Ivory sales to benefit locals

But in the meantime Zimbabwean authorities are rubbing their hands in glee in anticipation of profits from the sale of their stockpile ivory to carvers and other selected buyers especially from Asian countries.

"We were given the green light to continue trading in processed ivory after CITES considered the benefits to communities living with wildlife," Zimbabwe's Wildlife Minister Francis Nhema told ChinAfrica. "CITES considered the number of elephants in Zimbabwe and its neighbors. They also considered our conservation programs, which are excellent," said Nhema.

Nhema added, "The trade of ivory in Zimbabwe is meant to benefit people that live adjacent to the animals. Schools and clinics have been built in remote areas such as Binga from the direct sales of ivory harvested from culled animals in the community. There is tangible evidence of how we have utilized proceeds from this resource and we will continue doing it. It's unfortunate Kenya wanted to take a step backward."

Vitalis Chadenga, the operations director of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority, told ChinAfrica that following the victory in Doha, Zimbabwe would be involved in domestic ivory trade while they waited for the nine-year period to expire.

CITES, an international convention between governments to ensure the protection of wild animals and plants in trade, enforced a nine-year ban on ivory trade at the 14th CITES Conference of the Parties in 2007, to curb the expected rise in ivory poaching if legal trade was allowed.

If Kenya's proposal had been successful it would have meant Zimbabwe and other pro-ivory trade countries would be laden with stockpiles of the product used by crafts people to make fashionable curios and other artifacts for sale to tourists.

Zambia and Tanzania, who also have huge stockpiles of ivory from culled elephants, have, however, not been so fortunate, as the CITES Doha meeting declined their request for a one-off sale of their ivory stocks.

CITES legally binding

CITES banned international ivory trade in 1989 only to lift the ban eight years later to stem illegal trade, which had increased poaching in countries such as Zimbabwe and Zambia. The ban lifting was also meant to allow these countries to dispose off stockpiles of ivory harvested from culled elephants and ivory confiscated from poachers. At the 10th CITES Conference of the Parties in 1997, a one-off experimental sale of ivory to Japan was allowed under very strict controls.

Zimbabwe benefited by subsequently exporting 20 tons of raw ivory to Japan in 1999. In 2007, the country also successfully convinced the rest of the world to sanction a one-off trade in The Hague, Netherlands.

CITES is a legally binding convention of members joined voluntarily. It provides a legal framework to be adhered to by the member states and a member country's domestic legislature should ensure that CITES is implemented at the national level.

"We do not wish to seek any additional ivory disposal quota from CITES, but believe we should have our ivory and process it. We want to start value addition so that Zimbabweans can benefit from the ivory stock that the country has. Processing of ivory would also help curb poaching in the national parks as it will unlock more resources for conservation and parks management," said Minister Nhema.

But while Zimbabwe is savoring the victory in Doha, Kenya and other like-minded countries are burning the mid-night oil preparing for the next CITES meeting to review the ban, probably in 2011.

(Reporting from Zimbabwe)