The UN's wildlife trade organisation¹ has turned down Tanzania's and Zambia's requests to sell ivory, amid concern about elephant poaching.

考虑到非法狩猎大象的问题，联合国野生动物贸易公约组织拒绝了坦桑尼亚和赞比亚出售象牙的请求。

Seizures² of ivory have risen markedly in recent years" width="226" height="350" src="/upimg/100323/4_032117_1.jpg" />
Seizures of ivory have risen markedly in recent years

The countries asked the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES濒危野生动植物种国际贸易公约) meeting to permit one-off sales from government stockpiles（库存） .

The ivory trade was banned in 1989, but two sales have since been granted to nations showing effective conservation（保存，保护） .

Kenya withdrew a bid to ban sales for 20 years, after finding little support.

Most conservation groups were delighted that the Tanzanian and Zambian bids were turned down.

"This is a real victory for elephants," said Jason Bell-Leask, director of Southern African operations with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw国际爱护动物基金会).

Others argued that the real issue facing African elephants was poaching, not the occasional legal sale.

"While the issue of whether sales should be allowed to proceed or not has dominated much of the discussions here... the key driving force behind the ongoing³（前进的，不间断的） elephant poaching（非法狩猎） is the continued existence of illegal domestic ivory markets across parts of Africa and Asia," said Steven Broad, executive director of Traffic, the body charged with monitoring the illegal wildlife trade.

Traffic's latest report shows that poaching and smuggling⁴ are rife⁵（流行的，普遍的） in West Africa in particular, with several Asian nations complicit（有同谋关系的） in smuggling.

Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Thailand are picked out as the worst offenders⁶.

Organised crime syndicates are increasingly involved in the lucrative⁷（赚钱的，合算的） trade.

"Poaching and illegal ivory markets in central and western Africa must be effectively suppressed before any further ivory sales take place," said Elisabeth McLellan, species programme manager with WWF International.