RESTRICTED
26 September 1989
CITES CONFERENCE, LAUSANNE 9-20 OCTOBER 1989
TRADE IN AFRICAN ELEPHANT IVORY
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
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On the
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. 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