Tanzania engaging CITES for permission to sell ivory

By Alvar Mwakyusa
28th November 2009

Tanzania is still in discussions with the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) to be allowed to sell existing stocks of elephant ivory.

The Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Shamsha Mwangunga, told THISDAY on the sideline of a news conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the government was still engaging the international body to have her stockpile of ivory sold off.

“However, we still respect CITES ban much as we want to dispose off the stock that we have. We are still discussing since there are countries that support lifting of the ban while others don't...The next meeting will be held in March, next year,” said Mwangunga.

On the other hand, the minister admitted that lifting the ban on ivory could to some extent lead to increased poaching activities among countries with huge populations of elephants.

On his part, the Director of Wildlife in the ministry, Erasmus Tarimo, said should the proposal by Tanzania go through, then the proceeds from the ivory will be used for conservation of jumbo population in the country.

Tarimo emphasized that the stock to be sold is that obtained from either old jumbos or those killed legally in a bid to maintain their population.

“Impounded ivory remains illegal whatsoever. This is used for training and other special purposes,” he said.

Much as Tarimo declined to disclose the size of stockpile at hand, it is understood that Tanzania has about 90 tonnes of ivory.

In 1989, Cites signatory states banned ivory trade, a move that was spurred by a sustained massacre of elephants on an unprecedented scale. During the 1980s, it was estimated that poachers were killing up to 100,000 animals a year.

However, experts from nine Southern and East African countries including Tanzania, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, which are members of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), have recommend to their governments that they seek permission to sell their ivory stockpiles.

The experts also recommended the transfer of elephants from high population zones to countries and areas with low elephant stocks.

The proposal, a perennial one from a region where an over-abundance of elephants in some regions play havoc with farmland and crops, has already run into fierce opposition from critics who say it would encourage poaching in countries where the elephants are endangered.

Among the East African states, Kenya is calling for a total ban on trade in ivory while Tanzania is known to be siding with Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi, Namibia and Botswana in calling for the ban to be lifted.