Abstract
Probably the most contentious issue that has arisen within the scope of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES) is that of the ivory trade. This article considers the status of the African elephant (loxodonta africana) under CITES and suggests that CITES has failed the elephant. CITES obviously also concerns many other species found in Africa, but the elephant will be focused on in this Chapter as a particular case study that highlights many of the problems faced by CITES and the international political influence on the Convention.
B Com LLB LLM (Natal), Associate Professor of Law in the University of Natal, South Africa.
BA(Rhodes), LLB (Natal), LLM Mphil (Cantab), Professor of Law in the University of Natal, South Africa.
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References
Article I (a).
UNEP The African Elephant (1989) at 8.
David Harland Killing Game: International Law and the African Elephant (1994) at 19.
B Killoch The Shamba Raiders (1972) at 88.
Michael J Glennon ‘Has international law failed the elephant?’ (1990) 84American Journal of International Law 1 at 3, quoting 11 June 1989 New York Times §1 at 6.
David Harland Killing Game: International Law and the African Elephant (1994).
This refers to the 7th Conference of the Parties to CITES.
Harland op cit at 98.
CITES 7 Doc 7.43.8, quoted in Harland op cit at 99–100.
Harland op cit at 101.
CITES 8 Doc 8.48.
Ibid.
Harland op cit at 153.
For detailed discussion in the context of the significance of these criteria for the elephant, see Michael Kidd & Michael Cowling ‘CITES — An African Perpsective’ (2000) SA Yearbook of International Law 189.
Christopher Munnion ‘Plea to relax ivory ban lost after bitter debate’ Electronic Telegraph 18 June 1997, described it as ‘one of the most emotional and contentious debates in the history of conservation ... characterised by what one conservationist described as “skulduggery and streetfighting politics that have nothing to do with the future of endangered animal species’.
Resolution Conf. 10.9
Set out in full in Kidd & Cowling op cit.
Annex 2 to Conf.10.10.
Charles Clover ‘Three African states allowed to sell ivory’ Electronic Telegraph 20 June 1997.
Eddie Koch ‘All clear for ivory trade’ Weekly Mail & Guardian 27 June 1997. See also Koch ‘Now to prevent the slaughter of the elephants’ Weekly Mail & Guardian 27 June 1997.
SAPA Report 29 October 1997, quoted by the South African Environment Project at http://www.saep.org/subject/natcon/natcites.html (accessed date 23 March 2000).
David Harrison ‘Elephants in peril as ivory ban is set to be lifted’ Electronic Telegraph 7 February 1999. Cf ‘Tsavo elephant numbers rise, but at a slower rate’ African Wildlife News Summer 1999, where evidence of poaching is described, but at insignificant levels (http://www.awforg.com/news/news11.html [accessed 23 March 2000]).
‘African elephant range states dialogue meeting’ (January 1999) 17 (3) TRAFFIC Bulletin at http://www.traffic.org/bulletin/archive/january99/africanelephant-status.html etc (accessed 30 September 2001)
‘CITES permits one-time sale of African elephant ivory’ Environment News Service 11 February 1999 at http://ens.lycos.com/ens/feb99/1999L-0211-03.html (accessed 30 September 2001).
‘Legal ivory sales end 9-year ban on global trade’ African Wildlife News Summer 1999 at http://www.awf.org/news/news1l.html (accessed 23 March 2000).
Paul Harris ‘Kenya’s elephant poaching toll soars’ Electronic Telegraph 19 September 1999.
Ibid.
‘South Africa announces proposal for commercial trade of elephant hides, leather goods and 30 tonnes of ivory: International Fund for Animal Welfare calls proposal “irresponsible”‘ Environment News Service 10 November 1999 at http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Nov99/10Nov9903.html (accessed 30 September 2001).
Tervil Okoko ‘Thriving black market in ivory demolishing African elephants’Environment News Service 29 March 2000 (accessed date 30 September 2001).
Ibid.
Ibid.
Cat Lazaroff ‘UN elephant poaching figures dangerously low’ Environment News Service 3 April 2000.
Tom Milliken ‘African elephants and the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES’ TRAFFIC Network Briefing Document at http://www.traffic.org/briefings/elephants11thmeeting.html (accessed 21 June 2000).
Proposal 11.24.
Proposal 11.20. See also Ministry of Environmental Affairs and TourismBriefing Document on the African Elephant Proposal by South Africa to CITES 11 at http://www.environment.gov.za/docs/2000/cites elephant.htm (accessed 23 June 2000).
Proposals 11.21, 11.22 and 11.23 respectively.
Barrack Otieno ‘Elephants are top issue on day one of CITES Conference’ Environment News Service 11 April 2000 at http://ens.lycos.com/ens/apr2000/2000L-04-1102.html (accessed 13 April 2000).
Barrack Otieno ‘Whales, elephants divide endangered species delegates’ Environment News Service 14 April 2000 at http://ens.lycos.com/ens/apr2000/2000L-04-1402.html (accessed 17 April 2000).
CITES ‘Outcome of the 11th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES’ at http://www.cites.org/CITES/eng/index.shtml (accessed 25 June 2000). Note that at the time of writing this chapter, the official proceedings of CITES 11 had not yet been published.
Barrack Otieno ‘Endangered species win limited protection at CITES’ Environment News Service 20 April 2000 at http://ens-news.com/ens/apr2000/2000L04-20-04.html (accessed 20 April 2000).
Milliken op cit.
Ministry of Environmental Affairs and TourismBriefing Document on the African Elephant Proposal by South Africa to CITES 11at http://www.environment.gov.za/docs/2000/cites_elephant.htm (accessed 23 June 2000). Two million rand was, in September 2001, equivalent to about US$125 000.
Milliken op cit.
TRAFFIC ‘Boost for elephant trade monitoring systems’ at http://www.traffic.org/cop11/newsroom/elephant.html (accessed 25 June 2000).
Milliken op cit.
John L Garrison ‘The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the debate over sustainable use’ (1994) 12Pace Environmental Law Review 301 at 390. See also Peter H Sand ‘Commodity or taboo? International regulation of trade in endangered species’ (1997) Green Globe Yearbook 19 at 26.
Sand op cit at 19.
See Shawn M Dansky ‘The CITES “objective” listing criteria: Are they “objective” enough to protect the African elephant?’ (1999) 73 Tulane LR 961 at 970–1.
Julienne du Toit ‘The big five — Africa’s flagship species’ in Endangered Wildlife Trust Seventh Annual Endangered Wildlife: Business, Ecotourism and the Environment (1999) at 42.
Dansky op cit at 979.
Estimates show that the wild population of the elephant in African is between 400 000 and 500 000 animals. The African Elephant Database, an IUCN/SSC African Elephant Specialist Group and UNEP programme, estimated in May 1997 (the latest avaiable figures) that there were 285 246 ‘definite’ elephants, 101 285 ‘probable’, 171 892 ‘possible’ and 22 752 ‘speculative’: http://indaba.iucn.org/external/themes/ssc/sgs/afesg/index.html (accessed 30 September 2001). The sum of the definite and probable elephants is 386541. Cf Cat Lazaroff ‘UN elephant poaching figures dangerously low’ Environment News Service 3 April 2000, who claims that current population estimates are between 301 773 and 487 345. She does not name a source.
See http://www.tigersincrisis.com/status.htm (accessed 30 September 2001).
See http://www.polarbearsalive.org/facts2.htm (accessed 30 September 2001).
Anon ‘Saving the elephant: Nature’s great masterpiece’ The Economist 1 July 1989 at 16.
CITES Resolution Conf. 8.4 (1992), which defines the minimum measures as: (i) designation of at least one Management Authority and one Scientific Authority; (ii) prohibition of trade in specimens in violation of the Convention; (iii) penalization of such trade; and (iv) confiscation of specimens illegally traded or possessed.
Sand op cit at 25.
Sand op cit at 23. The Economist op cit, indicates that ‘for many years tiny Burundi ... had just one elephant. In 1986 this prolific beast produced 23 000 tusks, all carefully documented as originating in the country’ (at 17).
Paul Harris ‘Kenya’s elephant poaching toll soars’ Electronic Telegraph 19 September 1999.
Katy Payne, Iain Douglas-Hamilton, Cynthia Moss & Joyce Poole ‘Concern over ivory sales’ letter to the Electronic Telegraph 24 March 1999.
TRAFFIC ‘Wildlife trade conference ends on mixed note’ 20 April 2000 at http://www.traffic.org/copl1/newsroom/finalday.html (accessed 22 June 2000).
‘South Africa announces proposal for commercial trade of elephant hides, leather goods and 30 tonnes of ivory: International Fund for Animal Welfare calls proposal “irresponsible”’ Environment News Service 10 November 1999 at http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Nov99/10Nov9903.html (accessed 30 September 2001)..
See Dansky op cit at 978–9.
Anon ‘Saving the elephant: Nature’s great masterpiece’ The Economist 1 July 1989 at 17.
Harland op cit at 170.
SAPA Report 29 October 1997 quoted by the South African Environment Project at http://www.saep.org/subject/natcon/natcites.html (accessed 20 June 2000).
John L Garrison ‘The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the debate over sustainable use’ (1994) 12 Pace Environmental Law Review 301 at 373.
Harland op cit at 171.
Ibid.
Harland op cit at 172.
Christopher Munnion ‘Plea to relax ivory ban lost after bitter debate’ Electronic Telegraph 18 June 1997.
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Kidd, M., Cowling, M. (2003). CITES and the African Elephant. In: International Environmental Law and Policy in Africa. Environment & Policy, vol 36. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0135-8_3
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