Kenya calls for more efforts to save African elephant

NAIROBI, Aug. 23,
(Xinhua/GNA) – Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) on Friday appealed to all African
elephant range states to continue seeking solutions that will ensure the
survival of the continent’s elephant for posterity.

This week saw the
world stand for the survival of the giraffe and the African elephant at the
ongoing Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in Wild Fauna
and Flora (CITES) in Geneva, Switzerland, the KWS said.

“Kenya sought
to get protection status by listing all nine giraffe subspecies in Appendix II
and all elephants in Appendix I and preventing any downlisting of elephants or
reopening of ivory trade,” the KWS said in a statement issued in Nairobi.

“We were
successful in all but the last of these endeavors, thanks to overwhelming
support” from the 32- member African Elephant Coalition, the European
Union, the United States, the group of Latin America and Caribbean states and
other like-minded parties, the KWS said.

Participants at the
18th Conference of the Parties of the CITES on Thursday voted in favor of
listing the species for the first time to protect it from unregulated trade.

According to
conservationists, giraffe numbers have plummeted dramatically, by up to 40
percent over the last 30 years, due to threats including international trade in
their parts, as well as habitat loss, civil unrest and illegal hunting.

Giraffes are now
listed in Appendix II to allow for trade monitoring and population status. No
downlisting of elephants was allowed and no changes to allow ivory trade was
allowed at the CITES meeting.

The Appendix II
listing was proposed by the Central African Republic, Chad, Kenya, Mali, Niger
and Senegal. It was passed by 106 votes in support, with 21 votes against and
seven abstentions.

An earlier vote on
limiting the protection to apply only to sub-species outside of Southern Africa
failed to achieve the required number of votes to pass.

Despite the vote to
save the giraffe, the KWS said, challenges remained in improving livelihoods,
law enforcement, and closure of domestic ivory markets.

While giraffes fall
prey to poaching for bush meat, bones, skin and tail hair, there is also a
significant amount of international trade in their bone carvings and trophies,
it said. 

GNA