Question 10974 — animals

Summary

Mr. Michel Larive draws the attention of the Minister of State, Minister for Ecological and Inclusive Transition, to the poaching of elephants for commercial purposes. Elephant tusks, necessary for their survival, fuel the desire of many poachers to supply the ivory market, causing the death of 20,000 elephants each year, or 55 elephants killed per day. The elephant population has fallen by more than a third in 7 years, reaching extremely low numbers. The existence of a legal market in the European Union (EU) stimulates demand for ivory, for the manufacture of decorative objects or jewelry, and is pushing elephants towards extinction. However, awareness is emerging among European peoples. 72% of French people are in favor of a total ban on the trade in ivory, according to an IFOP survey commissioned by IFAW in April 2017. After a heated debate, France made a major breakthrough. By a decree of April 16, 2016, it completely banned the trade in raw ivory on its territory and restricted the trade in worked ivory. However, this major advance now risks being called into question by the desire to promote the ivory trades. It seems that the Government wishes to put in place support and scheme for reconversion of the ivory trade with the aim of relaunching these artisanal trades. But an increase in the number of ivory growers will help maintain or even increase the demand for ivory. However, as Lusseau D and Phyllis C. demonstrated in their 2016 study, entitled Can we sustainably harvest ivory? , for the ivory trade to be ecologically sustainable, approximately three times less ivory would have to be harvested than what is currently being done. So certainly the legal market is struggling to supply the global demand for ivory, which effectively encourages acts of poaching, but it seems that the only way to sustainably safeguard elephant populations would be to implement measures aimed at reducing the demand for ivory. This is the reason why animal rights associations are questioning the consistency of its decisions. On the one hand, France prohibits the trade in ivory on its territory, and on the other, it plans to promote the transmission of the ivory trade. France's position must be clearer. It must play a central role in saving elephants and the fight against poaching, by carrying a strong message in order to be one of the influential voices within the EU on this subject. In 2017, the European Commission published a document in which it encourages Member States to ban exports of raw ivory. Despite the remarkable work of the Environment Council, which alongside the United Kingdom, is acting to completely ban the trade in raw ivory on European territory, the EU position is still too timid. It is necessary to go further. The EU must ban as soon as possible the import, export and sale domestic sale of ivory, by putting in place strong legal sanctions. Considering these elements, he would like to know what concrete measures he plans to put in place in order to work for the protection of elephants.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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