached ivory and the dangers such activists face from organized poaching. Solutions to the problem of poaching and illegal trade focused on trying to control international ivory movements through CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). Although poaching remains

2553-419: The park and its wildlife, especially elephants. The park's anti-poaching strategy includes equipping approximately 60 rangers with GPS tracking units and radios to improve communications, mobility, and safety, as well as improving mobility through the use of horses and other vehicles. The European Union pledged €6.9m in 2011 to help protect the park for five years. Elephant protection efforts expanded outside

2622-507: The park's boundaries in 2012, and an airstrip was constructed in Heban to make monitoring of the migrating animals easier. In August, Heban rangers destroyed a camp belonging to members of the Sudanese army after four elephants were killed. Three weeks later, the poachers attacked the Zakouma outpost at Heban and shot and killed multiple guards. Following the attack, additional bases were built,

2691-425: The park's protection. The park's last black rhinoceros were seen in 1972. During 2015–2016, African Parks initiated plans to reintroduce black rhinos to the park. Following the signature of a memorandum of understanding between the governments of Chad and South Africa in 2017, six black rhinos were provided by the latter nation's Department of Environmental Affairs to Zakouma under a custodianship agreement. Two of

2760-531: The population of the African elephants and the white rhino. In 2013, a single seizure in Guangzhou uncovered 1,913 tusks, the product of nearly 1,000 dead animals. In 2014, the Ugandan authorities had 1,355 kilograms (2,987 lb) of ivory stored in a safe and guarded by police and the army, stolen. At a value of over $ 1.1 million, it is definitely a cause for concern. This loss was discovered during an audit of

2829-468: The populations of African elephants in Botswana , Namibia and Zimbabwe to be "downlisted" to Appendix Two which would allow international trade in elephant parts. However, the decision was accompanied by "registering" stockpiles within these countries and examining trade controls in any designated importing country. CITES once again was attempting to set up a control system. Forty-nine tonnes of ivory

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2898-518: The rebel Mozambique army RENAMO . RENAMO was heavily implicated in large-scale ivory poaching to finance its army. Zimbabwe had embraced "sustainable" use policies of its wildlife, seen by some governments and the WWF as a pattern for future conservation. Conservationists and biologists hailed Zimbabwe's Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) as a template for community empowerment in conservation. The failure to prevent

2967-402: The revenue from ivory sales to fund conservation. These countries were South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland. They voted against the Appendix One listing and actively worked to reverse the decision. The two countries leading the attempt to overturn the ban immediately after it was agreed were South Africa and Zimbabwe. South Africa's claim that its elephants were well managed

3036-421: The rhinos died in October. Another two were found dead in the following month, leaving only two rhinos, both of them females; the two remaining individuals are being closely monitored. On 6 December 2023, five more black rhinos arrived in Zakouma National Park, five years after the four black rhinos died. Originally, six black rhinos were set to be moved, but one of the bulls had a history of depression, and as such,

3105-512: The sale of ivory to Japan in 2000 was hotly debated with Traffic, the organization which compiled the ETIS and MIKE databases, claiming they could not determine any link. However, many of those on the ground claimed that the sale had changed the perception of ivory, and many poachers and traders believed they were back in business. A seizing of over 6 tonnes of ivory in Singapore in 2002 provided

3174-463: The smuggling of ivory seems to have increased alarmingly. Although, WWF and TRAFFIC, which supported the China sale, describe the increase in illegal ivory trade a possible "coincidence", others are less cautious. Chinese nationals working in Africa have been caught smuggling ivory in many African countries, with at least ten arrested at Kenyan airports in 2009. In many African countries, domestic markets have grown, providing easy access to ivory, although

3243-592: The status of illegal killing and trade. The two systems, Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) and Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS), have been highly criticised as a waste of money for not being able to prove or disprove any causality between ivory stockpile sales and poaching levels—perhaps the most significant reason for their establishment. They do pull together information on poaching and seizures as provided by member states, although not all states provide comprehensive data. The effect of

3312-627: The study were the savanna shrew and another belonging to the genus Suncus . Bird life include ostriches, cranes , eagles , egrets , herons , ibis , pelicans , and storks . The park has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports significant populations of black crowned cranes , red-throated bee-eaters , black-breasted barbets , Niam-Niam parrots , sun larks , red-pate cisticolas , purple starlings , Gambaga flycatchers , Heuglin's masked weavers and black-rumped waxbills . The park's elephant population experienced significant declines during

3381-552: The world's primary legal ivory market and a major boost to international efforts to tackle the elephant poaching crisis." China and Japan bought 108 tonnes of ivory in another "one-off" sale in November 2008 from Botswana, South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe. At the time, the idea was that these legal ivory sales may depress the price, thereby removing poaching pressure, an idea supported by both TRAFFIC and WWF. Illegal ivory continues to flow into Japan's ivory market, but since 2012,

3450-507: Was adopted by the CITES delegates. Finally at that October meeting of CITES after heated debates, the African elephant was put on Appendix One of CITES, and three months later in January 1990 when the decision was enacted, the international trade in ivory was banned. It is widely accepted that the ivory ban worked. The poaching epidemic that had hit so much of the African elephants' range

3519-603: Was also wildly out of control within its borders, with Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) involvement in poaching in Gonarezhou National Park and other areas. More sinister was the alleged murder of a string of whistle-blowers, including a Capt. Nleya, who claimed the ZNA was involved in rhinoceros and elephant poaching in Mozambique. Nleya was found hanged at his army barracks near Hwange National Park. The death

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3588-426: Was approved for sale, and in 2006, Japan was approved as a destination for the ivory. Japan's ivory controls were seriously questioned with 25% of traders not even registered, voluntary rather than legal requirement of traders, and illegal shipments entering Japan. A report by the Japan Wildlife Conservation Society warned that the price of ivory jumped due to price fixing by a small number of manufacturers who controlled

3657-495: Was attended by President Idriss Déby and included a ceremonial destruction of ivory by burning a pyre with a ton elephant tusks to discourage poaching. African Parks and the Labuschagnes, who served as the park's managers from 2011 to 2017, have been credited with reducing poaching and increasing Zakouma's elephant population. African Parks took over management of ecologically valuable lands surrounding Zakouma, including

3726-648: Was collected in Malawi before being containerized and shipped out of South Africa. Between March 1994 and May 1998, nine suspected shipments had been sent by the same company Sheng Luck from Malawi to Singapore. After this, they started to be dispatched to China. Analysis and cross-referencing revealed company names and company directors already known to the EIA from investigations in the 1980s—the Hong Kong criminal ivory syndicates were active again. In 2002, another 60 tonnes of ivory from South Africa, Botswana and Namibia

3795-534: Was confiscated at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris from two Vietnamese who were arrested by French customs. The Philippines is a major center of the ivory trade with the Philippines priest Monsignor Cristobal Garcia implicated by National Geographic in a scandal over his involvement in the trade. Black-breasted barbet Lybius rolleti The black-breasted barbet ( Pogonornis rolleti )

3864-401: Was estimated to come from illegally killed elephants. The international deliberations over the measures required to prevent the serious decline in elephant numbers almost always ignored the loss of human life in Africa, the fueling of corruption, the "currency" of ivory in buying arms, and the breakdown of law and order in areas where illegal ivory trade flourished. The debate usually rested on

3933-608: Was eventually excluded. In 2016, more than 5,000 locals stayed at the park's camps. Tinga Lodge, constructed by the government, opened in 1968 and houses up to 48 people. Camp Nomade, a mobile safari camp, had its first guest on 13 January 2015. Ivory trade The ivory trade is the commercial, often illegal trade in the ivory tusks of the hippopotamus , walrus , narwhal , black and white rhinos , mammoth , and most commonly, African and Asian elephants . Ivory has been traded for hundreds of years by people in Africa and Asia, resulting in restrictions and bans. Ivory

4002-453: Was formerly used to make piano keys and other decorative items because of the white color it presents when processed but the piano industry abandoned ivory as a key covering material in the 1980s in favor of other materials such as plastic . Also, synthetic ivory has been developed which can be used as an alternative material for making piano keys. Elephant ivory has been exported from Africa and Asia for millennia with records going back to

4071-504: Was greatly reduced. Ivory prices plummeted and ivory markets around the world closed, almost all of which were in Europe and the US. It has been reported that it was not simply the act of the Appendix One listing and various national bans associated with it, but the enormous publicity surrounding the issue prior to the decision and afterwards, that created a widely accepted perception that the trade

4140-462: Was harmful and now illegal. Richard Leakey stated that stockpiles remained unclaimed in Kenya and it became cheaper and easier for authorities to control the killing of elephants. Throughout the debate which led to the 1990 ivory ban, a group of southern African countries supported Hong Kong and Japanese ivory traders to maintain trade. This was stated to be because these countries claimed to have well-managed elephant populations and they needed

4209-469: Was imposed. In terms of retail trade of elephant ivory, Hong Kong is the largest market in the world, and has been criticised for fueling the slaughter of elephants to meet the demand of customers principally from mainland China. A 101 East report named Hong Kong as "one of the biggest ivory laundering centres in the world [where] legitimate operations are used to mask a far more sinister, more lucrative business". 95 kilograms (209 lb) of elephant ivory

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4278-624: Was in decline, with the annual poaching mortality rate peaking at over 10% in 2011 and falling to below 4% by 2017. The study found strong correlations between annual poaching rates in 53 sites and proxies of ivory demand in Chinese markets, as well as associations between variation in poaching rates and indicators of corruption and poverty. Based on these findings, the study authors recommended action to both reduce demand for ivory in China and other main markets and to decrease corruption and poverty in Africa. In 2012, The New York Times reported on

4347-570: Was later admonished by the US delegate for redefining the term "registration" as "amnesty". The result of this was realised in undercover investigations by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), a small NGO with few resources, when they met with traders in Hong Kong. Large parts of the stockpiles were owned by international criminals behind the poaching and illegal international trade. Well-known Hong Kong-based traders such as Wang and Poon were beneficiaries of

4416-561: Was not seriously challenged. However, its role in the illegal ivory trade and slaughter of elephants in neighbouring countries was exposed in numerous news articles of the time, as part of its policy of destabilisation of its neighbours. 95% of South Africa's elephants were found in Kruger National Park which was partly run by the South African Defence Force (SADF) which trained, supplied and equipped

4485-433: Was registered in these three countries, and Japan's assertion that it had sufficient controls in place was accepted by CITES and the ivory was sold to Japanese traders in 1997 as an "experiment". In 2000, South Africa also "downlisted" its elephant population to CITES Appendix Two with a stated desire to sell its ivory stockpile. In the same year, CITES agreed to the establishment of two systems to inform its member states on

4554-787: Was reported as suicide by the army, but declared a murder by a magistrate. Nleya's widow was reportedly later threatened by anonymous telephone calls. The dispute over the ivory trade involves opposing sets of perceived national interests. The debate is further complicated by the many academic and policy disciplines at play, including biology, census techniques, economics, international trade dynamics, conflict resolution, and criminology—all reported to CITES delegates representing over 170 countries. The decisions made within this agreement have often been highly political. Inevitably, it attracts misinformation, skulduggery and crime. The southern African countries continue to attempt to sell ivory through legal systems. In an appeal to overcome national interests,

4623-523: Was supported by WWF and TRAFFIC. China gained its "approved" status at a meeting of the CITES Standing Committee on 15 July 2008. China's State Council has announced that China is banning all ivory trade and processing activities by the end of 2017. The commercial processing and sale of ivory will stop by 31 March 2017. The announcement was welcomed by conservation group WWF, who called it a "historic announcement... signalling an end to

4692-402: Was traded for souvenirs, jewelry and trinkets. By the 1970s, Japan consumed about 40% of the global trade; another 40% was consumed by Europe and North America, often worked in Hong Kong, which was the largest trade hub, with most of the rest remaining in Africa. China, yet to become the economic force of today, consumed small amounts of ivory to keep its skilled carvers in business. In 1979,

4761-422: Was widely accepted in terms of non-lethal use of wildlife, but a debate raged over lethal use as in the case of the ivory trade. Most encounters between CITES officials and local bands of poachers erupted in violent struggle, killing men and women on each side. It was recognised that the "sustainable lethal use of wildlife" argument was in jeopardy if the ivory trade could not be controlled. In 1986, CITES introduced

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