Absalom Shigwedha
17 July 2008
MORE than 100 tons of ivory that four southern African countries last year were allowed to sell is likely to be sold to China.
The UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) says it is satisfied with China's ivory controls and markets.
The 57th meeting of the CITES Standing Committee started in Geneva on Monday to decide whether China should be allowed to buy 108 tonnes of elephant ivory in a one-off sale by four SADC countries.
At the 14th CITES Conference of Parties held in the Netherlands last year, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe were allowed to make a single sale of government-owned stockpiles of ivory.
Namibia was permitted to sell 9 209 kg of ivory, Botswana 43 682 kg, South Africa 51 121 kg and Zimbabwe 3 755 kg.
But after the sale, the countries will not be allowed to export ivory again for nine years.
"In spite of remaining a potential destination for illegal ivory, China has now reached the required verification standards established by CITES for this one-off sale and could therefore be designated as trading partner," it is stated on the CITES website.
Between March and April this year, the CITES Secretariat visited the four SADC states and verified that the declared ivory stocks had been properly registered and that they were of legal origin.
Some environmental and trade organisations such as the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) are trying to prevent China from getting permission to trade in ivory.
The EIA argues that China lacks control of its ivory and that allowing it to import more ivory legally would only lead to the additional slaughter of elephants and greater illegal ivory smuggling.
Louise Mupetami, a conservation scientist in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism who deals with CITES matters, declined to comment.
She said Namibia was represented at the CITES meeting and the Ministry would issue a statement after the meeting, which ends on Friday.
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