SADC NEIGHBOURS SUPPORT A SOUTHERN AFRICAN POSITION AT THE 11TH CITES CONFERENCE

8 February 2000

Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa have formed a partnership to work together at the 11th Cites Conference of the Parties in Nairobi in April. This was agreed in a meeting of conservation officials from the four countries on Thursday 3rd February 2000.

South Africa has proposed to Cites (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) that an experimental quota of stockpiled ivory from the Kruger National Park ivory store be sold to a single buyer, under strict supervision from the Cites secretariat. This follows the successful one-off sales of ivory by Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe to Japan late last year, after their successful proposal to the 10th Conference held in Harare in June 1997.

The South African proposal is to sell stockpiled ivory derived from natural mortality and management programmes, and will not result in the death of any elephants. Poached ivory seized by conservation authorities or the police is strictly excluded.

Having successfully concluded their one-off sale, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe have now submitted their proposals for an annual quota of stockpiled ivory to be sold. At the meeting of the four countries last week, it was agreed to work together on the task of lobbying for support amongst the 135-odd countries that are signatories to Cites. We share a common approach to wildlife management, and all four have growing elephant populations, so have a very similar rationale for the sales to be allowed to continue. All four countries have a history of effective elephant management, including successful anti-poaching and safekeeping of ivory. South Africa’s ivory sale will generate revenue that will be ploughed back into wildlife management, research, and the acquisition of more land for elephant habitat. In the case of Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia, benefits included cash payments to rural communities on whose land the ivory was harvested. At present there are no elephants living on communal land in South Africa, so such payments are not on the cards.

The meeting also agreed that their first task was to seek support for their proposals from other African countries, particularly their SADC neighbours. A two-thirds voting majority is needed for the proposals to be passed, and Africa does not vote as a bloc at Cites. It is important to get as much support as possible from Africa before lobbying non-African countries that do not possess elephants. They may only agree to support the proposals in return for support on their own proposals. Certain countries, such as the USA, are very influential at Cites, and their vote is sometimes crucial. The European Union is perhaps the most influential of all since 14 countries vote as a bloc, which is ten percent of the Conference. Their vote is sometimes decisive in the case of strongly contested issues.

There has been a concern that the proposed sale will lead to an increase in the illegal killing of elephants as well as illegal trade in ivory. Despite a number of press reports of increased poaching activity in East and Central Africa, there is still no statistical data supporting these claims.

Zimbabwe, following accusations of poaching and claims of mass killings in the Zambezi valley. In order to address these concerns the Department of Parks and Wild Life recently commissioned an independent population census, which has now provided hard evidence that the pattern and frequency of elephant deaths has not changed substantially since the Cites decision. The census was observed and audited by an independent team from WWF. This suggests that Zimbabwe’s sale of stockpiled ivory has had no impact on poaching activity.

UPCOMING MEETINGS OF INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS:

1. 5th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Nairobi from 15–26 May 2000: Protocol on Biosafety.

• An international agreement on the transboundary movement of living modified organisms (LMOs) that may have adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, and taking into account risks to human health, was successfullyncluded and adopted by the Resumed 1st Extraordinary Meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (ExCOP) on the 28th January 2000 in Montreal, Canada.
• The agreement, which resulted from negotiations over a period of about four years, should have been adopted in February 1999 in Cartegena, Colombia, but there were several issues negotiators could not agree on (including the treatment of the commonly ded LMOs that are for food, feed and processing of commodities).
• Over the past year informal consultations, under Minister Juan Mayr of Colombia, were held to resolve the outstanding issues.
• The Protocol on Biosafety (to be called the Cartegena Protocol on Biosafety) will be open for signature at the 5th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity in May.
• In the interim, an open–ended ad hoc Intergovernmental Committee for the Cartegena Protocol on Biosafety (ICCP) has been established to assist the Executive Secretary of the Convention Secretariat to prepare for the first meeting of the Parties to theotocol. South Africa has been appointed to the Bureau of the ICCP.
• The Protocol will enter into force three months after the 50th state or regional economic integration organisation ratifies, accepts, approves or accedes.
• The final text of the Protocol is largely compatible with the positions South Africa took at the negotiations. However, in considering ratification, full legal and other implications will have to be assessed. DEAT will lead the process in the event a ision is made to ratify the Protocol.
• The CBD, which is the “mother” convention of the Biosafety Protocol, will also discuss their other initiatives on the issue of access to genetic resources, indigenous/traditional knowledge and innovations relating biological diversity in Nairobi.

2. 11th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species in Nairobi.

• CITES 11th COP will be held in Nairobi, Kenya, from the 10th to 20th April 2000.
• South Africa has put a proposal seeking to downlist South Africa’s African Elephant populations from Appendix I to II. This will enable South Africa to sell stockpiled ivory held by South African National Parks at the Kruger National Park as well as or specified elephant products.
• A two–third majority vote is required for the South African proposal to succeed and therefore in preparation for the COP, we are actively seeking support of other countries.
• As a first step, we have sought partnership with the three southern African countries (Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe), which successfully put a similar proposal to the 10th COP that was held in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1997. The three countries have put ilar proposal to the 1997 proposals for consideration of COP11. A meeting between officials from the three countries was held on the 3rd February 2000 (see attached press statement) and there was an agreement that a similar approach in preparation for the COP be adopted.
• The four countries also agreed that they will directly seek support of SADC at the upcoming meeting of SADC Wildlife Sector Technical Co-ordinating Unit to be held in Mozambique on the 24 –25 February 2000.

Issued by JJ Tabane
Media Liaison Director of the Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
(012) 3103611 or (021) 465 7240/1 or 082 465 6166