On Thursday Tanzania affirmed its determination to sell its 90-tonne ivory stockpile in a rejection of a suggestion from Kenya that the country burn the ivory instead.

Opposition

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga is staunchly opposed to Tanzania’s efforts to overturn the CITIES (Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species) world-wide ban on trade in ivory and has argued  that in Kenya “When trade in ivory was banned the elephant population started rising.”

Desperate Times…

Kenya burnt its own $1 million ivory stockpiles, in the late 1980s in an official gesture demonstrating the country’s commitment to fighting elephant hunting. By 1989 elephants numbered only 450,000 in the whole of Africa, shocking when it is estimated that there were 5 million wild elephants in Africa only 30-40 years before.

Senseless

Tanzania’s Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Ms Shamsa Mwangunga, has said that it would be senseless for Tanzania to burn its ivory, despite the costs of securing the stockpile, and that profits from ivory sales would be used for wildlife conservation, and increasing poaching law enforcement.

In opposition Mr Odinga and conservationists have argued that a lift on ivory trade would only result in an increase in poaching activity.

CITES

Tanzania already brought its proposals to CITIES earlier this year at the 15^th meeting in Doha and was rejected alongside a similar request from Zambia and Rwanda. Both countries were lobbying to downgrade elephants from CITIES Appendix I, under which ivory trade is prohibited, to Appendix II, allowing limited trading to take place.

Tanzania has accused Kenya of sabotaging their lobbying efforts at Doha, an accusation Kenya has denied. However Mr Odinga did say “I don’t want to dictate to Tanzania to burn its ivory stockpiles, but Kenya did and that’s a good thing which should be emulated.” he went on to say “we should not mess up with the privilege entrusted to us of hosting rare wildlife”.

Tanzania’s bid to change the current trading legislation comes at the same moment as massive poaching in the south of the country at Selous Game Reserve, one of the world’s largest reserves.

Committed

The country remains committed to pursuing the ability to sell ivory at the next CITIES meeting in three years. However opponents to a change in the law have pointed out that Tanzania does not meet the criteria of effective poaching enforcement controls to allow an application to be successful.