SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan― Wildlife campaigners at the 20th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species expressed relief today as attempts by some African nations to remove protections for giraffes were thwarted.
The dangerous proposal, strongly backed by the trophy hunting lobby in South Africa, would have removed CITES Appendix II protections against international trade from giraffe populations in Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. If successful, it would have made killing giraffes and trading in their body part trophies significantly easier.
Giraffes were only recently listed on Appendix II in 2019 due to high volumes of trade in their bones and skins. The exploitation had the very real potential to threaten them with extinction and continues to put pressure on giraffe populations today. If the proposal had succeeded, it would have created a “split listing” where trade in giraffes was restricted in some countries but not in others. As the majority of trade in giraffe parts is in their bones and skins which are not easily distinguishable between different populations, it would also have created major enforcement challenges.
Matthew Schurch, senior specialist, Humane World for Animals South Africa, said: “We are hugely relieved that the proposal to remove international trade controls for a large part of the giraffe population has failed. This would have been a disaster for the protection of this iconic species, and could have had a particularly serious impact on the smaller giraffe populations of Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia because distinguishing between species and sub species for bone and other traded parts would be an incredible enforcement challenge.
CITES protections provide a vital lifeline for giraffes whose wild population has dwindled to around 117,000 animals. But to truly protect giraffes from being threatened by hunting for trophies and trinkets, CITES must urgently close its loophole that allows for trade in hunting trophies where other trade is prohibited. It is absurd that the impact of killing approximately 500 giraffes every year for trophies is not fully considered in the CITES protections despite the trophy hunting industry’s obvious commercial drivers.”
Other issues on the CITES agenda include proposals seeking to expand commercial trade in live elephants and their parts, reopening international commercial ivory markets; proposals to reopen commercial trade in stockpiles of white and black rhino horn from Namibia; as well as positive proposals to protect critically endangered vultures and the Galápagos land iguanas at high risk of extinction and several species of gecko, sloth, rattlesnake and tarantula exploited for the pet trade.
Quick facts
- Proposal 4 to remove giraffe populations in eight countries (Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe) from Appendix II CITES regulation was put forward by Namibia, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
- Although giraffes as a species are not considered endangered, some giraffe subspecies are. Out of eight assessed subspecies, two—the reticulated giraffe and the Masai giraffe—are classified as endangered (IUCN). Another two—the Kordofan giraffe and the Nubian giraffe—are critically endangered. The Kordofan giraffe has lost 90% of its population since the 1980s, and the Nubian giraffe has lost 98%. The populations of some subspecies are dwindling dangerously close to extinction.
- The number of giraffes has plummeted dramatically over the past three decades—by up to 40%. Some people refer to this as a ‘silent extinction’ because the decline has been so slow that it’s almost gone unnoticed.
- More than 35,000 giraffe parts and products from wild animals were imported around the world between 2019-2023 (the most recent years of complete data), primarily from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, including 29,412 bone carvings, bones and bone pieces; 2,314 trophies, 1,664 skin pieces and 468 skulls. In addition, there were 18 kg of giraffe bones exported for commercial purposes from South Africa, 234 parts and products from ranched and captive-bred animals exported, as well as hunting trophies equivalent to the lives of around 2,444 giraffes exported.
- The top importing countries for giraffe parts are (in descending order) the United States, Germany, Denmark, Mexico, South Africa, Hungary, Spain and Poland.
- CITES offers three levels of protection for species affected by international trade:
- Appendix I is for species threatened with extinction because of trade, and more or less prevents commercial international trade except in exceptional circumstances.
- Appendix II allows trade under special conditions and is for species which may become threatened with extinction unless trade is subject to strict regulation. Appendix II controls include permit requirements and a science-based determination that the export will not negatively affect a species’ long-term survival in the wild (called a non-detriment finding). This is the listing approved for giraffes in 2019.
- Appendix III is for species protected in at least one country, which has requested help from other CITES Parties to control trade in those species.
ENDS