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DSWF Team Working For Wildlife at CITES

Yesterday was a long day at CITES with elephants on the agenda in the evening session – a first for a CITES Standing Committee, which has had to schedule late night sessions in order to get through the packed agenda.

CITES 2018 Russia DSWF Team
Team DSWF at CITES in Sochi, Russia.

The DSWF team was supporting documents referencing the closure of domestic ivory markets and the creation of guidelines on stockpile management and destruction. Today (Thurs) promises to be another full day as the capture and trade of live animals takes the forefront of elephant discussions.

Under CITES protocol, Appendix II animals can be traded to “appropriate and acceptable destinations” from populations in South Africa, Zimbabwe Botswana and Namibia. Proposals submitted by countries from the African Elephant Coalition (AEC) state that the only “appropriate and acceptable destination” for live wild elephants are in conservation programmes within their own natural habitat.

Media reports since the last Conference of the Parties held in Johannesburg in 2016 have emphasised the inhumane capture techniques and conditions of elephants which have been caught from wild herds to be used in the live trade.

DSWF strongly supports the shared views of many African Elephant Range States who question whether the live capture of elephants can be of any benefit to conservation.

Find out more about DSWF’s position on the trade of endangered species here.

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