Namibia loses bid to overturn ban on rhino horn trade at Cites conference in Samarkand

Namibia has built up large stockpiles of rhino horn after pioneering the practice of cutting them off to deter poachers.

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The result of the voting at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) earlier this week was adopted by the conference on Thursday in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Namibia had also proposed overturning the ban on African savanna elephant ivory - this too was defeated.

Eyebrows were raised about the rhino horn trade proposals mainly because Namibia pioneered the practice of cutting the horns off rhinos in 1989 so they no longer have value for poachers.

Dehorning was followed by other southern African countries, such as Zimbabwe, Eswatini and South Africa.