White House Unveils Strategy to Stamp Out Ivory, Rhino Horn Commerce
The White House launched on Feb. 11 a multi-faceted strategy to strengthen a ban on commercial elephant ivory and rhinoceros horns, in a bid to crack down on all commercial imports into the U.S. and interstate commerce of related products, according to a White House press release and briefing from senior administration officials. The administration task force that is spearheading the strategy, created through presidential order in July 2013 (here), said the White House will use existing law, administrative orders and pressure on Congress to enact additional law in order to prohibit the trade.
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“The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is going to use all the tools at its disposal and to implement a domestic trade ban with very limited exceptions. Over the next days, weeks and months, we’ll use our legal authorities under the African Elephant Conservation Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species to stop virtually all commercial trade in elephant ivory and rhino horns within the United States and across its borders,” said one official. “All commercial imports of African elephant ivory into the United States will be prohibited, without exception. Nearly all commercial exports will be prohibited with the exception of a very small, strictly defined class of antiques, which are exempted under the Endangered Species Act.”
Labeled the National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking, the White House program aims to stamp out the commercial trade that has decimated the African elephant population to less than half a million, said one official. The Endangered Species Act antiques exemption (here) says products that are at least 100 years old, accompanied by documentation and not repaired or modified are permitted for import into the U.S. The exemption says the products must also pass through a U.S. customs port. The strategy intends to enforce a virtual prohibition on interstate commercial trade of the products, said the officials. An administration official in a follow-up email later declined to comment on the rollout schedule for FWS actions.
“Within a state boundary, you can sell a product if you can demonstrate that it was imported to the United States prior to the ban on commercial trade under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. You would have an import permit,” said one official. “So if you had such a product then you would have an import permit and export permit, presumably, from the country that it came from. If you do not have those documents, then you won’t qualify for that exception.”
The African continent may be losing 35,000 elephants a year to poaching, said one official. The World Wildlife Fund says China is the largest market for ivory (here), but the administration officials said the U.S. plays a central role in global commercial traffic. “That trade has decimated iconic animal populations, and it’s because of the actions of poachers that today species like elephants and rhinos face the risk of significant decline or extinction,” said one official. “Much of the trafficking in ivory and other wildlife products either passes through or ends up in the United States.” The international market price for ivory is more than $1,000, according to a report from The Associated Press (here). The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014 provides additional resources to the administration to combat illicit wildlife trade, said one official.
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman pledged his office would collaborate with the rest of the administration to combat wildlife trafficking, according to a press release following the Feb. 11 formal launch of the strategy. "The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) presents an important opportunity to advance our conservation efforts, including through groundbreaking U.S. proposals to combat wildlife trafficking, address illegal logging, and protect marine fisheries,” said Froman. -- Brian Dabbs