Fondation Franz Weber

Ivory Trade

No one in the world needs ivory ‒ except elephants

The issue

Approximately 30,000 elephants in Africa are slaughtered for their ivory – every year. The results of the Great Elephant Census published in August 2016 provide the shocking proof: between 2007 and 2014, African elephant numbers plummeted by 30 per cent. A dramatic collapse, which can be traced back to the insatiable global thirst for ivory.

Poaching has reached a level of intensity unseen for 40 years. Without taking steps to end the ivory trade, elephants will have vanished from vast swathes of their natural habitat in merely 10 years.

The greed for ivory kills elephants for items that nobody needs.

Vera Weber holds an elephant tusk in Kenya, the day before it was burnt.

Tusk burning: a clear message showing that ivory should have no commercial value.

El elefante simboliza un pasado increíble y fantástico, además de una voluntad de supervivencia que todos hemos de respetar.

A live elephant is worth far more than the ivory of a dead one.

Sad remains of senseless greed.

Elephants must survive for future generations!

No one in the world needs ivory ‒ except elephants.

Donation form

Our project

For over 40 years, Fondation Franz Weber (FFW) has been fighting on the front line to protect the African elephant and ensure its survival. This can only be achieved by implementing a complete trade ban on ivory. Since 1989, FFW has held observer status at the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The team of experts at FFW is an influential voice in decisions made at CITES, signifying huge strides in the battle to protect elephants.

It also supports the African Elephant Coalition (AEC) on a scientific, logistical and financial basis. The AEC is a consortium of 30 African countries, which aims to achieve a healthy and viable elephant population free from the threats of the international ivory trade.