Bids to remove protections for Africa’s iconic wildlife fail

Attempts to weaken international trade restrictions for Africa’s iconic giraffes, elephants and rhinos have all failed at a UN wildlife conference. 

Governments on Saturday at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) 20th Conference of the Parties (CoP20) agreed to keep Appendix II protections in place for all giraffes and Appendix I protections for the critically endangered black rhinoceros.  

Parties also agreed that trade in stockpiled rhino horn from government and private landowners will remain prohibited. A proposal to permit the sale of elephant ivory stockpiles from Namibia was also rejected. 

Experts from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said these proposals would have placed all elephants, rhinos and giraffes in grave danger. 

“The proposals would have been untraceable, unmanageable and unenforceable,” IFAW’s Africa director James Isiche said. 

“Any attempt to reopen the ivory and rhino horn trade would hand traffickers exactly what they want—a convenient cover to launder illegal horn and ivory. Approving these changes would have placed rhinos and elephants across Africa and Asia in grave danger. 

“These animals are up against numerous challenges. We must do everything within our power to prevent these species from facing the same fate as the western black and northern white rhinos, both of which have gone extinct in my lifetime.” 

Giraffes have suffered a dramatic decline in numbers, with some scientists referring to it as a “silent extinction”. However, until recently, the extent to which giraffe products were in international trade was relatively unknown.  

CITES data shows more than 1,500 trade records since giraffes were given Appendix II protections in 2019, involving 37 exporters, more than 100 importers, and including trade in thousands of bones, bone carvings and skin pieces—highlighting the ongoing international demand. 

“This proposal could have presented a dangerous avenue for traffickers to launder parts from other giraffe populations that are far more threatened, such as the northern giraffe,” Mr Isiche said.  

“This is a global trade with parts being found as far as Brazil and Australia. CITES protections are critical to ensuring we are aware of and can monitor the true scale.” 

Elephants and rhinos have endured decades of intensive poaching for their tusks and horns, pushing populations to the brink. Past CITES decisions to allow sales of stockpiled ivory in 2008 triggered a surge in poaching as traffickers exploited the difficulty of distinguishing legal from illegal ivory. With many key consumer countries—including China—now enforcing ivory bans, the likely end markets for such sales were uncertain. 

“There is clearly no appetite to reopen these detrimental trades. Instead of repeating failed approaches, the international community must invest in innovative and sustainable ways to fund conservation—ways that do not put iconic wildlife back in the crosshairs of poachers,” Mr Isiche said. 

“Today, Parties held firm—and in doing so, held the line for elephants and rhinos, choosing protection over short-term gains. Any legal trade would have opened the floodgates for laundering and poaching. Instead, the message today was clear: gambling with the future of Africa’s iconic wildlife isn’t an option we can afford to take.” 

All four proposals were rejected, failing to achieve the two-thirds majority required.  

CITES CoP20 opened in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on November 24th and runs until December 5th.  

ENDS 

Press contacts:  
Dominica Mack dmack@ifaw.org / +61 460 432 901 
Kirsty Warren kwarren@ifaw.org / +44 (0) 7809269747 

Notes to editors: 

• Namibia made three proposals: 
• To allow trade in rhino horn from Namibian southern white rhinos. This was defeated with 69.31% against and 30.69% in favour.  
• To allow trade in rhino horn from Namibian black rhinos. This was defeated with 74.07% against and 25.93% in favour.   
• To allow trade in stockpiled elephant ivory from Namibia. This was defeated with 78.64% against and 21.36% in favour. 
• Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe presented a proposal to exempt populations of giraffes from Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe from existing CITES Appendix II provisions. 
  It was defeated with 50.52% in favour and 49.48% against. If this had been approved, it would have caused problems for all populations of giraffes, as distinguishing between them is near-impossible.