BJWDF IN THE NEWS

CITES 2002
BJWDF has produced a vital CITES Briefing Document, which questions the argument that elephants destroy their own habitat. The trade in ivory from African elephants is one of the hot issues at the CITES conference.

The 12th meeting of the Parties to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) is taking place between 3-15th November 2002 in Santiago, Chile. Five southern African countries have submitted proposals requesting trade in elephant ivory and other products, making elephants one of the focal species of the conference.

The countries requesting sales of their stockpiled ivory are; Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Zambia. Included in the rationale of the proposals is information about the impact of elephants on their environment. It has long been viewed by some that elephants have a detrimental impact on biodiversity and that their numbers should therefore be controlled. However, a new report by BJWDF uses up-to-date scientific information to challenge assumptions about variability in ecosystems.

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