FW: IFAW Press Release - 31 May 2002 - Asian Delegates make Resol ution to Save Elephants

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> For Immediate Release

>

> Contact:

> Elizabeth Wamba (IFAW) - Kenya Tel: +254 2 570540; E-mail: ewamba

> Jennifer Ferguson-Mitchell (IFAW) - US Tel: 1 (508) 744-2076;Email:

> jfm

>

> Editors: For more information visit www.ifaw.org

>

> Asian Delegates make Resolution to Save Elephants

>

> (Phnom Penh, Cambodia - 31 May 2002) -Delegates from thirteen Asian

> elephant range countries have passed a resolution that that they will not

> support any down listing of the elephant and resumption of international

> trade in African ivory, following a meeting of the Asian Elephant

> Specialist Group in Cambodia.

>

> Conservationists, including the International Fund for Animal Welfare

> (IFAW-www.ifaw.org), have lauded the resolution by the Asian Elephant

> Specialist Group delegates following a draft proposal by the South Africa

> government seeking to apply for permission to trade its ivory stockpile in

> the forthcoming CITES meeting to be held in November this year in Chile.

>

> " We are greatly encouraged by the Group's decision not to down list

> elephants, " said Vivek Menon, the Executive Director of the Wildlife Trust

> of India, IFAW's partner in India. " It is almost impossible for law

> enforcement officers in many countries to determine while in the field the

> difference between Asian and African ivory. Furthermore, the laxity in

> the law enforcement mechanisms especially in Japan enables the traders to

> transact their business almost unhindered, " commented Menon.

>

> Japan remains the main consumer of ivory and any resumption of trade would

> be almost entirely restricted to African ivory and not Asian ivory as the

> former are more abundant and both male and female have tusks, while the

> latter are fewer and tusks are only found in males. However, any

> resumption of international trade in ivory of either species would place

> both African and Asian elephants in the firing line.

>

> " It is almost impossible to ensure that a legal trade in ivory will not be

> corrupted with poached ivory from threatened stocks of wild elephants.

> Illegally obtained ivory can be disguised in a legal market which would

> lead to the proliferation of poaching, as recently experienced in Kenya, "

> said Jason Bell, IFAW Regional Director for Southern Africa.

>

> " Allowing legal ivory trade would seriously threaten the remaining

> populations of Asian elephants, particularly in countries where the

> population is already critically small, such as Vietnam " , said Aster

> Zhang, Acting Country Director for IFAW China who was on the Asian

> Elephant Specialist Group.

>

> Earlier this year, Kenya lost 13 elephants to poaching incidents in two

> protected areas. These incidents have since been linked to the forthcoming

> CITES meeting and in anticipation of downlisting the elephant from

> Appendix I to Appendix II.

>

> For more information on IFAW's global campaign to protect elephants and

> how you can help, visit www.ifaw.org.

>

> End.

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