NAIROBI, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) on Friday appealed to all African elephant range states to continue seeking solutions that will ensure the survival of the continent's elephant for posterity.
This week saw the world stand for the survival of the giraffe and the African elephant at the ongoing Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Geneva, Switzerland, the KWS said.
"Kenya sought to get protection status by listing all nine giraffe subspecies in Appendix II and all elephants in Appendix I and preventing any downlisting of elephants or reopening of ivory trade," the KWS said in a statement issued in Nairobi.
"We were successful in all but the last of these endeavors, thanks to overwhelming support" from the 32- member African Elephant Coalition, the European Union, the United States, the group of Latin America and Caribbean states and other like-minded parties, the KWS said.
Participants at the 18th Conference of the Parties of the CITES on Thursday voted in favor of listing the species for the first time to protect it from unregulated trade.
According to conservationists, giraffe numbers have plummeted dramatically, by up to 40 percent over the last 30 years, due to threats including international trade in their parts, as well as habitat loss, civil unrest and illegal hunting.
Giraffes are now listed in Appendix II to allow for trade monitoring and population status. No downlisting of elephants was allowed and no changes to allow ivory trade was allowed at the CITES meeting.
The Appendix II listing was proposed by the Central African Republic, Chad, Kenya, Mali, Niger and Senegal. It was passed by 106 votes in support, with 21 votes against and seven abstentions.
An earlier vote on limiting the protection to apply only to sub-species outside of Southern Africa failed to achieve the required number of votes to pass.
Despite the vote to save the giraffe, the KWS said, challenges remain in improving livelihoods, law enforcement, and closure of domestic ivory markets.
While giraffes fall prey to poaching for bushmeat, bones, skin and tail hair, there is also a significant amount of international trade in their bone carvings and trophies, it said.
