Ivory Trade

EDM number 1838 in 2001-02, proposed by John Mann on 30/10/2002.

That this House believes that strong international controls to ban trade in ivory are necessary to protect endangered elephants; acknowledges that the European Union's abstention on a vote to relax the ban on international ivory trade at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in 1997 allowed a limited resumption in ivory trade between three southern African countries and Japan; notes that this trade has led to an increase in poaching across Africa and Asia in anticipation of a resumption of ivory trading; further notes that many elephant range states do not have the resources to prevent poaching; and strongly urges the Government fully to support the restoration of a ban on international trade in ivory at the next CITES Conference of the Parties in 2002 by supporting the proposal by Kenya and India to uplist all populations of African elephants to Appendix I of CITES.

This motion has been signed by a total of 142 MPs.