Monitoring the ivory trade and ivory stocks in the post-CITES ban period

Abstract

Traffic's assessment of the ivory trade in the post CITES ban period has two major objectives: to identify and monitor the accumulation of ivory stocks, and to develop a database of all ivory seizures, the so called Bad Ivory Database System (BIDS). In terms of the first aspect data from 16 countries show a total of 380 but there are still 16 range ranges to check with and since these include the Southern African states a much larger amount will be recorded. About 500 tonnes in Kenya and Zambia have been burnt. West and central Africa have poorly recorded and poorly controlled stocks and much of the ivory accruing to the governments in these states has been sold in local markets. The official statistics regarding trade are no longer available as the trade is now underground thus BIDS largest source is law enforcement records and more thatn 2,700 seizures have been recorded since 1989. Asian-run, African- based processing operations to produce blank name seals may exist in as many as 12 countries whereas prior to the ban two such operations were identified.