Environment minister Pohamba Shifeta has revealed plans to submit a Cabinet proposal to allow Namibia to sell or dispose of its tonnes of ivory and rhino horn stockpiles. In May, five nations that make up the Kavango-Zambezi (KAZA) trans-frontier conservation area: Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, and Angola jointly called for the lifting of a ban on ivory sales imposed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). In fact, the states threatened to pull out of an international convention on endangered species if they are not allowed to sell their ivory and rhino horns worth billions of dollars. The KAZA summit held in May in Livingstone, Zambia, considered options available within and outside CITES, including diplomatic engagement, withdrawal, reservations, arbitration, and trading with non-CITES parties to benefit from wildlife and wildlife products. Handing over grants, infrastructure, and equipment worth N$17 million to communities living within conservancies in Zambezi and the two Kavango regions, Shifeta stressed the need for Namibia to sell its stockpiles of ivory and rhino horns. "We need to utilise our natural resources, including the ivory stockpiles. We need to sell and dispose of them. We are in the process of doing that; that's why we keep them in our banks. We can keep our rhino horns and ivory in our banks, but it is very costly to maintain them. One day, we will get an offer and dispose. So, whoever has an offer should do so. All of us as KAZA states have decided to use our natural resources. It is our sovereign right to use our natural resources for the benefit of our people," Shifeta remarked.