As part of the country's obligations towards international conventions and agreements, especially CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the Environment Department of Dubai Municipality has handed over six tonnes of ivory, which its inspectors had confiscated, to the Ministry of Environment and Water.
Alyaa Al Harmoodi, Director of the Department, said the ivory had been seized by inspectors of the department during their routine daily inspection works, and contained raw ivory of different shapes and sizes.
Al Harmoodi said the ivory was taken from African elephants, which are listed in the first addendum pertaining to CITES, and are not allowed to be traded as per federal law No. 11 for 2002, in compliance with CITES, which the UAE joined in 1990.
She said the Waste Management Department of the Dubai Municipality has suggested a new mechanism by which the municipality will grind the ivory pieces so as to make them easy to destroy in line with the CITES international convention.
Al Harmodi affirmed that in cooperation with all the local and federal authorities in the country, the Municipality will work on implementing all the terms of the agreement to combat the illegal trafficking of endangered species, as well punishing violators, in order to maintain biodiversity and to achieve ecological balance through maintaining the survival of species in nature and sustainable use of resources.