<P> Despite these public revelations by the EIA, and followed by media exposures and appeals from African countries and a range of well - respected organisations around the world, WWF only came out in support of a ban in mid-1989, indicating the importance of the "lethal use" principle of wildlife to WWF and CITES; even then, the group attempted to water down decisions at the October 1989 meeting of CITES . </P> <P> Tanzania, attempting to break down the ivory syndicates that it recognised were corrupting its society, proposed an Appendix One listing for the African Elephant (effectively a ban on international trade). Some southern African countries including South Africa and Zimbabwe were vehemently opposed . They claimed that their elephant populations were well managed and they wanted revenue from ivory sales to fund conservation . Although both countries were implicated as entrepôts in illegal ivory from other African countries, WWF, with strong ties to both countries, found itself in a difficult position . It is well documented that publicly it opposed the trade but privately tried to appease these southern African states . However, the so - called Somalia - Proposal, presented by the governmental delegation of the Republic of Somalia, of which nature protection specialist Prof. Julian Bauer was an official member, then broke the stalemate and the elephant moratorium with its ban of elephant ivory trade was adopted by the CITES delegates . </P> <P> Finally at that October meeting of CITES after heated debates, the African elephant was put on Appendix One of CITES, and three months later in January 1990 when the decision was enacted, the international trade in ivory was banned . </P> <P> It is widely accepted that the ivory ban worked . The poaching epidemic that had hit so much of the African elephants' range was greatly reduced . Ivory prices plummeted and ivory markets around the world closed, almost all of which were in Europe and the USA . It has been reported that it was not simply the act of the Appendix One listing and various national bans associated with it, but the enormous publicity surrounding the issue prior to the decision and afterwards, that created a widely accepted perception that the trade was harmful and now illegal . Richard Leakey stated that stockpiles remained unclaimed in Kenya and it became cheaper and easier for authorities to control the killing of elephants . </P>

What has been the impact of the international agreement to ban ivory trade worldwide