Elephant ivory trade talks heat up in Geneva
Proposals to strengthen elephant protections and reopen ivory sales come to a head at global wildlife treaty meeting.
GenevaImpassioned arguments from several southern African nations at the wildlife trade summit here yesterday failed to generate enough support to allow four nations to reopen their ivory trade.
The controversial proposal—brought forward at the CITES meeting by South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe—was voted down by 101 of the 183 treaty members. The United States and the European Union were among those opposing the change. Twenty-three countries voted to support the proposal, and 18 abstained.
CITES is the treaty that governs the international trade in wildlife and wildlife products. The elephant and ivory debates are among the most hotly contested at this CITES conference of parties meeting, which runs from August 17 through August 28. There are more than
