SOUTH AFRICA’S PROPOSALS TO THE CITES

Issued by: Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism

SOUTH AFRICA will be making two proposals to the 11th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species.

The Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Mohammed Valli Moosa announced the two South African proposals following a workshop with his provincial counterparts. Six proposals, workshopped in a series of meetings between government and the NGO sector , were put to the Minister and MECs but only two were accepted. They are:

1. The down-listing of the African Elephants from Appendix I to Appendix II.
2. The listing of the Colophon Beetle on Appendix III.

The meeting rejected the proposals to:

1. Alter conditions attached to the Appendix II listing of the South African population of the Southern White Rhinoceros to allow for a zero quota to trade in rhino horn and other rhino products
2. Exemption to trade in hunting trophies of up to five surplus male black rhinoceros each year from the South African population

The third and fourth proposals were on the establishment of an annual hunting quota for cheetah and an amendment on the hunting quota of the leopard. These were not put to the meeting of the Minister and MECs as the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism argued that there was insufficient scientific basis to proceed on the cheetah and that South Africa had not used its full annual quota for leopard trophies.

Minister Moosa said that there was agreement on the downlisting of the African Elephant subject to strict conditions to:

1. Trade in the experimental quota of approximately 30 tonnes of whole tusks of government-owned stock originating from Kruger National Park.
2. Export live animals for re-introduction purposes into protected areas formally proclaimed in terms of legislation of the importing country only.
3. Trade in hides and leather goods.
4. Trade in hunting trophies for non-commercial purposes.
5. All other specimens will be deemed to be part of the species in Appendix I and trade in them will be regulated accordingly.

Minister Moosa said that Kruger currently has 32113,24kgs of ivory in its stockpile. According to the inventory, the origin of 305,30kgs is unknown and 285,21kg were seized or confiscated, and therefore not part of the proposal. Of the rest it is estimated that about 27971,25 kgs will be suitable for sale as some of the tusks recorded are broken and therefore will be unacceptable. The majority of the stockpile (14492,29kgs) is from natural mortality.

At current prices of approximately $100 per kg of ivory, the sale could realize $2,797 million (about R16,78 million).

There are 152099,9kgs of hides in at Skukuza. At the current price of about $10 to the kg, the value of the hides is $1,520 million (about $9,13 million).

Minister Moosa said that the total value of the elephant products in the stockpile could be estimated at about R25,91 million, and if the proposal was accepted would be used for:

• The monitoring and research necessary to implement the new elephant management programme in the Kruger National Park. This programme will help to determine best practice in the management of elephant populations in protected areas.
• The increased monitoring and control of illegal hunting of elephants, especially intelligence networks.
• To create protected areas that are sufficiently large for elephants to be re-established in parts of their former range (for example the proposed transfrontier area that will link Kruger with Gaza in Mozambique and Gonarezhou in Zimbabwe).

According to 1999 surveys, the current elephant population of Kruger is 9152 of the approximately 12,000 African Elephants in protected areas in South Africa. The ideal elephant population for Kruger is about 7,000. Over the past two decades 1,626 elephant s have been translocated to other protected areas. No elephants have been culled since 1994.

Minister Moosa said that the proposal to list the Colophon Beetle on Appendix III follows increased interest from collectors for this beetle, which is unique to the Western Cape. By listing it on Appendix III South Africa would be able to monitor more clos ely the international trade in the insect with the help of the other countries which are party to CITES.

Issued by Didi Moyle: Special Adviser to the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
Telephone: 27 21 465 7240/1 or 27 12 3110 3611 Fax: 27 21 465 3216 or 27 12 322 0082
082 808 5108 moyle@mweb.co.za