The “gang of eight” nations at the heart of an unprecedented surge in African elephant killing must be hit with heavy trade sanctions, according to the world’s top illegal ivory official. The countries, including Kenya, Thailand and China, could be banned from all wildlife trade, including hugely lucrative orchid and crocodile skin exports.
Tom Milliken, who runs the official global project that tracks illegal ivory, said every report his group, the Elephant Trade Information System, had made since it started in 1998 had identified the eight nations as the major players in the trade, but to no effect. “There has been no discernible impact from previous Cites measures,” he said at the 178-nation summit of the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species(Cites) in Bangkok. “Unless Cites scales up and takes this seriously, we are not going to win this thing.” This Cites meeting should be the time sanctions should be used, he said.
Tom de Meulenaer, a senior Cites official, said the body’s ruling committee had finally lost patience over the issue, and if the eight countries did not produce hard action plans for the next 12 months, it was “not unlikely” that sanctions would be implemented. Milliken said: “Can you imagine the effect on Thailand, Vietnam and China? The orchid and crocodile skin trades alone are massive.”
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