CITES 2010 Elephants
For All of you who are interested on this years CITES 2010 Elephants!
Currently, CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is holding their 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP15), in Qatar. The meeting ends on March 25.
Below are listed CITES documents related to elephants, including Proposals, Working Documents, Reports, and Summaries of Events.
PROPOSALS
There are three proposals up to amend elephant (loxodonta africana) listings in Appendices I and II. These can be found at the following site, but I will sum them up below the link.
http://www.cites.org/eng/cop/15/prop/index.shtml
Note that Appendix I lists species that are threatened with extinction and are or may be affected by trade. Appendix II lists species that are not necessarily threatened with extinction, but may become so unless trade in specimens of such species is subject to strict regulation. All African elephants are currently listed in Appendix I, except for those in the countries of Botswana, Nambibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, which are in Appendix II.
As proposed:
Tanzania wants to transfer their ele population from Appendix I to Appendix II to allow for:
a) trade in hunting trophies for non-commercial purposes;
b) a one-off sale of 89,848.74 kg (89 tons) from registered government-owned stocks
Zambia wants to transfer their ele population from Appendix I to Appendix II to allow for:
a) trade in hunting trophies for non-commercial purposes;
b) trade in live animals to appropriate and acceptable destinations
c) trade in raw hides;
d) a one-off sale of 21,692.23 kg (22 tons) from registered government-owned stocks,
Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Rwanda and Sierra Leone propose the following:
a) The only four countries whose ele populations are already in Appendix II--Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe--not be allowed to trade in ivory for nine years.
b) That no further proposals be submitted for trade in ivory from any country, for twenty years from the date of Cop15.
c) Cessation of trade in individually marked and certified ekipas incorporated in finished jewellery for non-commercial purposes for Namibia and ivory carvings for non-commercial purposes for Zimbabwe
WORKING DOCUMENTS
Monitoring of Illegal Trade in Ivory and Other Elephant Specimens.
Prepared by the CITES Secretariat, this includes an overview of recent trends in ivory smuggling and seizure. It has an action plan section, general comments, and recommendations.
Find it at:
http://cites.org/eng/cop/15/doc/E15-44-01.pdf
The Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) and the Illicit Trade in Ivory
This is a report by ETIS, which is a comprehensive information system to track illegal trade in ivory and other elephant products. ETIS is managed by TRAFFIC on behalf of the CITES Parties. Find this at
http://cites.org/common/cop/15/doc/E15-44-01A.pdf
Monitoring of Illegal Hunting in Elephant Range States
In addition to information on global trends in the level of illegal killing of elephants since 2002, this analysis investigates a number of site- and country-level variables that are significantly associated with levels of illegal killing at MIKE (Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants) sites.
http://cites.org/eng/cop/15/doc/E15-44-02.pdf
And more on MIKE’s results here:
Trends and Factors Associated with the Illegal Killing of Elephants
http://cites.org/common/cop/15/inf/E15i-41.pdf
MIKE contracted Save the Elephants to undertake a detailed analysis of the illegal killing of elephants in a well-researched MIKE site, namely Laikipa-Samburu in Kenya. This is a unique site as it reports one of the highest elephant carcass recovery rates in the MIKE database, due largely to community involvement. Find this document, Levels of Illegal Killing of Elephants in the Laikipia-Samburu
Mike Site, at
http://cites.org/common/cop/15/inf/E15i-40.pdf
REPORT OF THE PANEL OF EXPERTS
The CITES Secretariat will be taking into account the Report of the Panel of Experts on proposals to transfer populations of the African elephant from Appendix I to Appendix II. This was recently completed, and posted. The panel was made up of a CITES representative, a few consultants, and representatives from Tanzania and Zambia.
Find the description of the panel composition and the process at:
http://cites.org/eng/cop/15/doc/E15-68A06I.pdf
The actual reports are found at:
Report of the Panel regarding the proposal of the United Republic of Tanzania
http://cites.org/eng/cop/15/doc/E15-68A06a).pdf
Report of the Panel regarding the proposal of Zambia
http://cites.org/eng/cop/15/doc/E15-68A06b).pdf
SUMMARY RECORDS
CITES Summary Records of each day’s events can be found at
http://cites.org/eng/cop/15/sum/index.shtml
SOURCE:
Save The Elephants
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