CITES Factsheet: African Elephant

In the past the demand for ivory has led to wide-scale poaching and the decimation of elephant populations. Following the worldwide ban on international ivory trade in 1989, has greatly reduced the illegal trade in ivory, it has not stopped the killing completely, because the ongoing debate to lift the ban on ivory gives the wrong signals to wildlife criminals and consumers around the world. Greenpeace believes that the trade proposals should be rejected as allowing trade in elephants, either from ivory stockpiles or as "worked ivory products", elephant leather and hair goods, will inevitably lead to a marked increase in these products supplied by poaching.