A Botswana-led last-minute proposal to permit the sale of tons of stockpiled ivory was shot down at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species – known as CITES.
Botswana, along with Namibia and Zimbabwe argue that proceeds from the legal sale of ivory would help animal conservation efforts and would also provide employment and money for local communities that desperately need it.
Botswana has by far Africa’s largest elephant population and is one of the few countries in Africa where elephants are expanding their geographical range.
Opponents say Botswana’s position is ridiculous and that allowing legal sales would put elephants at an increased risk of being killed by illegal poaching.
In another vote on Thursday, States accepted greater controls on trade in giraffes, whose dwindling population is at even greater risk than elephants, conservationists warned.
According to CITES experts, there are only “a couple of tens of thousands” of giraffes left, compared with “a couple of hundred thousand” elephants.
Under Convention rules, committee votes can be overturned in next week’s plenary session, although this is unlikely, a CITES spokesperson said, especially when the results are so “lop-sided”.
