Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, China, Thailand and the Philippines, some of the world’s worst elephant poaching countries and illegal ivory traders have been allowed to exit a key international initiative set up to curb the mass slaughter of elephants. They have been allowed to exit the National Ivory Action Plan (NIAP) process at recent meeting of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), because they have supposedly substantially achieved their National Ivory Action Plans. The Problem… However, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) strongly disagrees with the so-called success. It says key gaps remain in terms of implementation on the ground…