Botswana threatens to quit CITES

The Botswana Gazette
NCHIDZI SMARTS
14 April 2010

Following the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species on Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) held in Qatar, Botswana has threatened to pull out of the convention, and remove elephants from the list of species under protection.

As expected, the elephants issue dominated this year’s CITES debate and further divided African countries. It has also emerged that Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries are unhappy with CITES. The convention banned the ivory trade.

Pulling out, which is defined as reservation by species, has been mooted as a possibility, which will allow the countries to sell their ivory stockpiles.

SADC states, including Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, will meet on April 23 in Malawi to work out a strategy. The possibility to go into reservation follows on the proposal backed by 23 other elephant range nations that would have extended the trade moratorium on ivory trade to 20 years, from the current nine years.

Edmont Moabi, Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, said the SADC countries which have over 400 000 elephants wanted to be allowed to sell legal ivory stocks of animals which had died of natural causes.

However, some countries like Kenya and Malawi wanted a ban on all ivory sales for 20 years. Botswana was last allowed to sell its stocks in 2008. Going into reservation means that the SADC countries will have to lobby China and Japan, the main markets, to join them, as they would still be governed by CITES statutes.

The nine-year period from the last sales in 2008 after approval at COP14 is to end in 2017. Botswana supported the proposal by Tanzania, saying the country has a robust, viable and healthy elephant population and no longer meets the criteria to be listed under CITES Appendix I. Appendix I species are those threatened with extinction, and are or may be affected by international trade, while Appendix II species are not necessarily threatened, but may become so unless international trade is subject to strict regulations. Botswana is classified under Appendix II.

According to Botswana and other southern African countries, the proposal by Tanzania and Zambia balances the objectives for sustainable conservation and sustainable community development for the benefit of the elephants and the rural communities who coexist with the elephants.

The ivory trade ban would directly affect all African elephant range states, whereas the proposals from Tanzania and Zambia are solely for their own elephant populations. According to the CITES provisions, the proponents of trade in ivory have to consult all African elephant range States about their proposal and would require a two-thirds majority to be approved at the CITES conference.

Botswana has over 150 000 elephants, said to be the largest population in Africa and therefore the country feels its elephants are in no way threatened. Moabi explained that they were totally opposed to Kenya's plans of a 20-year moratorium on ivory trading as they want to be allowed to sell in nine years as was agreed. “Botswana would want to sell off whatever legal ivory stock it has, and get revenue and use it for other conservation programmes. Our contention to be allowed to sell is because we have good controls in place and emphasised on security.”

Botswana has about 18 tonnes of legal ivory in its stocks and spends over P700 000 annually to secure the stock. At the last sale the country earned over US$7 million.

The decision by CITES to reject Zambia’s proposal has been described as “a ban on the use of African natural resources”. According to the IMWC World Conservation Trust, theses decisions mean that “significant ivory stocks will now be left in storage instead of generating revenue for use in elephant conservation. Africans are effectively being barred from utilising their own natural resources.”

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