Zimbabwe requested on Monday May 16 the support of European countries for the sale, for a value of 600 million dollars, of its stock of ivory whose trade is prohibited.
CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), has banned the global trade in ivory since 1989.
Read alsoZimbabwe: 60 people killed by elephants this year
Parks and Wildlife Authority chief executive Fulton Mangwanya told EU ambassadors in Harare on Monday that his country had 163,000 tonnes of ivory and 67 tonnes of rhino horn in the reserves.
He estimated the value of the ivory at some $600 million.
2nd largest elephant population in the world
"
The burden of having to manage a stock from which we cannot derive economic benefit...is painful for us
," said Fulton Mangwanya.
European diplomats were treated to a tour of the vaults where ivory is kept in Harare.
Fulton Mangwanya assured that if the sale was authorized, its profits would go to the local communities near the animal reserves.
With 100,000 specimens, Zimbabwe has the second largest elephant population in the world after Botswana, about a quarter of the elephants in Africa.
The elephant population in Zimbabwe is increasing by 5% per year.
But the country's capacity does not exceed 55,000 elephants, according to country officials.
Sixty people have been killed since early 2022 by elephants in Zimbabwe.
But Zimbabwe's request failed to win support on Monday.
“
The conservation and prevention of illegal trade in wildlife species are international issues due to the involvement of criminal organizations
,” said Swiss Ambassador Niculin Jager.
Three years ago Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe demanded the right to sell their ivory acquired by natural death or confiscation, but their request was rejected by CITES in Geneva in 2019.
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