Thu, Jun 21, 2012 -
Geneva, 21 June 2012 - Elephant poaching
levels are the worst in a decade and recorded
ivory seizures are at their highest levels
since 1989, according to a report published
today by the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora (CITES). The findings, largely
based on information submitted by governments,
will be presented and discussed at the 62nd
meeting of the CITES Standing Committee
to be held in Geneva from 23 to 27 July
2012.
Further Resources
Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)UNEP
World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC)The
report analyses data from the CITES programme
on Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants
(MIKE), IUCN's data on the status of elephant
populations, the Elephant Trade Information
System (ETIS) managed by TRAFFIC, and the
CITES trade database managed by the UNEP
World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC).
These authoritative
sources of information have shown a very
close correspondence between trends in elephant
poaching and trends in large-scale ivory
seizures, detecting essentially the same
patterns at different points in the illegal
ivory trade chain.
Commenting on the report,
the CITES Secretary-General, Mr John E.
Scanlon, said: "We need to enhance
our collective efforts across range, transit
and consumer states to reverse the current
disturbing trends in elephant poaching and
ivory smuggling. While being essential,
enforcement efforts to stop wildlife crime
must not just result in seizures - they
must result in prosecutions, convictions
and strong penalties to stop the flow of
contraband. The whole 'enforcement chain'
must work together."
According to ETIS data,
three of the five years in which the greatest
volumes of ivory were seized globally occurred
in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
In 2011 alone, there
were 14 large-scale ivory seizures-a double-digit
figure for the first time in 23 years, when
ETIS records were first compiled. They totalled
an estimated 24.3 tonnes of ivory; more
than in any previous year.
Large-scale ivory seizures
(those involving >800 kg of ivory in
a single transaction), typically indicate
the participation of organised crime.
China and Thailand are
the two primary destinations for illegal
ivory consignments exported from Africa
according to the seizure data. Seizures
of large ivory consignments in Malaysia,
the Philippines and Viet Nam since 2009,
were believed to be in transit to China
and Thailand.
Some African and Asian
countries have made significant efforts
to enhance enforcement. For example, China
conducted earlier this year a major operation
which resulted in the seizure of 1,366.3
kg of ivory and the arrest of 13 suspects.
Most of the ivory smuggling
containers leave the African continent through
Indian Ocean seaports in East African countries,
primarily Kenya and the United Republic
of Tanzania.
"Evidence is steadily
mounting which shows that African elephants
are facing their most serious crisis since
international commercial trade in ivory
was generally prohibited under CITES in
1989", said Tom Milliken, TRAFFIC's
Elephant and Rhino Programme Leader and
the Director of ETIS.
These findings are matched
by data on poaching levels in Africa from
the CITES MIKE programme. MIKE has documented
a steady increase in levels of elephant
poaching across the continent since 2005,
with the levels in 2011 being the highest
since monitoring began in 2002. Poaching
levels are increasing in all countries where
African elephants occur, and may be leading
to dramatic declines in some populations,
but particularly in Central African countries,
where poaching levels are highest. This
was brought to international attention earlier
this year by the killing of hundreds of
elephants in Bouba Ndjida National Park
in Cameroon.
"The MIKE analysis
shows poaching to be highest where human
livelihoods are most insecure and where
governance and law enforcement are weakest.
It also suggests that poaching is driven
by demand for ivory in East Asia. The number
of African elephants poached in 2011 alone
could well run into the tens of thousands,"
said Julian Blanc, who coordinates the MIKE
programme.
Information collected
by IUCN corroborates the MIKE findings that
poaching is an immediate danger to elephant
populations across the continent. There
are disturbing indications that the illegal
killing of elephants has increased in recent
years in Asia too, although data are hard
to obtain.
"There is a pressing
need for governments and other stakeholders
involved with wildlife conservation to properly
assess the amount of Asian elephant ivory
that is entering trade", said Simon
Hedges, Co-chair of the IUCN Species Survival
Commission's Asian Elephant Specialist Group.
An additional pressure
on Asian elephants, also apparently increasing,
is the illegal international commercial
trade in live wild elephants for the circus
trade in China and the tourist trade in
Thailand.
The critical situation
in Africa demonstrates the urgent need to
implement the African Elephant Action Plan,
which was created by all African elephant
range States under the auspices of CITES
in 2010. The plan envisages investing USD
100 million over three years into elephant
conservation efforts, and an African Elephant
Fund was launched in August 2011 at the
61st meeting of the CITES Standing Committee.
"Having sustainable
elephant populations in Africa will require
a shared vision and a highly strategic and
collaborative investment of time and resources
along the entire ivory supply chain. Without
this we will all lose what we cherish the
most - the icons of Africa - our elephants,"
said Holly Dublin, Chair of the IUCN/SSC
African Elephant Specialist Group, at a
recent African elephant range States meeting.
At the international
level, creative and innovative responses
to this crisis are required. The use of
modern traceability systems, including DNA
forensics in cases of wildlife trafficking
has already proven to be very effective.
DNA evidence has been used successfully
in a number of rhinoceros-related cases
in South Africa and it is routinely forming
a part of numerous criminal investigations.
In any case, enforcement efforts to stop
wildlife crime must be coordinated. This
is why the work of the recently-established
International Consortium to Combat Wildlife
Crime (ICCWC) is essential to support and
coordinate enforcement actions across international
borders.
Background on elephants
from IUCN elephant specialists groups
The most recent continent-wide
compilation of African elephant (Loxodonta
africana) numbers dates back to 2007, when
there were at least half a million elephants
in Africa, and perhaps as many as 700,000,
spread over some 3.3 million km², an
area slightly larger than India. New survey
data on African elephant populations are
currently being analysed by the IUCN/SSC
African Elephant Specialist Group and entered
into the new African and Asian Elephant
Database (http://elephantdatabase.org),
and an insight on elephant numbers is expected
later this year.
Listed in Appendix I
of CITES and categorized as 'endangered'
on the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM,
the global Asian elephant population is
estimated at around 30,000-50,000, with
a geographical range of around 878,600 km²
(an area smaller than Pakistan), which is
only 10% of the historical range
Background on the ivory
trade
The international trade
in elephant ivory was banned by the Conference
of the Parties to CITES in 1989. The CITES
Parties have twice relaxed the ban since,
first in 1999 to allow a "one-off"
sale of ivory from Botswana, Namibia and
Zimbabwe to Japan, and again in 2008 to
allow further one-off sales from those three
countries, plus South Africa, to China and
Japan.
As a precondition for
the second sale to go ahead, two monitoring
systems - ETIS and MIKE - were established
to monitor trends in levels of illegal trade
in ivory and of illegal killing of elephants
respectively. CITES also recognized the
role of the IUCN Elephant Specialist Groups,
which monitor the status of elephant populations,
and UNEP-WCMC, which monitors the legal
trade in ivory. Together, these four systems
deliver consistent, evidence-based information
to assist in CITES decision-making.