Question 10655 — animals

Summary

Mr. Stéphane Demilly alerts the Minister of State, Minister of Ecological and Inclusive Transition, to the incompatibility between the desire to promote the ivory trade and the fight against elephant poaching. On average, 20,000 African elephants are poached each year for their ivory and their numbers have never been so low. These fell by more than a third between 2007 and 2014. The legal trade in ivory in the European Union fuels this decline by serving as a cover for illicit trade, and legal exports from the European Union help fuel demand in consuming countries in Southeast Asia. According to an IFOP survey, commissioned by IFAW in April 2017, 72% of French people are completely in favor of a total and complete ban on the ivory trade. France has also made progress major by completely banning the trade in raw ivory and restricting the trade in worked ivory on its territory by the decree of August 16, 2016 “relating to the ban on the trade in elephant ivory and rhino horn on the national territory”. It thus positioned itself in line with actions taken by other countries with the aim of closing their domestic ivory markets, such as the United States, the China, Hong Kong and soon the United Kingdom. The implementation of this decree as well as other measures recently taken by France are to be welcomed. The decree of August 16, 2016 is the result of long discussions in which France was keen to involve all stakeholders, including those directly involved in this trade today (ivory dealers and art dealers, among others). The Ministry of Culture has, he too was consulted. However, a new desire to promote the ivory trade and its transmission could call into question recent advances. While support and retraining measures for the ivory trade would help to stimulate a reduction in demand for these products, he questions the compatibility of an approach promoting the transmission of the ivory trade with the fight against poaching. elephants (and the resulting ivory trafficking) in which France is engaged. Thus, he calls on France to amplify its commitment by prioritizing the search for solutions allowing the professional transition of the ivory trade rather than by seeking to relaunch this activity. In 2017, the European Commission published a guidance document which recommended the suspension of (re)exports of raw ivory. This is a approach to be welcomed, but which remains insufficient. Likewise, if the discussions held within the Environment Council of the European Union alongside the United Kingdom to call for a binding ban on the trade in raw ivory within the European Union are going in the right direction, it is nevertheless necessary to go even further. He therefore asks what additional actions France plans to carry out on its territory in order to to remain one of the influential European voices on this issue, but also in order to have the European Union adopt, as a matter of urgency, a global and legally binding ban on all imports, exports and domestic sales of ivory.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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