​From banning trade in pangolins to restricting rosewood exports, parties to the International Convention on Trade in Endangered Species are trying to save rare plants and animals from extinction. Some 3,500 delegates and observers are attending the CITES summit in Johannesburg. Today’s agenda includes long-awaited debates on trade in ivory, including a proposal to raise the status of southern Africa’s elephants from Appendix II (which allows some regulated trade) to the stricter Appendix I, which bans global trade in animal parts. But Namibia and Zimbabwe, backed by South Africa, want a limited form of trade, arguing that their elephant populations are large and growing. Another controversial proposal relates to the rhinoceros, with Swaziland wanting to sell its valuable stockpile of rhino horn. This proposal will fail, but a broader debate will continue to rage over whether trade bans have worked in protecting Africa’s species from rapacious poachers.