EARLY DAY MOTION NO: 1248
KENYA
Line to take
HKC 151/1
tilo 210
PA
We welcome President Moi's decision to destroy elephant tusks,
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but have no plans to pay any compensation or encourage our EC
Partners to do so. The case of Hong Kong is completely separate
from that of the producer countries.
Background
1.
President Moi set light on 13 July to more than 2,000 elephant tusks in an orchestrated publicity gesture which was widely reported
by the international media. The tusks had been confiscated from poachers and illicit traders.
2.
We welcome the Kenyan move. However, efforts to help African governments should concentrate on assisting them in implementing their conservation and anti-poaching programmes rather than compensating them for lost income. In Kenya's case the question of compensation should not arise, since the Kenyan Government has not foregone any income in destroying ivory seized
from poachers.
3. Hong Kong is not a producer of ivory. Stocks of ivory held in Hong Kong were imported legally under the regulations laid down by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of
Fauna and Flora). It would not therefore be appropriate to commend
Kenya's example to the Hong Kong authorities.
4.
On 23 May Lord Caithness announced our support for placing the African elephant on Appendix I of CITES (which would have the effect of banning all trade in ivory) and UK support that in the interim the EC should impose an import ban on new ivory. At the Environment Council meeting on 8-9 June he called on European colleagues to
support our proposal on CITES designation, and for an EC ban on all
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