UN Allows Chinese Importation of African Ivory

UN grants China permission to import African ivory
The Associated PressPublished: July 16, 2008



GENEVA: A United Nations' panel has granted China permission to import elephant ivory from African government stockpiles despite opposition from some countries and environmental groups.

The standing committee overseeing the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species voted Tuesday, 9 to 3, with 2 abstentions, qualifying China for the exception needed for the onetime auction because, the panel said, China had greatly improved its enforcement of ivory rules.

The ivory trade was banned globally in 1989, but a revival of elephant populations allowed African countries to make a onetime sale a decade later to Japan, the only country that had previously won the right to import.

Last year, the UN panel authorized Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe to make a second sale of 108 tons of government stocks.

A spokesman for the panel, Juan Carlos Vásquez, said after the vote Tuesday that China and Japan would bid for their share of ivory at an auction later this year. The stocks approved for sale include approximately 44 tons from Botswana, 9 tons from Namibia, 51 tons from South Africa and 4 tons from Zimbabwe.

The secretary general of the panel, Willem Wijnstekers, said it would closely supervise the sale. "We will continue monitoring the Chinese and Japanese domestic trade controls to ensure that unscrupulous traders do not take this opportunity to launder ivory from illegal origin," he said.

Two African countries, Ghana and Kenya, joined Australia in trying to block China's inclusion in the auction. Those in favor included Britain, the European Union and Japan.

Wan Ziming, a member of the Chinese delegation, said Beijing would do its best to ensure that "illegal ivory cannot enter into the legal market."

Some environmental groups objected and said their case had been strengthened by the Chinese government's acknowledgement that, over a dozen years, it lost track of 121 tons of ivory that probably was sold illegally.

China told the UN panel in 2003 that the "shortfall" - equal to the tusks from about 11,000 elephants - was accumulated from 1991 to 2002. The Associated Press obtained the document last week from the Environmental Investigation Agency, an organization based in Washington and London that was seeking to prevent China from gaining permission to trade ivory.

Allan Thornton, chairman of the group, said last week that China had left too many questions unanswered to be given the right to import. He said that the trading of ivory was "out of control."

Thornton's group said that more than 20,000 elephants a year were killed illegally in Africa and Asia for the ivory black market, and that Chinese nationals have been implicated in seizures of illegal ivory in more than 20 African nations.

Kenya stops 2 with ivory

The Kenyan wildlife service said that two Chinese women were being questioned Wednesday at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport after 36 pieces of ivory were found in their possession, The Associated Press reported from Nairobi.

A spokesman for the wildlife service said the women had been booked on a flight to China.

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