Zambia is leading a push for African countries to obtain a CITES waiver that would allow them to legally export ivory stockpiles. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has an international ban on trade and sale of ivory and related products. Southern African countries have accrued huge stockpiles of ivory worth millions of dollars over the decades. The stockpiles mostly constitute ivory from elephants culled for conservation and ecological purposes. With economies reeling from a tourism slump caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a renewed push to allow countries to legitimately trade their ivory. Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe - in particular - are holding large amounts of ivory.