EU opposes total ban on ivory sales
The European Commission said southern African countries should be encouraged to pursue their efforts to sustainably manage elephant populations.
A coalition of nearly 30 African states has warned that mass elephant extinction could occur on the continent within 25 years unless future domestic ivory trade is outlawed.
The dire warning follows the news that the European Union is opposing calls to give elephant populations in four African countries an 'Appendix I' listing with the Convention on International Trade in International Species (Cites). Appendix I is a list of the most endangered species and prohibits international trade in specimens of those species.
In a position statement ahead of the Cites conference in Johannesburg this September, the European Commission said 'the call for a general closure of domestic ivory markets does not seem justified' but that it could be open to initiatives that try to restrict the trade - provided measures are proportionate - with exceptions for pre-convention ivory or in cases where domestic legal markets have been used to cover up illegal ivory trade, for example.
Instead, southern African countries should be encouraged to pursue their efforts to sustainably manage elephant populations and tackle poaching, the statement said.
The current global embargo on ivory sales expires in 2017 and its continuation is coming under increasing scrutiny. With 28 members, the EU is the largest voting bloc at Cites. The African Elephant Coalition (AEC), which is comprised of 29 African states, told the Guardian that extinction could occur within 25 years unless elephants are given an Appendix II Cites listing.
Patricia Awori, a member of AEC's secretariat, said she was "flabbergasted" by the EU's stance. She is quoted by the Guardian as saying: "When you consider that there were 600,000 elephants at the start of the crisis which led to this Appendix I proposal and there are now less than 400,000, I am at a loss to understand why this is not more troubling for the EU."
Andrew Seguya, director of Uganda's Wildlife Authority, added: "If the EU prevents an Annex I listing, it will be the beginning of the extinction of the African elephant for sure. We have lost 100,000 elephants in three years."
Meanwhile, an EU official said: "We need a balanced position. We admit that the domestic trade in ivory should be banned in those situations where it can facilitate illegal trade but we don't fully agree with the inclusion of the African elephant in 'Annex I' in those four countries. We would encourage the African countries to have a dialogue about this."
Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
