To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the proposal by the Government of Botswana to allow the trade in stockpiled ivory on an annual basis; and if he will make a statement. (141252)

The Government of Botswana's proposals, for annual sales and an increase in the size of any one-off stockpile sale, are to be discussed in the course of the 14th Conference of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Parties. The UK, along with EU member states, is currently looking at these proposals. We are clear that an annual quota for certain Southern African countries could only go ahead after the one-off sale has taken place and in circumstances where that sale's impact on the conservation status and poaching of all elephant populations has been fully assessed.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the proposal put forward by the Governments of Botswana and Namibia for the unlimited commercial trade in raw ivory at the forthcoming UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species conference. (141253)

I am not aware of any proposals by the Governments of Botswana and Namibia for the unlimited commercial trade in raw ivory.