South Africa will sell ivory to Japan, China

[Richard D]

Source: AP

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - The South African government will press ahead with plans to sell just over 51 tons of ivory to China and Japan under a special exemption to the international ban on the trade.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species ruled last year that Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe would be able to make a one-off sale of 108 tons of government stocks.

Some environmentalists and African countries with dwindling elephant populations fear that it might encourage smuggling and poaching.

South African wildlife experts visited the two nations in September and said they were satisfied that both countries would meet the stringent conditions set by the convention and would not reexport ivory to supply the black market.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081009/ap_on_re_af/af_south_africa_ivory;_ylt=AlTJjBvFtasJMWZCmQ60ALhvaA8F

[grannie4peace]

1. yikes--that's a deadly combination

[pitohui]

8. really, you don't trust CITES to make a good decision about this?

who then do you trust? i think CITES is exceptionally careful in its ruling on endangered and threatened species

how does legal properly monitored trade cause more smuggling? it's contrary to logic that people would turn to an illegal market when they have a legal certified product

[WriteDown]

2. What the hell is it with modern Asian nations and ivory!!!!!

Why is there even a demand for this?

[Xithras]

3. Ivory is beautiful.

That's why there is a demand. I have an old ivory chess set (made in the 1950's, before ivory control was even raised as an issue) and the material is a thing of beauty.

Some people want ivory for the same reasons that others want gold and diamonds. It's pretty, and it's worth a lot of money. Like gold and diamonds, some people also don't care who (or what) has to be killed to get it.

[WriteDown]

4. False ivory can now match ivory though....

its not how it used to be.

[Xithras]

6. True, but CZ hasn't decimated the diamond market either.

The presence of a good substitute doesn't always remove the demand for the "real thing". In the case of ivory, that desire is having tragic consequences.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

7. why do american want diamonds, despite knowing the human costs of diamonds?

because people across the globe lack empathy

[pitohui]

9. this is not the same, this is a case of poor countries wanting to get some hard currency

south africa did not take it on itself to sell the ivory in the face of public opinion, although they say there is concern about over-population of elephants at kruger

the decision was an international one made by CITES that they be allowed to sell this ivory

one can have empathy for people in emerging nations, be opposed to the diamond trade, and still not see this particular sale as a terrible decision

[Coventina]

5. Disgusting. n/t