Botswana which supported a total ban on the ivory trade during the CITES meeting held in South Africa in 2016, has climbed down and is now backing the other three nations ahead of the CITES’ forthcoming meeting in May in Sri Lanka.
In their latest proposal delivered to CITES recently, the four members of Southern African Development Community (SADC) namely, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe are calling for a number of amendments to certain controls by CITES.
They want to trade in hunting trophies for non-commercial purposes and trade in live animals to appropriate and acceptable destinations for Botswana and Zimbabwe, and for conservation programmes for Namibia and South Africa.
They also propose that their states be allowed to trade in hides, trade in hair, trade in leather goods for commercial or non-commercial purposes, for Botswana, Namibia and South Africa and for non-commercial purposes for Zimbabwe.