Every year, at least 20,000 African elephants are illegally killed for their tusks. A resurgence in demand for elephant ivory for decades, particularly in parts of Asia, has fueled this endemic poaching epidemic. The elephant ivory trade not only threatens the survival of this iconic species and has wider ecological consequences, but also endangers the lives and livelihoods of local people and jeopardizes national and regional security. Bergin says: „Consumers are most likely buying ivory from an elephant brutally poached in Africa, so we need to stop buying, selling and coveting ivory instead of trying to regulate the trade.“ During the debate that led to the ivory ban in 1990, a group of South African countries supported Hong Kong and Japanese ivory traders to maintain the trade. This was stated because these countries claimed to have well-managed elephant populations and needed revenues from ivory sales to fund conservation. These countries were South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland. They voted against inclusion in Schedule One and worked actively to overturn the decision. [15] NOTE: This page refers specifically to elephant ivory. While many people outside the Arctic often associate ivory with elephants, the term is also used for objects from other species and with different purposes. Read more In 2002, an additional 60 tonnes of ivory from South Africa, Botswana and Namibia were approved for sale, and in 2006, Japan as the destination for ivory. Ivory controls in Japan were seriously questioned as 25% of traders were not even registered, voluntary rather than legal requirements for traders and illegal shipments to Japan. A report by the Japan Wildlife Conservation Society warned that the price of ivory had skyrocketed due to pricing by a small number of manufacturers who controlled most of the ivory – similar to stock control when stocks were amnestied in the 1980s.
[39] Prior to the sale, China sought approval as a target country for ivory. [28] Elephant ivory has been exported from Africa and Asia for millennia, with records dating back to the 14th century BC. Transporting heavy goods has always been difficult, and with the establishment of the modern East and West African slave trade, freshly captured slaves were used to transport the heavy tusks to the ports where the tusks and their bearers were sold. [3] Ivory was used for piano keys, billiard balls and other expressions of exotic wealth. [4] At the height of the ivory trade, before the 20th century, when Africa was colonized, about 800 to 1,000 tons of ivory were shipped to Europe alone. [5] China`s increased involvement in infrastructure projects in Africa and the purchase of natural resources have alarmed many conservationists, who fear that the extraction of body parts from wildlife is increasing. Since China was granted CITES „Approved Buyer“ status, ivory smuggling appears to have increased alarmingly. Although WWF and TRAFFIC, which have supported sales in China, describe the increase in illegal ivory trade as a possible „coincidence,“[51] others are less cautious. Chinese nationals working in Africa have been caught smuggling ivory into many African countries, including at least ten at Kenyan airports in 2009. In many African countries, domestic markets have expanded and offer easy access to ivory, although Asian ivory unions buy and ship the most destructive tons at once.
[52] Some of the motivations of ivory lovers are consistent across the countries studied—including the belief that ivory is the „perfect gift,“ motivated by the perception that it is „rare, precious, pure, beautiful, exotic and, most importantly, that it gives status not only to the recipient but also to the giver of the gift,“ the study says. China`s ban on elephant ivory is a historic step in ongoing efforts to save an iconic species. But even when Chinese markets are closed, markets elsewhere remain open and continue to attract consumers. And as more Chinese travel abroad – before COVID-19, nearly 200 million Chinese tourists traveled abroad each year – incidents of elephant ivory smuggling have increased. This access to elephant ivory outside China could seriously undermine the effectiveness of China`s 2017 ban on elephant ivory if governments do not address it. The closure of markets that sell elephant ivory and that largely exist for Chinese nationals – for example, in Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos – will help slow the trade in elephant ivory. Therefore, thanks to this market, some ancient ivory products can be legally bought and sold domestically and legally re-exported internationally with the appropriate CITES permits. There is a need for concerted and cooperative action by all countries, each with a role to play in the fight against elephant poaching. This includes addressing the current challenges of poor governance, corruption and lack of resources in institutions to enforce wildlife regulations.
It will also be crucial to build capacity and work with communities to enable locally led sustainable conservation efforts. Last but not least, we need to strengthen control over all ivory markets and reduce demand for ivory in consumer countries. Southern African countries continued to push for the international ivory trade. Under the leadership of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, they have had some success thanks to CITES. [28] Mugabe himself has been accused of exchanging tons of ivory for weapons with China, breaking his country`s commitment to CITES. [29] On December 20, 2018, the UK Ivory Act 2018 received Royal Assent after being passed by the UK Parliament. [89] [90] The law extends the ban on elephant ivory to hippos, walruses, and narwhals. [90] The ban, which will come into effect at the end of 2019,[90] has been described as one of the most „severe“ ivory bans in the world and effectively bans the buying and selling of all forms of ivory available in the UK. [91] The lesson learned from the survey is that elephant-focused advocacy can maintain and increase public support for new measures to curb the ivory trade – but curbing demand requires tailored messages to ivory buyers. Southern African countries continue to try to sell ivory through legal systems.
In a call to overcome national interests, a group of leading elephant scientists responded in 2002 with an open letter clearly highlighting the impact of the ivory trade on other countries. They explained that the proposals to resume trade from southern Africa could not be compared to most of Africa, as they were based on a South African model where 90% of the elephant population lived in a fenced national park. They went on to describe South Africa`s wealth and its ability to enforce the law within these borders. In comparison, they made it clear that most African elephants live in poorly protected and unfenced bushes or forests. They ended their appeal by describing the poaching crisis of the 1980s, stressing that the decision to ban ivory was not made to punish southern African countries, but to save elephants in the rest of the world. [27] In the United Kingdom, for example, while it is illegal to buy and sell Asian elephant ivory after 1975 or African elephant ivory after 1990, there are some exceptions to the trade in carved antique ivory (pieces carved before March 3, 1947). Pieces of ivory carved after this date but before the international ban came into effect are also exempt if accompanied by a government-issued certificate. The international community banned the ivory trade in 1989 and, for a time, worked to halt the drastic decline in the elephant population from 1.3 million to about 600,000 in the previous decade.
But since 2007, large-scale poaching has resumed and the elephant population has fallen to 419,000. In 2012, the New York Times reported a sharp increase in ivory poaching, with about 70% of ivory going to China. [55] [56] At the Tokyo Wildlife Crime Conference in 2014, the United Nations University and ESRI presented the first case of evidence-based policy maps on CITES implementation and compliance, recording illegal ivory seizures as well as poaching incidents,[57] [58] „We need to start addressing the problem of demand and suppressing it,“ Garcia says. „How can the purchase of illegal ivory be made socially unacceptable“? Ending the demand for elephant ivory will reduce elephant poaching and reduce the burden of poaching on local people and law enforcement officials. While ivory buyers express real concerns about animal cruelty, less than a third believe elephants are „very vulnerable“. Others believe that buying small pieces of ivory will not have much impact on elephant populations. In the 1970s, Japan consumed about 40% of world trade; 40% were consumed by Europe and North America, which often worked in Hong Kong, the largest shopping mall, while the largest remainder remained in Africa. China, which has not yet become today`s economic force, has used small amounts of ivory to keep its clever blunders in business. [6] [7] Many argue that reliable global systems for controlled legal ivory trade are currently not feasible due to poor governance, corruption and the involvement of organized crime. Others argue that legal trade and trade bans are equally vulnerable to the effects of corruption. International trade in Asian elephant ivory was banned in 1975 when the Asian elephant was listed in Appendix One of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).