The ivory case, a CITES debate?
When CITES banned in 1990 the ivory trade worldwide everyone thought the elephant was saved. World ivory markets crashed and poaching decreased dramatically in many African countries. In East- and Southern Africa the population of elephants recovered. In 1997 some countries proposed to shift elephants to the appendix 2 list. In 1999 and later some Southern African countries wanted to sell their ivory stock piles to fuel conservation finances. (These stock came from natural death, confiscated from poachers or elimination of problem animals.) Many African countries including Zimbabwe and South Africa claim that ivory trade is necessaryboth to stimulate their economies and reduce elephant populations which are allegedly harming the environment. In many rural area’s they pose a treat by destroying trees and crops. In 2002 the CITES partially lifted the ban on ivory trade, allowing a few countries to export certain amounts of ivory. Kenya wants to keep the full ban because they were afraid
