ON DECRYPT
The future of elephants is currently being played in Geneva. Starting Saturday and for twelve days in Geneva, Switzerland, thousands of delegates from more than 180 countries will discuss 56 proposals to change the level of protection afforded to animals and wild plants by the Convention on International Trade species of wild fauna and flora threatened with extinction (Cites).
Among the endangered species are African elephants, whose continent has lost one third of this species. Three dates and three figures illustrate the threat to elephants: in 1900, there were 12 million animals in Africa, 1 million in 1970 and more than 400,000 since 2015.
Prohibition of the sale of ivory as a solution
Main cause of this extinction: trade and trafficking of ivory. More than 20,000 animals are still killed for their tusks each year by poachers. To stop the massacre, there is a solution: to ban the sale of ivory. Yann Wehrling, French ambassador for the environment, will support this proposal in Geneva: "France has been doing this for a few years by banning the ivory trade on our territory, other countries have done, like China, but we are unfortunately too few, and this decision must be generalized. "
" Many African countries are asking the international community to rank elephants in the strongest possible way "For Yann Wehrling, "to dry up the source of this trade is the essential stake" of the Cites. He also points out that "many African countries are asking the international community to rank elephants in the strongest possible way."
Fourth most lucrative trade in the world
The problem is that some African countries such as Botswana, Namibia or Zimbabwe rely on the sale of ivory to finance elephant protection. Trade in animal species is the fourth most lucrative trade in the world, behind those of weapons, people and drugs.