IFAW in Action: CITES Events from Around the World
The Conference began with opening remarks and a statement by two Dutch girls who stood up in front of over 2,000 people and voiced their support for the 20 year moratorium and saving the elephants.
Video: World's largest photo mosaic of
tiger unveiled in The
Hague
Click here to watch a video of the unveiling
A two-story-high photo mosaic of a tiger, created from personal photos of nearly 25,000 tiger lovers worldwide, was unveiled to urge world leaders to end all trade in tigers. Individuals from more than 140 countries contributed their pictures to it.
The Hague: "Mjumbe" arrived at CITES
"Mjumbe" made a grand entrance at the opening day for the 14th meeting of the Parties to CITES, in The Hague, Netherlands on June 3rd, and is now standing in the lobby to the convention center, reminding all attendees of the important elephant issues that will be discussed this week. The sculpture, dubbed "Africa's child" by one conservationist, was created to highlight the thousands of elephants that are killed each year to fuel the illegal ivory trade. Mjumbe was made in Kenya from confiscated wire snares, and designed by famed Kenyan metal sculptor, Kioko. The work was commissioned as part of IFAW's global elephant protection campaign.
Click here to download the Mjumbe-Song.
The Hague: School children present 20,000 origami elephants
IFAW organised a unique campaign with hundreds of schools in the Netherlands. The school children folded a total of 20,000 origami elephants that were presented to the Dutch Minister of Agriculture and Nature Conservation, Gerda Verburg, on May 31st in The Hague. The 20,000 paper elephants represent the number of elephants killed by poachers every year and are intended to convince the minister to ban the trade of ivory.
Neckarsulm: School class from Baden-Württemberg takes part in the origami
campaign.
The school children in Class 6b at the Johann-Häußler School in Neckarsulm made 150 origami elephants in a single afternoon. All of the colourful paper animals arrived on schedule in The Hague and were presented at the CITES conference. The large animals with the inscription "Save the elephants" made a particularly strong impression at the presentation.
Nairobi: Unveiling of “Ambassador”
Mjumbe
A particularly unusual ambassador in the fight against ivory trade was introduced on May 18th, 2007 in Nairobi, Kenya. "Mjumbe", which means “ambassador” in Swahili, the local language in Kenya, is an elephant sculpture made out of confiscated wire snares used by poachers. The life-size work of art that was commissioned by IFAW is a symbol of the fight against ivory trade. Mjumbe is already on the way to The Hague where he will be a reminder to delegates during the CITES conference of the threat facing African elephants.
Berlin: Presentation of action cards from
IFAW supporters against ivory
trade
Prior to the opening day of the CITES conference in The Hague, IFAW presented 60,000 action cards from IFAW supporters in Germany and the Netherlands to Matthias Machnig, State Secretary of the German Ministry of the Environment. IFAW also presented two artificial tusks. This effort was to send a message to council president, Sigmar Gabriel, in support of the 19 African countries calling for the implementation of a 20-year unrestricted ban on ivory.
London: Funeral procession against the
trade of ivory
A life-sized elephant coffin was the focus of a sombre funeral procession at Westminster in London. The action was organised by IFAW to remind the British government once again of the threats created by the ivory trade. According to a recent survey, 83% of the British public are in favour of a strict 20-year ban on the trade of ivory and ivory products.
