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The UN Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species (CITES) on Monday agreed to delay by at least two years the request by four Southern African countries to sell their ivory stocks, media reports said.
Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa had asked the 150-member body at a conference being held in Nairobi, Kenya to grant them permission to start selling their ivory stocks with immediate effect. Kenya and India opposed the request, arguing that the trade in ivory would encourage poaching.
Under the agreement, the four countries reportedly withdrew their request until the next CITES meeting in 2002 or 2003. Between now and then, an effective monitoring system would be developed to keep track of the number of elephants being killed for their tusks while increasing efforts to stop such poaching, the reports added.
CITES had last year allowed Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia to make experimental "one-off" ivory sales to Japan.
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