Major Win At CITES CoP20: Protections For Iconic Elephants, Giraffes & Rhinos Upheld

Efforts to weaken international trade protections for Africa’s iconic giraffes, elephants, and rhinos were decisively rejected at the CITES 20th Conference of the Parties (CoP20).

On Saturday, governments voted to maintain full Appendix II safeguards for all giraffe populations and to uphold Appendix I protections for critically endangered black rhinos. Delegates also reaffirmed that all trade in stockpiled rhino horn, whether held by governments or private landowners, will remain strictly prohibited.

In another major win, Parties rejected Namibia’s proposal to sell off elephant ivory stockpiles, reinforcing the global commitment to shutting down ivory markets and protecting Africa’s remaining herds.

Experts from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) warned that these proposals would have placed all three species in serious danger. “The proposals would have been untraceable, unmanageable, and unenforceable,” said IFAW’s Africa Director James Isiche.

“Any attempt to reopen the ivory and rhino horn trade would hand traffickers exactly what they want—a convenient cover to launder illegal horn and ivory. Approving these changes would have placed rhinos and elephants across Africa and Asia in grave danger. These animals are up against numerous challenges,” continued Isiche. “We must do everything within our power to prevent these species from facing the same fate as the western black and northern white rhinos, both of which have gone extinct in my lifetime.”

Giraffes have also suffered a sharp decline, often described as a “silent extinction.” Since their Appendix II listing in 2019, CITES has documented more than 1,500 trade records from 37 exporting countries and over 100 importers, involving thousands of bones, carvings, and skin pieces. The data underscores a persistent global demand that many conservationists say remains poorly understood.

“This proposal could have presented a dangerous avenue for traffickers to launder parts from other giraffe populations that are far more threatened, such as the northern giraffe,” said Isiche. “This is a global trade with parts being found as far as Brazil and Australia. CITES protections are critical to ensuring we are aware of and can monitor the true scale.”

Elephants and rhinos have endured decades of relentless poaching for their tusks and horns, with the last legal ivory sales in 2008 triggering a surge in killings as traffickers exploited loopholes. Although many consumer nations, including China, have since implemented ivory bans, conservation groups warn that reopening the trade would once again put these species at grave risk.

“Today, Parties held firm—and in doing so, held the line for elephants and rhinos, choosing protection over short-term gains. Any legal trade would have opened the floodgates for laundering and poaching. Instead, the message today was clear: gambling with the future of Africa’s iconic wildlife isn’t an option we can afford to take,” concluded Isiche.

All four proposals failed to reach the two-thirds majority required and were rejected. CITES CoP20 continues in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, through December 5th.