Ivory auctions that will take place in Namibia on October 28, Botswana on October 31, Zimbabwe on November 3, and South Africa on November 6 2008 have raised the concerns of international conservationists from Born Free Foundations (BFF), a member of the Species Survival Network, who said that the ivory auction was approved by members of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), despite an international outcry from scientists and conservationists.

Following the announcement that more than 108 tonnes of stockpiled elephant ivory in southern Africa would be auctioned in 2008, fear was mounting that the most vulnerable elephant populations across Africa and Asia would be unable to withstand the increased levels of poaching that are predicted to occur as a result of these sales, BFF said in a media statement on October 20.

Between 1979 and 1989, more than 600 000 elephants were killed for ivory causing the elephant population plummet from 1.3 million to just 600 000. Current estimates put African elephant populations at around 475 000.

"We are deeply concerned that these sales will open the floodgates to additional illegal trade," BFF chief executive Will Travers said. "For some inexplicable reason, some people think that all elephant populations are adequately protected and thriving. Nothing could be further from the truth. For many of the most vulnerable elephant populations across Africa, any increased poaching pressure will almost certainly result in localised extinction in the near future," he said.
 
CITES approved both Japan and China to purchase the stockpiled ivory, which raised fears that a bidding war between the two countries may drive up the price of ivory on the black market, leading to increased incentives to trade for unscrupulous wildlife criminals.
 
The decision to approve China as a trading partner earlier this year, supported by the UK Government, already has serious consequences for elephants across Africa. For example, disturbing reports from Virunga National Park in the Republic of Congo indicate that more than 10 per cent of its elephant population have been lost to gangs of ivory poachers this year alone, BFF said.

In related news, US online trading firm eBay said that it would ban sale on its websites and affiliates of any ivory products, including antique items, which is not against the law, starting from January 1. The company made the decision after an investigation by an animal welfare group found that the online auction giant listed thousands of products from endangered species, more than 70 per cent of which were ivory.

The study by International Fund for Animal Welfare found more than 7100 items from endangered and protected species offered for sale on eBay, two thirds of the questionable items available online globally.