1.
RECES
DESK
INDEX
HKC Isl
15t
30 MAR 1990
RY
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4
From: E I
NA
Date: 21 February 1990
CC: PS
PS/Mrs Chalker
PS/Mr Maude
LAÇİ
PS/Lord Brabazon
PS/PUS
Mr Lidington
how, I hoyht
Аз
при the infind leavin
may,
W mayy AAI
They
is whoys leakage of this kind
тату
crafty perators
ѝ НК
with HK our denkin of that
We vildt open up the punbility of remaining
thes
in the
八
then intule me
Wintert sign
Minister
PS/Mr Waldegrave
нагадаха
popar
WILLIAM WALDEGRAVE
Mr Fraser
Mr Bayne
Mr Slater o/r
Mr Carrick
Mr McLaren
Mr Paul HKD
Mr Edis EAD
Mr Davis EAFD ODA
News Dept
HONG KONG IVORY
A
1.
Dr Richard Leakey, Head of Kenya's Wildlife Department, gave an
interview on the BBC's 'Today' programme this morning in which he
claimed that the entering by the UK on behalf of Hong Kong of the
six-month Reservation against the CITES Appendix I listing of the
African elephant has led directly to a resurgence of poaching in Kenya and Tanzania. According to Leakey, Kenya alone has lost 25
elephants in the past month and Kenya and Tanzania have intercepted
shipments of new ivory totalling some 15 tons which were destined
for Hong Kong.
2. We have to acknowledge that Leakey is in the UK for
to raise funds and may well be over-stating the poaching problem.
Nevertheless his allegations strike at the very heart of our defence
of the entering of the six months' Reservation. Conservation NGOS,
including the respected World Wide Fund for Nature, and members of
the public (in 197 MPs letters and 1123 direct letters) have alleged that the Reservation would simply encourage the resurgence of world
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