Januaary 22 2014
Appeal to o EU Gove ernments:: Destrucction of Se eized Ivoryy Will Sen nd clear M Message aggainst Illeggal Wildliffe Trade We, a coaliition of NGOss concerned aabout the current African poaching crisis, are calling upon EU go overnments to demonsstrate their commitment tto the fight tto save the A African elephant by destro oying their se eized illegal ivory. owing at an alarming rate.. The raw datta from ETIS The illegal trade in ivoryy from African elephants has been gro (the Elephaant Trade Infformation Syystem) for larrge‐scale ivorry seizures in 2013 alread dy yielded mo ore than 41 tonnes and d represents the greatest quantity of ivory confiscaated over thee last 25 yearrs. Tens of th housands of elephants are being killed for their ivory every year and poachers are becoming eveer‐more soph histicated in carrying ou ut their ruthleess actions. The curren nt poaching ccrisis not onlyy constitutess an immense e threat to on ne of our mo ost iconic animals, but it is also a m matter of glob bal security. The illegal w wildlife trade now generattes an estimaated $19 billio on per year and has beecome the fourth most lucrative illegal activity beh hind drugs, co ounterfeiting, and human trafficking. As demand d for ivory as a luxury prod duct keeps grrowing, price es soar. As pro ofits are high h and penaltie es very low, transnation nal organised d crime groups are increaasingly takingg over. Recen nt reports haave also unco overed that armed reb bel and militiaa groups likee the Lord`s Resistance R Army (LRA) an nd Al‐Shabaab have bene efitted from illegal ivoryy trade as a source of fund ds for their teerrorist activities. To combatt this ever‐ggrowing threaat, we urge your govern nment to join n others in ssending a strong signal against ille egal wildlife trade. On November 14,, the US government perr order of President Obam ma publicly destroyed nearly six ton ns of seized illegal ivory in n Denver, Colorado, sending a clear meessage to the e world that it will not sstand idly by as elephantss are being slaughtered in nto extinction n. The Philipp pines, Gabon n and Kenya have also publicly destroyed seized ivory with hin the last two t and a half h years. Th he Chinese government g destroyed 6 tons of its ivory stockpile on 6 January 2014. The French govvernment hass also announ nced that it will destro oy its ivory sttockpile. The event is to ttake place on n 6 Februaryy 2014 in the margins of tthe London Summit on n Illegal Wildlife Trade (13 February 2014). Gabon, tto its credit, aalso undertoo ok an independent audit of the stocckpiles beforee destroying them, so thaat the publicc could be reassured that the quantityy destroyed correspond ded to the am mount stated d. We strongly urge your government to follow suit. Destructio on of seized ivory, follo owing an indeependent audit, would giive the fight against poacching much‐n needed mom mentum and significantlly raise further awarenesss of the issuee, especially if it could bee undertaken n in time for tthe London summit, which will be aattended by M Ministers and d members off the Royal Faamily. uction of ivory stockpiless ‐ no matterr how big ‐ will w highlightt the plight o of tens of thousands of The destru elephants that are bein ng killed each h year to sup pply the trafffickers. It willl hopefully eeducate conssumers that
in buying ivory they are putting elephants’ lives and possibly the future of the species at risk, and would thus contribute to reducing demand. It will encourage governments in elephant range States, where stockpile thefts have been a problem in a number of countries, to follow your example. Last but not least it will demonstrate solidarity with African and Asian countries in their fight against elephant poaching and illegal ivory trade. Species Survival Network Will Travers, President IFAW – International Fund for Animal Welfare Sonja van Tichelen, EU Regional Director African Wildlife Foundation Dr. Patrick Bergin, CEO WWF International Dr. Carlos Drews, Director Global Species Program ElephantVoices Dr. Joyce Poole, Co Director Environmental Investigation Agency Mary Rice, Executive Director Born Free Foundation Will Travers, CEO Pro Wildlife Dr. Christoph Schmidt, Chair David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation Sally Case, Chief Executive CEEweb for Biodiveristy Borys Kala, Chair CITES Working Group David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Angela Sheldrick, Executive Director