International sales in ivory were banned in 1989 - but that did very little to stem the busy trade that goes on within domestic markets.

The new plan is expected to be approved by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).

"All African elephant range states should urgently prohibit the unregulated domestic sale of ivory," said the draft put forward to the 166 member countries of Cites, currently meeting for two weeks in Bangkok, where the plan should be approved on Monday.

"Unregulated domestic markets across Africa are fuelling a significant portion of the poaching we are seeing in central Africa today," said Tom Milliken, of the wildlife trade monitor Traffic.

"These markets consume up to 12,000 elephants annually, so its time we have an action plan that closes a huge loophole in the global effort to save elephant."

Illegal markets

The plan identified the countries with the worst illegal markets such as Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti and Nigeria.

The global conservation group WWF has applauded the plan.

"This is a courageous move by African nations to impose a hard-hitting process on themselves to address illegal trade in ivory," said Dr PJ Stephenson, of WWF's African Elephant Programme.

"When the plan is enacted, African countries will have to create and implement legislation to improve law enforcement and border controls and create public awareness campaigns aimed at consumers."

The countries must report on their progress to Cites by the end of March next year.

Africa is currently home to an estimated 400,000 to 660,000 elephants.

At the Bangkok conference, Namibia is requesting an annual export quota of two tonnes of ivory while another African nation, Kenya, has proposed a 20-year moratorium on ivory trading.

Ramin wood

In a separate move, delegates at the Cites conference on Friday approved measures to reduce trade and increase protection of an increasingly rare Asian tropical wood - the creamy-coloured ramin.

Ramin wood - which grows mostly in Indonesia and Malaysia and is often illegally logged - will be "regulated and carefully monitored," said Cites officials.

The wood, previously noted but not regulated under Cites, was moved into Appendix II, under which all member countries wanting to export or re-export the wood must hold a permit.

The decision, taken by a committee of specialists concerned with the issue, becomes final and binding when formally endorsed by a full meeting of Cites at the end of next week.

The Cites conference continues until 14 October. All decisions taken during the meeting need to be confirmed in a plenary session at the end of the 12-day summit.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3728038.stm