From The Minister of State
HKCISI
I Daid,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
28 September 1989
CITES CONFERENCE, LAUSANNE 9-20 OCTOBER 1989
TRADE IN AFRICAN ELEPHANT IVORY
(551)
You wrote to me of 22 September asking for my agreement to the line you are proposing our delegation to the forthcoming CITES Conference should take on the difficult questions of Southern Africa
and Hong Kong
•
I should first of all say that we fully support your Department's line on Appendix I listing for the African elephant.
This must be in the long-term interest of the species. On the
question of exceptions I can see the sense in allowing those Southern African countries who have well-managed elephant herds to be able to trade legally in elephant products. The success of their
programmes in increasing the numbers of elephant over the last ten
years is surely the clearest indicator that such programmes are the
way to secure the future of the African elephant. The ploughing
back of revenue from the sale of products into conservation
programmes and into support of rural populations is the best way to
ensure that the local people have a keen interest in elephant
conservation a form of ustainable development. I therefore
strongly agree that we should support if necessary some degree of
trade from those states whose populations are capable of agreed and
controlled exploitation.
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