Ivory Affair

1989/07/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ekologia
• Ingurumena

Ecologists and some African states call for the inclusion of the African elephant in the list of endangered animals. Inclusion on this list would result in a ban on bowling traffic. They also aim to curb imports of boli worldwide.

The drivers of this campaign claim that bowling traffic control has failed. Ivory trafficking has increased in recent decades and if we continue along the same path, within 20 years the elephant can disappear. In the last ten years the elephant population has declined from 1.3 million to 625,000.

The International Fund for Nature (WWF) and the International Organization for the Conservation of Wildlife (WCI) have noted that the governments of Tanzania, Kenya, Gambia and Somalia have requested the inclusion of the elephant in Annex I of the International Convention on Trade in Endangered Flora and Fauna (CITES). Inclusion in Annex I would prohibit trade in elephant products. In addition, the governments of Chad, Niger and Zambia will also support this measure.

Elephant now II. It is located in the annex and allows in part the trade of boli and elephant leather. However, controlled trade has been found to be useless. The biggest consumers of boli are in Asia and it is estimated that 80% of the boli that reaches there is illegal. The biggest exporters are Sudan, Burundi (despite not having an elephant), Congo, Burkina Faso, Zaire and Tanzania.

Without lowering the population of the African elephant, 50 tons of voli can be exported per year. In 1987 300 tons were exported and the highest point was reached in 1979, when 900 tons were exported.

Now you have to kill more elephants than before to get the same amount of boli. The biggest elephants (their glasses can weigh 80 kg) died long ago. The average weight of eyelashes sold in 1979 was 9.8 kg. A ton of boli meant the death of 54 elephants. In 1989, however, the average weight of eyelashes was only 47 kg. This means that elephants are dying younger and younger.

However, only inclusion in Annex I will save the elephant. This is the case of the black rhinoceros. Inclusion in Annex I has not paralyzed the sale of rhino branches.