"There is simply not the capacity in Africa, I believe, to handle the black market," he told Reuters.

Without sufficient measures to curb poaching he said the African elephant population, which dropped from 1.3 million in 1981 to as few as 300,000 in 1998, could disappear very fast.

In Asia there are only about 35,000 elephants remaining.

"It is probably the thin edge of the wedge for a number of populations," he added in an interview.

The world's wild elephant population has been protected by a ban on ivory trading but South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia have submitted proposals to enable to sell off ivory stockpiles worth millions of dollars.

"The cost of maintaining anti-poaching forces and the cost of policing the remaining herds is far greater than the sale of those stockpiles," said Leakey, who has personally seen the impact of elephant poaching in Kenya which lost 80 percent of its elephants during the 1980s.

INTERNATIONAL CONSERVATION FUND

Leakey and other conservationists say there is no way to distinguish legal stockpiles from illegal elephant tusks so poaching will go up massively to meet demand for ivory in China and Japan where it is sculpted into decorative objects and jewellery.

The son of palaeontologists Louis and Mary Leakey is also hoping to set up an international foundation, along the lines of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, to underpin conservation efforts on a sustained basis.

"It seems to me that if we really are concerned about wildlife and conservation and we recognise that African governments do not have the money... that we ought to find enough money to put into investment so there is in perpetuity, $15 million to $20 million to plug the gap in countries like Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to make sure elephants are not slaughtered."

The fund, which is still in the planning stages, would support wildlife conservation and national parks in eastern Africa.

"We've got some money from various organisations to do a feasibility study," he said.

He envisions a total fund of $400 million to $500 million donated from corporations, governments and charities to help poverty-stricken countries save dwindling animal populations.

"We need to find a mechanism that is driving better conservation and better performance but at the same time is a cushion for these bad times," he said.

If the projects takes off, the fund could be up and running in late 2003 or early 2004.

"The loss of the habitats that support elephants in Africa is a loss to the world and I believe one needs to pick up on the idea that environmental issues are global issues and there needs to be more given to keep these things going," he added.