Definitions:
Ivory - The hard white substanse found in the tusks of elephants
Tonnes- metric tons
Ivory - The hard white substanse found in the tusks of elephants
Tonnes- metric tons
The Scoop:
The people of Senegal hope that there are still a large number of African elephants living inside their border. Alas, The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has seen only 1, but believes that there are 9 other animals living in Senegal. Senegal is located in North Western Africa on the coast. Although, the wildlife-trade monitoring network has recorded 169 kg of Ivory passing through the capitol of Senegal, Dakar. All this Ivory must of come from somewhere. The reason ivory is sold in large quantities here is that in the markets there are no rules or law enforcement, so people can just sell whatever they want. In Doha, Qatar 175 countries will send people to the meeting of CITES, The Convention of International Trade on Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. They will discuss the ivory situation in Africa and Asia and try to come up with a good solution. The only problem is that the African nations rely heavily on ivory trading, so it will be hard to convince them to give in. One of the sides is led by Zambia and Tanzania, who will ask CITES to sanction off a sale of 112 tonnes of stockpiled ivory. They believe that the elephant populations are high in countries were the money made from ivory is being put into elephant protection causes. All of the countries who do this (South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana) are home to around 1/2 of the elephant population in Africa. The other side is led by Kenya, who sees legalized ivory sales giving poachers permission to go hunt the elephants. Because when someone permits sales under CITES, it stimulates the demand, and makes people want to buy things illegally. The Kenya side believes to preserve the elephant population ivory trading must cease for 20 years. Studies have been taken throughout the past 21 years to find out what the cause is. TRAFFIC is responsible for this data and has made the ETIS, Elephant Trade Information System, loaded with over 15,000 records. Both side have good arguments, but the last legal trade was in 1999, and that year the illegal ivory trade was sharply decreased. Although, when there were no legal trades, the pooching rose sharply. ETIS suggests that all the markets in the cities be regulated so that the illegal trade will go down. In Western Africa countries have only recorded 21 elephants being killed, but 28 tonnes have been recorded in the trading market. ETIS has also pointed out the large number of ivory trucking to the Asian countries. In their home country, China claims to have tight control of the ivory trading in the markets. Alas, they do not have any control of their people in the African continent. Although the punishments for illegal ivory sales are severe in China, people still do it, because of the large amounts of money being brought in. The CITES meeting brings hope that the trade between Africa and Asia will stop as long as the countries involved agree to stop a large amount of their trade. For the future, hope is rising that the elephants will stop being killed. It is important to keep them alive, because no one knows what the effect will be on the ecosystem if elephants are not around. Believe me no one wants to find out either. This is why it is important to limit the trading of ivory in Africa and Asia.
The people of Senegal hope that there are still a large number of African elephants living inside their border. Alas, The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has seen only 1, but believes that there are 9 other animals living in Senegal. Senegal is located in North Western Africa on the coast. Although, the wildlife-trade monitoring network has recorded 169 kg of Ivory passing through the capitol of Senegal, Dakar. All this Ivory must of come from somewhere. The reason ivory is sold in large quantities here is that in the markets there are no rules or law enforcement, so people can just sell whatever they want. In Doha, Qatar 175 countries will send people to the meeting of CITES, The Convention of International Trade on Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. They will discuss the ivory situation in Africa and Asia and try to come up with a good solution. The only problem is that the African nations rely heavily on ivory trading, so it will be hard to convince them to give in. One of the sides is led by Zambia and Tanzania, who will ask CITES to sanction off a sale of 112 tonnes of stockpiled ivory. They believe that the elephant populations are high in countries were the money made from ivory is being put into elephant protection causes. All of the countries who do this (South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana) are home to around 1/2 of the elephant population in Africa. The other side is led by Kenya, who sees legalized ivory sales giving poachers permission to go hunt the elephants. Because when someone permits sales under CITES, it stimulates the demand, and makes people want to buy things illegally. The Kenya side believes to preserve the elephant population ivory trading must cease for 20 years. Studies have been taken throughout the past 21 years to find out what the cause is. TRAFFIC is responsible for this data and has made the ETIS, Elephant Trade Information System, loaded with over 15,000 records. Both side have good arguments, but the last legal trade was in 1999, and that year the illegal ivory trade was sharply decreased. Although, when there were no legal trades, the pooching rose sharply. ETIS suggests that all the markets in the cities be regulated so that the illegal trade will go down. In Western Africa countries have only recorded 21 elephants being killed, but 28 tonnes have been recorded in the trading market. ETIS has also pointed out the large number of ivory trucking to the Asian countries. In their home country, China claims to have tight control of the ivory trading in the markets. Alas, they do not have any control of their people in the African continent. Although the punishments for illegal ivory sales are severe in China, people still do it, because of the large amounts of money being brought in. The CITES meeting brings hope that the trade between Africa and Asia will stop as long as the countries involved agree to stop a large amount of their trade. For the future, hope is rising that the elephants will stop being killed. It is important to keep them alive, because no one knows what the effect will be on the ecosystem if elephants are not around. Believe me no one wants to find out either. This is why it is important to limit the trading of ivory in Africa and Asia.
Why:
I chose this article because I wish to know more about elepants and there safety. I have always been a fan of elephants, but not as much as sharks.
Questions:
What was the final decision?
What is the right thing to do?
Will the Elepants live?
http://www.africanelephants.com/images/African-Elephant-Face-400.jpg
http://www.africanelephants.com/images/African-Elephant-Face-400.jpg
