Please Do Not Tap On the Glass

Recently, the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species decided to reverse the ban on ivory trade. This is very bad news for elephants. I’m going to copy the latest post from Dr. Paula Kahumbu, the CEO of Wildlife Direct, that explains what’s happening and how China is gearing up to trade big-time in ivory, causing the slaughter of thousands of endangered African elephants. You can also visit Ivory.Net to learn more about the ban and CITES’ decision to overturn it and there’s a letter you can send via form to US Fish & Wildlife, among other, to urge them to stop this action.

I’ve written in the past about wildife poaching for weapons, and this threat continues to be the greatest that wildlife conservationists face today. Don’t doubt for a moment that the ivory sales will be used to feed starving children; instead that money will be used to fight wars for oil and other natural resources. See The World Is On Fire and We Are the Torches and Wildlife Poaching Will Be the Death of Us All and Wildlife’s Greatest Threat – Poaching for Profit.

Photo: Wildlife Action Group

I urge you strongly to sit at your keyboard and send letters to the CITES standing committee members, most of whom have e-mail addresses. There’s also a link to an IFAW petition. This is a critical time, people. Take Action now!

For the first time in nearly a decade, the international sale of ivory from endangered African elephants has been authorized by the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) Secretariat. An estimated 119 tons (108 tonnes) of ivory, put up for sale from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, which was in part conditionally approved in 2002, has been audited and verified by the CITES Secretariat. This sum represents the deaths of more than 10,000 African elephants.

Last year, a nine-year suspension on elephant ivory trade was approved at the 14th meeting of the CITES Conference of the Parties, coming into affect after the stockpiles sales are completed. This suspension is restricted only to the countries involved in this sale (Namibia, South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe). Other countries could submit proposal to sell ivory stock piles at the next CITES conference in early 2010.

The CITES Secretariat has not only endorsed the ivory sales but it has accepted China as an importer for these stocks.

This news has shocked the conservation world.

Yesterday I spent two hours talking to Esmond Bradley-Martin about his views on the impending sale of ivory to China. For the first time in history I heard the normally soft spoken, dapper Esmond, explode into a fit of swearing. He knows CITES through and through, he has never seen anything like this before. He admitted that he was astounded, disgusted, baffled and outraged that the CITES Secretariat had endorsed China. Famous for his undercover work revealing the scale of illegal ivory trade in Asia, Africa and Europe and is considered the world authority, Esmond has revealed again and again how bad China is. Nobody has ever questioned the accuracy of his data, not even CITES. But even more shocking, the CITES Secretariat has ignored their own data from their organs including TRAFFIC which specializes on illegal trade in wildlife, ETIS the Elephant Trade and Information System, and MIKE the Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants program which all conclude the same thing, that China has been flouting the CITES regulations and is the single largest threat to elephants. “Why the hell are we paying millions of dollars to these institutions to gather data if the Secretariat is going to ignore it anyway?” asked Esmond.

WHY IS CITES ENDORSING CHINA? This question is on everone’s lips. It makes no sense whatsoever. We do know that one particular person is letting us down, his name is John Sellars and nobody can understand what the hell he is doing. A one man show, John is the only person who travels around the world for CITES examining their controls. Of course he always calls ahead giving everyone time to clean up their acts. For someone in law enforcement it’s not exactly sensible is it? It’s time for John to retire! My personal opinion is that he has become a liability for wildlife.

The only thing that could stop this decision from going forward is a NO from the CITES Standing Committee which is made up of governments. Until now Japan has been the sole country yet approved by CITES as a trading partner for these ivory stocks while China is up for consideration at CITES SC57 next month. “China is the single largest destination for illegal ivory and to accept them as an importer for these legal stocks will only sustain the rampant poaching that African nations are faced with today,” says Michael Wamithi, Director of the global Elephants Program at International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), and former Director of Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).

We can stop this from happening friends, if we get to the members of the CITES Standing committee.

Write to your local MP or Congressman, tell them to oppose the stockpile sales and any future calls to reopen the trade in ivory.

The countries of the Standing Committee are DR Congo, Mali, Zambia, Kenya, China (!), Japan, Iran, Chile, Costa Rica, St. Vincent, Bulgaria, UK, Iceland, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Netherlands, Quatar

Please write to their CITES authorities and plead with them to vote NO. All their addresses can be found here. The meeting takes place from 14th – 18th of July so start writing now!

Democratic Republic of the Congo /
República Democrática del Congo /
République déocratique du Congo

M. Pascal Ngoy-Taki
Directeur des Ressources Fauniques et Chasse
15, avenue Papa Ileo
Commune de la Gombe
B.P. 868
KINSHASA 1

T: +243 998 24 40 45
E: ngoy_pascal@yahoo.fr

Ghana

Mr Nana Kofi Adu-Nsiah
Executive Director
Wildlife Division of Forestry Commission
P.O. Box M239
ACCRA

T: +233 (20) 81 21 20 (mobile / celular)
E: adunsiah@yahoo.com;
mike@hq.fcghana.com

Correspondence should be copied to /
La correspondencia debe copiarse a /
La correspondance devrait être copiée à:

Prof. Alfred Oteng-Yeboah
c/o Wildlife Division of Forestry Commission
P.O. Box M239
Ministries Post Office
ACCRA

T: +233 (24) 77 22 56 (mobile / celular)
E: otengyeboah@yahoo.co.uk;

Kenya

Director
Attn.: Dr Julius Kipng’etich
Kenya Wildlife Service
P.O. Box 40241-00100
NAIROBI

T: +254 (20) 60 08 00;
F: +254 (20) 60 37 92
E: director@kws.org; kipngetich@kws.org
cc: cites@kws.org; jgichiah@kws.org

Zambia / Zambie

Dr Lewis Saiwana
Director – CITES Management Authority
Zambia Wildlife Authority
Private Bag 1
CHILANGA

T: +260 (1) 27 90 80; 27 85 01;
+260 (95) 578 99 82 (mobile / celular)
F: +260 (1) 275 24; 27 82 99
E: cites@zawa.org.zm
cc: info@zawa.org.zm

Islamic Republic of Iran / República Islámica del Iran / République islamique d’Iran

Department of the Environment
Pardisan Nature Park
Shahid Hemat Highway
TEHRAN 15875-5181

T: +98 (21) 88 24 16 85-6
F: +98 (21) 88 24 16 87

Japan / Japón / Japon

Director
Global Environment Division
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
2-2-1, Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku
TOKYO 100-8919

T: +81 (3) 35 80 33 11 (ext. 2357)
F: +81 (3) 55 01 82 44
E: yukihiro.takeya@mofa.go.jp

Correspondence should be copied to /
La correspondencia debe copiarse a /
La correspondance devrait être copiée à:

Ms Risa Kasai
Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations Office and Other International Organizations at Geneva
3, chemin des Fins
Case postale 337
CH-1211 GENEVE 19
Switzerland / Suiza / Suisse

T: +41 (22) 717 31 11;
717 33 24 (direct / directo)
F: +41 (22) 788 38 11
E: risa.kasai@ge-japan.ch

Chile / Chili

H.E. Sr. Cristian Maquieira A.
Chairman of the CITES Standing Committee
Director
Dirección de Medio Ambiente
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores
SANTIAGO

T: +56 (2) 679 43 85
F: +56 (2) 673 21 52
E: cmaquieira@minrel.gov.cl;
cmaquieira@yahoo.com

Costa Rica

José Joaquín Calvo Domingo
Encargado de Vida Silvestre
Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación
Ministerio del Ambiente y Energía
Apartado Postal 10.104-1000
SAN JOSÉ

T: +506 256 09 17 (ext. 167; 153)
F: +506 256 24 36
E: joaquin.calvo@sinac.go.cr
cc: citescostarica@sinac.go.cr

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines /
San Vicente y las Granadinas /
Saint-Vincent-et-les-Grenadines

Mr Raymond Ryan
Chief Fisheries Officer
Fisheries Division
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Richmond Hill
KINGSTOWN
St. Vincent

T: +1 (784) 456 11 78
F: +1 (784) 457 21 12
E: fishdiv@caribsurf.com

Bulgaria / Bulgarie

Director
National Nature Protection Service
Directorate
Ministry of Environment and Water
22, Maria Louisa Blvd
1000 SOFIA

T: Director/directeur: +359 (2) 940 65 41;
Experts/expertos: +359 (2) 940 65 34/
37/54; 940 66 29
F: +359 (2) 981 66 10; 980 96 41
E: nnpsf@moew.government.bg

United Kingdom / Reino Unido / Royaume-Uni

Mr Trevor Salmon
Head of CITES Policy Unit
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
Wildlife Species Conservation Division
1st Floor, Temple Quay House
2 The Square, Temple Quay
BRISTOL BS1 6EB

T: +44 (117) 372 83 84;
(7881) 50 22 13 (mobile / celular)
F: +44 (117) 372 83 73
E: trevor.salmon@defra.gsi.gov.uk
cc: dominic.whitmee@defra.gsi.gov.uk

Iceland / Islandia / Islande

Director
Department of Natural Resources and the Environment
Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Raudararstigur 25
150 REYKJAVIK

T: +354 545 99 00
F: +354 562 23 73
E: thorir.ibsen@utn.stjr.is;
cc: bjarni.sigtryggsson@utn.stjr.is

Canada / Canadá

Ms Virginia Poter
Director General
Canadian Wildlife Service
Environment Canada
OTTAWA, Ontario
K1A OH3

T: +1 (819) 994 13 60
F: +1 (819) 953 71 77
E: virginia.poter@ec.gc.ca
cc: carolina.caceres@ec.gc.ca; basile.vanhavre@ec.gc.ca

For mailing by courier / Para el envío por mesajería / Pour envois par messagerie
Canadian Wildlife Service
Environment Canada
Place Vincent Massey, Room 331
351 St-Joseph Blvd
GATINEAU, Quebec
J8Y 3Z5

Australia / Australie

Ms Kerry Smith
Assistant Secretary
Wildlife Branch
Australian Government Department of the Environment and Water Resources
G.P.O. Box 787
CANBERRA, ACT 2601

T: +61 (2) 62 74 12 24
F: +61 (2) 62 74 19 21
E: kerry.smith@environment.gov.au;
cc: jane.o’sullivan@environment.gov.au

Switzerland / Suiza / Suisse

Mr Mathias Loertscher
Office vétérinaire fédéral
Liebefeld-Bern
Schwarzenburgstr. 155
CH-3003 BERN
T: +41 (31) 323 81 59
F: +41 (31) 323 85 22
E: mathias.loertscher@bvet.admin.ch

Netherlands / Países Bajos / Pays-Bas

Mr Giuseppe Raaphorst
Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality
Department of Nature
Postbus 20401
NL-2500 EK DEN HAAG

T: +31 (70) 378 50 09
F: +31 (70) 378 61 46
E: g.b.raaphorst@minlnv.nl;
cc: s.j.d.verbunt@minlnv.nl

Qatar

The Supreme Council for the Environment
and Natural Reserves
P.O. Box 7634
DOHA

T: +974 443 71 71; 435 84 17
F: +974 441 52 46
E: gamohammad@qatarenv.org.qa

What will happen if the sale goes through? Poaching will no doubt escalate because China does not have adequate controls to tell the difference between legal and illegal ivory. China has the cheapest labor for producing ivory products, it costs about one-tenth of the costs of working ivory in Japan. We predict Chinese ivory will enter Japanese markets, ivory prices will escalate, and more illegal ivory will flow out of Africa to supply the Chinese markets where it will be mixed with legal ivory and therefore be untraceable. According to one study, up to 23,000 elephants are killed in Africa each year for the ivory trade! It is so lucrative that even UN peace keepers are involved in the bloody business.

s.