Experts report highest elephant poaching and ivory smuggling
rates in a decade 22 June 2012 | News story Elephant poaching
levels are the worst in a decade and recorded ivory seizures are
at their highest levels since 1989, according to a report
published today by the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The
findings, largely based on information submitted by governments,
will be presented and discussed at the 62nd meeting of the CITES
Standing Committee to be held in Geneva from 23 to 27 July 2012.
The report analyses data from the CITES programme on Monitoring
the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE), IUCN’s data on the
status of elephant populations, the Elephant Trade Information
System (ETIS) managed by TRAFFIC, and the CITES trade database
managed by the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-
WCMC). These authoritative sources of information have shown a
very close correspondence between trends in elephant poaching
and trends in large-scale ivo