Wildlife organisations from around the world are lobbying governments and world leaders to make decisions that will save the world’s last remaining iconic wildlife species that are facing certain extinction. 

The Illegal hunting of African elephants for their ivory is causing rapid declines in their populations. 

An effective management of a legal ivory trade is not feasible due to corruption amongst government officials charged with wildlife related legislation. Similarly it is impossible to differentiate between new and antique ivory. 

Some African countries want to sell their ivory stockpiles in particular the KAZA countries with the surprise inclusion of Botswana and South Africa. They will make these proposals at CITES CoP18, in Colombo in Sri Lanka in 2019.

The twenty-nine African Elephant Coalition member countries do not believe in the utilization of their elephants.  They will vote against the trade in ivory. 

The EU was disappointingly lagging behind the global trend set by China, Hong Kong, USA and the UK who have moved towards a full ban of the ivory trade. 

In December 2021 the European Union stepped up restrictions on the ivory trade which went into effect in January 2022.  The trade of raw ivory in the EU is banned outright. Restrictions on worked Ivory must be regulated by member country countries.