Botswana government it is totally against Kenya's plans of a 20-year moratorium on ivory trading.

The Minister of Wildlife, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Kitso Mokaila said yesterday at a press briefing that they are going to defend Botswana's position at the coming CITES conference, which is scheduled for next week in Doha. 

Mokaila said they are highly troubled by Kenya and her allies Ghana, Rwanda, Liberia and Republic of Congo's motion that the selling window be lifted from the agreed nine-year period and extended to a 20-year period. This selling period will be for all nations regardless of the number of elephants they have. 

Mokaila said that the motion is unjustified because some nations have declining elephant populations while some have increasing populations. "In Botswana we are doing a good job in the conservation of elephants, and we now want to sell! We should not be punished for doing a good job," he said. 

He advised that instead of Kenya and her allies restricting others to trade, they should come to countries like Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana, which are doing well in the conservation of elephants to learn how they could improve their conservation strategies.

He said that Botswana is happy with the nine-year moratorium since it encourages selling and more money.  He said it also helps the ministry to better control the increase of elephants in the country, which leads to massive destruction of the environment and property. 

"We are involved in a lot of lobbying because last time we made about P57 million from the 43 tons of ivory we sold during the last selling period, and we want that back in to our communities," he said. He stated that in the 1999 to 2008 once off auction sales, 70 percent of the total revenue was deposited in the Conservation Trust Fund (CTF), which was established by the government in 1999.  He said that the remaining amount is used to develop and advance communities that have elephants. 

"Some of the activities include monitoring of elephant population movement, wildlife water development, anti-poaching and training of the locals on animal control operation," he said. He revealed that the money is directed to communities who bear the brunt of living side by side with elephants.

"The 20-year moratorium by Kenya is against international cooperation and it is intended to undermine the last agreement of the nine-year moratorium.  The moratorium should be given a chance to prove itself, as it is currently untested because it has just begun," said Mokaila. He said that Kenya's proposal undermines the successful conservation efforts by the Southern African countries and negatively affects rural communities who coexist with the elephants and are also victims of poverty.