African states seek to lift ivory ban

The ivory ban was suspended in 1997 for a one-time ivory sale off

GENEVA, Switzerland -- Four African countries have asked the United Nations agency for endangered species to lift a ban on the trade in ivory and Japan sought to buy whale meat.

The two requests were among 54 proposals submitted to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), officials told Reuters on Friday.

South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe all want to sell off their existing stocks of ivory -- totalling about 70 tonnes -- and to be given annual quotas for selling elephant tusks.

CITES, which outlaws trade in some species such as great apes and various big cats, last waived its ban on ivory sales in 1997 to let Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe cut stockpiles.

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Officials said there was no certainty the African countries would win the necessary two-thirds majority needed to change the rules, particularly as India and Kenya were pressing for even tighter protection for the African elephant.

Japan wants to be able to buy some surplus whale meat and products from Norway under the two countries' partial exemption from the International Whaling Commission's (IWC) ban on commercial whaling.

Whaling is regulated by the IWC, but the trade in whale products is managed by CITES.

Norway catches more whales than it can use, while Japan, which officially only kills the animals for scientific research, wants to be able to buy more.

The Japanese request covered north Atlantic and north Pacific Minke whales and the Pacific population of Bryde's whales, CITES said in a statement.

CITES reviews the different categories of protection, the so-called appendices, every two and a half years. The next will be carried out at a meeting set for November 3-15 in Santiago, Chile.

There are about 900 species listed in appendix one, which bars all trade. Another 4,000 are partially protected under appendix two, where trading requires a special permit.