Botswana Looks for Jumbo Deal. (18 December, 1996)

Botswana called on foreign governments yesterday to back a proposal currently blocked by an international wildlife convention under which the country could sell off its ivory stockpiles to Japan. According to Botswana's Commerce and Industry Minister George Kgoroba there are about 79 000 elephants in the area of 80 000 sq km in the north of the country. They have ravaged vegetation, crops and villagers' properties, and have killed six people since last year, he told diplomats.

'The conflict between elephants and people has become so intense that it is becoming a major political issue,' he said, adding that there have been constant complaints from local communities who say the government is doing nothing about the large herds. Officials have been unable to stick to a 1991 elephant management plan which would keep the population at 1990 levels. Culling has been stopped because of a 1989 decision by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora listing elephants as a highly protected species in terms of trade under the Appendix I clause.

In 1992, Botswana failed to have elephants in the country listed as an Appendix II species, which would allow for strictly regulated and limited trade in elephant products. Botswana is now proposing that it should be able to sell off its ivory stockpile of whole tusks to a single country, Japan, in two monitored shipments in 1998 and 1999. Under the proposal, the ivory could not be exported from Japan. Sapa-DPA. Courtesy of The Star.