By JOHN KOMBE
GOVERNMENT through the Ministry of Tourism is still in the process of engaging parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to allow Zambia to sell its 70 tons of Ivory stock pile.
Ministry of Tourism spokesperson, Sakabilo Kalembwe, disclosed that the ministry would engage the parties through the presentation of a proposal to down-list the elephant population in Zambia from Appendix I to Appendix II at the next Conference of Parties which will be held next year in Panama.
Mr Kalembwe, however stated that the government is yet to establish the value of the 70 tonnes of ivory stockpile held in the ministry’s strong rooms.
He said that the value has not been established due to the absence of international legal trade under CITES.
He said that the government failed to get the support from parties during the last conference of parties held in Geneva in 2019 when it made an effort to down-list the Zambian elephant population from Appendix I to Appendix II to allow the country to trade the ivory.
He stated that Zambia wants to offload its ivory to generate revenue to support Conservation and support communities that live side by side with wildlife.
Mr. Kalembwe observed that storing of the stockpile has proved to be a cost as the government has to pay for 24-hour security to secure the Ivory.
He said that recovering ivory from various sources and management of stockpiles is also an expensive undertaking.
He said that it was for this and other reasons that the government was asking CITES to allow the country to sell its ivory stockpiles through the legal process.
Government yearning to offload 70 tonnes of Ivory stockpile
