EarthAction: February Action Alert - Prioritize Africa's Elephants

Click here to see a sample letter or e-mail to send to your CITES representative.
Click here to find out how to take action.
Click here for more information!

Why Africa's Elephants?

Despite the international ban on the trade of Elephant Ivory in 1989, it is estimated that every year 38,000 elephants are killed for ivory sales on the black market.

Poachers sell raw ivory for around $20 per pound. Most of this ivory eventually makes its way to China, where it is resold at $700 per pound—or more. This means that a single tusk from a full-grown bull elephant can fetch upwards of $50,000 on the black market. The poaching of elephants for their ivory tusks requires the death of some of the most beautiful and endangered animals on our planet.

Unless action is taken soon, many of the gains made in recent decades to protect the great elephants of Africa may be undone. In 1989 elephants were initially listed as an Appendix 1 species by CITES (the Convention on International Trade In Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna), banning any and all trade of ivory. In 1997 they were downgraded to an Appendix 2 species, allowing the trade of ivory with regulation.

Many nations do not have the capacity to strictly monitor the flow of ivory through their borders, nor are measures in place to effectively monitor the global ivory trade. Disguising illegal ivory as a legal product requires only an artificial aging process.

We must all take action— the fate of one of the world’s most intelligent and majestic creatures is in our hands. Representatives of the CITES Animals Committee are preparing now for an upcoming meeting in March 2012. Their preparation includes deciding how they will vote—and the leadership they will take—on a proposal to move elephants back to Appendix 1 classification where they were placed originally in 1979.

This reclassification would ban all new trade in ivory and allow for strict monitoring of the sale and transport of ivory with the expected result being a dramatic decrease in black market trade. Many countries oppose this change. We must act to make our voices ring louder than theirs and fight to protect Africa's elephants.

TAKE ACTION

CITES representatives from each region of the globe are elected to the Animals Committe to make important decisions regarding the trade of our planet's most precious fauna. Click here to find your region’s CITES representative's phone number, e-mail address and mailing address.

Urge him/her, in preparation for the March 2012 CITES Conference, to do everything in their power to see that your region votes for and plays a leadership role to reclassify elephants and return them to the CITES list of Appendix 1 species

APRIL UPDATE: 2011 was declared the most deadly year for elephants since their poaching ban in 1989. While more funds were allocated across the continent to battle the increasing illegal ivory trade, no changes were made at the CITES meeting in March to the protection status of elephants, nor to the trade in ivory. This is not enough. We need to see CITES change the status of Africa’s elephants from Appendix II to Appendix I, where they were originally placed after the 1989 ban. Seeing this reclassification at the next CITES meeting in 2013 will send a global message that all species deserve the utmost protection.

Let them know that you want your region to take action to see that elephants are given the greatest protection possible.

Sign the Petition to STOP the sale of illegal ivory.

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Sample Letter or E-mail

Dear Representative,

I am writing to express my concern at the state of protections against the illegal sale of ivory on the black market between Africa and Asia. Traffic, an environmental investigation agency, estimated that in 2011 2,500 elephants were killed around the globe for the poaching of ivory- making 2011 the deadliest year since the ivory ban in 1989.

The difference between 2011 and 1989? The status of elephants as an Appendix II species versus the better protected and strickter initial Appendix I listing. I am urging you as a member of the Animals Committee to give Africa's Elephants priority in your decision making- to stop the slaughter of these majestic animals.

As a CITES representative, you are responsible for determining the protections these animals get. Keep elephants in mind in your March 2012 meeting, and fulfil your responsibility to ensure the survival of this species of fauna.

Thank you for your time and for arguing on behalf of Africa's elephants,

Image Credits: Elephant- Brittany Hock.
Text Credits: EarthAction intern Walker Dunn