Stop South African Minister of Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, from petitioning CITES to open the rhino horn trade

South African Minister of Environmental Affairs wishes to petition CITES to open a so-called legal trade in rhino horn, possibly starting off with a once-off sale of rhino horn stockpiles in 2016. The announcement last week is already leading to a surge in rhino poaching in South Africa, which has had a significant rhino poaching problem since 2008. There is a very real danger that opening the trade will increase demand for rhino horn (trade in which is currently banned internationally) in source countries such as Vietnam and possibly China, where the horns are erroneously believed to cure everything from hangovers to cancer and are also purchased as status symbols by a growing Asian jet set. This will in turn escalate the poaching scourge faced by rhinos in Africa and especially South Africa, which currently has the largest populations of these animals in Africa.