Ivory stockpile sale on hold
Dirk Nel
30 March 2004
South Africa's ivory stocks will remain firmly locked in a warehouse in the Kruger National Park for the time being, according the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism's Pieter Botha, who attended the recent meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Geneva, Switzerland.
Contrary to expectations, the issue of trade in ivory by South Africa, Botswana and Namibia to approved international markets was not on the CITES agenda.
Botha said that all three countries had met the previous conditions set by CITES for the international sale of ivory, including compiling inventories of government-owned stocks.
According to the department, the possibility of trade in ivory by the three countries was approved by CITES at its 12th conference in Santiago in Chile in 2002.
A condition for discussion of the issue at this month's Geneva meeting was the availability of all international data on the
illegal killing of elephants. Because information from the South East Asian region was not available, the item was scrapped from the agenda.
"It is a pity that the matter has had to be deferred once again, due to the fact that other countries have not yet complied with the laid down conditions", Botha said.
News of the delay has been received with dismay by conservationists in the Kruger National Park, as the projected income from the sale of South African ivory stocks has been earmarked for elephant management projects in the park.
South Africa's stockpiled ivory is worth an estimated R30-million.
Source: BuaNews
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