African nations strike landmark ivory trade ban

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2007

THE HAGUE (AFP) — A UN forum on Thursday approved a landmark nine-year ban on international ivory trade to stem a surge in poaching that has killed up to 20,000 elephants per year.

The ban will go into effect after the one-off sale by four southern African nations of government-held stock of elephant tusks.

The exact amount of the stocks are in dispute, but may be 150 to 200 tonnes, according to Willem Wijnstekers, the secretary general of the 171-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

The agreement, which breaks an 18-year deadlock and comes after weeks of sometimes fierce debate among African nations, was formally adopted by CITES almost immediately after it was submitted by Chad and Zambia "on behalf of Africa."

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