Geneva: The Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Secretariat has endorsed a second one-time international sale of African elephant ivory, about a decade after its first. The Secretariat has also recommended China as an importer of the 108 tonnes of ivory registered for the second sale from four southern African nations, worrying wildlife conservationists.

The Secretariat’s approval for the sale and China as an importing country was revealed in a newly released document. The final decision however, lies in the hands of the Standing Committee that is scheduled to meet next month in Geneva. If cleared, the exporting nations Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe will be allowed to make this one time sale before a nine-year trade suspension comes into force.

Conservationists believe that such a sale can fuel demand and also provide wildlife traders with opportunities to siphon illegally acquired ivory into the legal market, eventually encouraging poaching of elephants.

In addition to the sale itself, conservationists fear the possible approval of China as an importer considering the country’s reputation in illegal wildlife trade. Investigations on China’s ivory trade regulations conducted in 2005 and 2006 by IFAW concluded that domestic trade control mechanisms in China are far from adequate.

“China is the single largest destination for illegal ivory and to accept them as an importer for these legal stocks will only sustain the rampant poaching that African nations are faced with today,” says Michael Wamithi, Director of the global Elephants Program at International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and former Director of Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).

Japan was the sole buyer in the first sale in 1997 amounting to about 50 tonnes of ivory from Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Last year, the Standing Committee after being satisfied of Japan’s strong domestic trade control systems granted it the ‘trading partner’ status in ivory sale.

The ivory stock, on for the second sale, is equivalent to deaths of over 10,000 African elephants and was acquired mostly through ‘culling’, a conservation tool that involves killing for population control.

Although CITES requires such sales to be supervised under strict control measures, conservationists have debated the legitimisation, arguing that it could lead to more poaching of African as well as Asian elephants. Moreover, enforcement authorities caution that over 90 per cent of the contraband goes undetected in the customs.

“We hope that the Standing Committee puts the brakes on these sales which will undoubtedly prompt even further slaughter of this highly intelligent keystone species,” Wamithi says, on the likelihood of poachers attempting to launder their illegal stocks into Asia’s already burgeoning markets.

“Furthermore, each day rangers are putting their lives on the line to defend elephants and other wildlife. Poor African nations do not have the resources to endure the level of ivory poaching being experienced today. There are an estimated 20,000 elephants slaughtered each year for their tusks. And, the bloodshed extends to human lives as well. There are countless rangers continuously killed in the line of duty. How many lives must be lost to realise the gruesome reality and reach of the elephant ivory trade?”

Ashok Kumar, vice chairman, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) said, “Studies on wildlife trade in Japan have indicated a niche demand for ivory from Asian elephants as compared to that from the African species. The ‘sale’, if approved will just provide cover for illegal trade in African elephant ivory as well as the more preferred Asian elephant ivory. Moreover, China being made an importer will boost the thriving illegal trade posing more threats to the geographically nearer Asian elephants.”

In 1989, CITES Parties listed the African elephant on Appendix I, effectively prohibiting all international trade in elephants and their derivatives, including ivory. However, in 1997 this was changed and certain populations were down-listed to Appendix II, allowing trade with special permissions from CITES.

The first sale was followed by a decade-long suspension as will the second, as approved last year, at the 14th meeting of the CITES Conference of the Parties. ‘Creating supplies to reduce the demand’ as the proponents of the ‘sale’ advocate, hasn’t seemed to work in favour of elephants. Over 23 tonnes of elephant ivory was seized between August 2005 and August 2006, the highest annual seizure recorded since the 1989 CITES ban on ivory trade. In October 2007, 93.9 kg of elephant ivory was confiscated in Zambia, 22 tusks were seized in Zimbabwe and a man in British Columbia was prosecuted for illegally importing 30,000 pieces of African elephant ivory.