Matthias Machnig: A big success for elephant protection
Thanks to mediation by Germany and the European Union, the international community has agreed on a 9-year moratorium on ivory trade. This breakthrough was achieved last night during negotiations of the African states and adopted unanimously by the Conference of the Parties in Den Haag this morning. Matthias Machnig, State Secretary at the Federal Environment Ministry and representative of the German EU Presidency, welcomed the result: "This is a huge success for the protection of elephants. The 9-year moratorium on ivory trade is linked with clear procedures and standards."
Permission was granted to the governments of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana for a one-time sale of ivory from legal stocks prior to the entry into force of the moratorium. Before the stocked ivory may be sold, its origin must be checked by the CITES Secretariat; the sale of seized ivory from poaching or ivory of unknown origin is not permitted. After this one-time sale, trade has to be discontinued for a period of nine years. This moratorium period will be used to evaluate if the one-time sale has an influence on poaching, and if so, what kind of influence.
During the past two weeks, the European Union has been intensively advocating consensus of the African states.
At a ministerial meeting during the conference, about 50 ministers from contracting parties agreed to make greater use of the instruments of the Convention for the protection of marine species and forests. This is a clear political signal to further strengthen the effectiveness of the Convention. State Secretary Machnig stated: "We have reached agreement that questions related to biological diversity and climate change, questions that are at the interface with other Conventions, should be discussed more intensively in the framework of CITES. We need powerful cooperation between the different agreements and conventions." Overfishing poses a threat to fish stocks worldwide. If this trend continues, commercial marine fishery will probably have to stop in 2050. Forests three times the size of Switzerland are cut down each year. Matthias Machnig emphasised: "This is why it is important to apply CITES regulations also in these sectors. CITES is a strong regime, not a paper tiger."
Further information:
- Press Release as at 03.06.2007: Fish, whales, tropical wood: the conference in The Hague focuses on the conservation of endangered species