ZIMBABWE will lobby for the lifting of an international ban on ivory sales, saying a controlled marketing system will allow the government to raise money to combat illicit poaching and for conservation programmes.The safeguarding of Zimbabwe’s elephants "is wholly dependent on establishing regular open-market sales of elephant ivory to fund management and enforcement actions," the government said in a paper that will be presented at a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), scheduled for September in neighbouring SA.Zimbabwe says its elephant population, estimated at 84,000, is twice what can be supported by available food and land. The country, which is grappling with an economic crisis, said in February it raised $1m from selling elephants to China, where it will continue exporting wildlife as part of conservation efforts."Between 2002 and 2014, Zimbabwe is estimated to have lost 439 metric tons of ivory worth $226m to illegal hunting," acco...
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