Word: africas
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Between Africa, littered with the bloated carcasses of elephants, and the huge stockpiles of the Far East is a trail marked by secrecy and deceit. It is a trail traveled by ruthless poachers, cunning smugglers, corrupt and inept officials, and the barons of the trade: a handful of men who have never seen an elephant in the wild. They and their wealthy customers do not understand -- or choose not to -- the high cost of this trade. They do not see the herds mowed down by automatic assault rifles, the tusks frantically hacked from the skulls and the orphaned and wounded...
...treaty that regulates the trade in ivory and other products from threatened animals. The delegates must decide whether to declare the elephant an endangered species, an action that would trigger a global ban on the international ivory trade. The proposal has sparked rancorous debate, both inside and outside Africa, over whether such a ban could be enforced and whether it is the best way to save the elephant...
...recent months the trade has been in retreat. Responding to growing public indignation, many industrialized nations have declared a moratorium on ivory imports. Among them: the U.S., France, West Germany, England, Canada and Australia. Japan and Hong Kong, the centers of the trade, followed suit. In Africa nations have declared war on the poachers. Thousands have been arrested, scores killed and tons of illicit tusks seized. Most significant of all, consumers are beginning to understand the link between their ivory baubles and trinkets and the mutilated carcasses from which they came. If regulation fails, consumer revulsion to ivory...
...equally powerful coalition is opposed to a global ban. Those few southern African countries -- Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa -- that have not been beset by poachers cull their herds to maintain the elephant populations at optimum levels. That culling produces legally traded ivory. Those countries say a ban would punish them for the corruption and inefficiency of other nations. Ivory traders and retailers, of course, also oppose a comprehensive ban, hoping to save an industry with annual revenues estimated at $500 million to $1 billion worldwide. They are joined by the CITES secretariat, a Lausanne- based bureaucracy that monitors...
...from a trade ban without penalty. That is what the southern African nations have said they will do if a compromise cannot be reached. The real danger is that other countries may also break rank. The more porous the ban, the more the opportunities for illegal trading. Already South Africa and Botswana are on the smugglers' routes. An ambiguous result in Lausanne could embolden the trade and undermine enforcement efforts in Africa. Time is not on the elephant's side. If the slaughter continues at the rate of the past decade, 1,000 elephants will be killed during the week...