Santiago, 12 November 2002: Today’s decision by CITES to authorize sales of stockpiled ivory provides a much needed boost to elephant conservation programs in Africa, in line with principles strongly advocated by IWMC World Conservation Trust for many years.

Eugene Lapointe, a former Secretary-General of CITES and now President of IWMC, said: "African conservation is dependent on the money it can obtain from ivory sales. Without this revenue, it is unrealistic to expect these poor nations to finance the programs that are required to manage elephant populations and ensure these wonderful creatures can flourish in the long-term."

The decision came after an earlier agreement by African nations, allowing South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana to set small annual quotas for ivory sales, was modified during the CITES COP12 meeting.

Conservation groups like IWMC argue that elephants can only be properly protected if range states are permitted to undertake carefully controlled sales of ivory to pay for their programs. Sales of small quantities of ivory, collected from natural mortality and population management measures, have provided the firm foundation for successful elephant conservation programs in southern Africa in the past.

CITES has found no evidence to confirm a correlation, alleged by animal rights protesters this week, that the ivory sales authorized by CITES in 1997 have led to increases in poaching. Even in Kenya, which supports a ban, official records show no link between the two, with more deaths being attributed to government protection of poor rural farmers, whose crops are damaged by elephants, than illegal poaching. Moreover, the 1989 trade ban failed to stop illegal trading in ivory.

Mr. Lapointe said: "Unfortunately ivory has become a political battleground, with African countries wishing to utilize their resources in a regulated manner and outsiders rushing to false judgments about population sizes and false remedies on how to provide protection. Today’s decision is a step in the right direction and will hopefully pave the way for an agreed set of annual quotas at the next CITES meeting."