T
TFinalshot
Guest
LAST EDITED ON Jun-04-07 AT 02:43PM (MST)[p]
The body regulating international wildlife trade has authorised the one-time sale of 60 tons of ivory by three African countries to Japan at its meeting in The Hague on Saturday, a Japanese government official said.
The standing committee on the Washington Treaty, which aims at restricting trade in endangered species, authorised the sale by Botswana, Namibia and South Africa of their existing ivory stocks.
Under the 1973 treaty, formally known as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, ivory trade was banned in 1989.
Botswana, Namibia and South Africa had been seeking to resume exports of their existing stockpiles of elephant tusks. But the committee had said such a sale should be held up until an adequate monitoring system against poaching could be put in place.
At the latest meeting, however, the body agreed to the one-time ivory sale by the three countries, judging that Japan's controls are strong enough, according to the Japanese official who participated in the meeting.
It remains undecided when the African countries will carry out the ivory sale, said the official.
The Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Associated Press, 03 Jun 2007
The body regulating international wildlife trade has authorised the one-time sale of 60 tons of ivory by three African countries to Japan at its meeting in The Hague on Saturday, a Japanese government official said.
The standing committee on the Washington Treaty, which aims at restricting trade in endangered species, authorised the sale by Botswana, Namibia and South Africa of their existing ivory stocks.
Under the 1973 treaty, formally known as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, ivory trade was banned in 1989.
Botswana, Namibia and South Africa had been seeking to resume exports of their existing stockpiles of elephant tusks. But the committee had said such a sale should be held up until an adequate monitoring system against poaching could be put in place.
At the latest meeting, however, the body agreed to the one-time ivory sale by the three countries, judging that Japan's controls are strong enough, according to the Japanese official who participated in the meeting.
It remains undecided when the African countries will carry out the ivory sale, said the official.
The Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Associated Press, 03 Jun 2007