By Meg Hamill •
November 10, 2008
South African National Parks (SANParks) held a UN sanctioned auction on November 6th, where they sold off 47 metric tons of stockpiled ivory, earning the government conservation agency US$6.7 million.
The auction in
South Africa marked the end of a “once-off” sale of ivory approved by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) involving South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. Since October, the four countries have participated in a series of legal ivory auctions and have sold over 100 metric tons of ivory, mainly to Chinese and Japanese buyers. All together, the UN sanctioned auctions have earned about US $15 million.
