A UN wildlife conference extended a 1989 ban on African elephant ivory exports on Thursday by nine years, after sales from stocks, in a pact hailed as a step to safeguard the giant mammals.
"This will allow human beings and elephants to co-exist in Africa," Zimbabwe's Environment and Tourism Minister Francis Nhema told Reuters of the deal approved by the 171-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
CITES backed an African plan, agreed after overnight talks among ministers, to crack down on poaching while allowing Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe to make one-off ivory sales. They say their elephant numbers are rising.
The deal will let the four sell government ivory stockpiles registered at January 31, 2007, and then bar them from seeking exports for nine years. Cash from sales will be ploughed back into conservation and local communities. Julius Kipng'etich, head of the Kenya Wildlife Service who led his country's delegation in arguing for a ban, said it was "Africa's finest hour, a proud moment for the continent, its people and the elephant".
"This African solution to an African problem marks a great step forward for wildlife conservation," CITES Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers said. African nations had never before agreed a common ivory front at CITES, which meets every three years.
He estimated the four African nations had stocks of 210-260 tonnes that can be sold to Japan, the only importer although China is also seeking CITES approval as a buyer. Stocks are from elephants that die from natural causes, ivory seized from poachers and shootings of "problem" elephants.
"We believe this will help the elephant," said Todd Willens, head of the US delegation. Still, he said Washington opposed exports by Zimbabwe, saying President Robert Mugabe's government had failed to curb a rise in poaching. "We'll give Zimbabwe a chance to prove us wrong," he said. The compromise was far from the original demands at the June 3-15 conference in The Hague.
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