JUNE 24,
2019
Some
countries in southern Africa are pushing for a global ivory ban to be relaxed
as their elephant numbers grow
Zimbabwe
President Emmerson Mnangagwa opened a UN wildlife summit on Monday with a call
to lift the global ivory trade ban so that the country can sell $600 million of
stockpiled tusks.
Mnangagwa
said selling the elephant tusks and rhino horns would enable the impoverished
nation to fund conservation efforts for 20 years.
Zimbabwe,
Botswana, Namibia and Zambia have all cited the growing number of elephants in
some areas in their bid to have the ban relaxed, angering many
conservationists.
Opening the
UNEP wildlife economy summit in Victoria Falls, Mnangagwa called "for
the free trade in
hunting products as these can have an important impact on national and local economies."
"Currently
Zimbabwe has about $600 million dollars worth of ivory and rhino horns stocked—most of
which is from natural attrition of those animals.
"The
revenue would suffice to finance our operational conservation efforts for
the next two decades."
The
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which
prohibits the sale of ivory, is under pressure from southern African countries
that have seen growing elephant numbers.
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