The tragic price of ivory - Poachers are killing thousands of African elephants for their tusks. Can the ivory trade be stopped? - ... When ivory became contraband, the supply got scarcer, but demand remained strong. In 1989, the international community passed a global ban on the trade in new ivory to stop the killing of elephants. Only ivory that had been harvested before 1989 could be sold, so the ivory carving industry in China crumbled, and with it the demand for tusks. Elephant populations rebounded — so much so that in 1999 the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), a global organization, decided to allow a one-off sale of pre-ban, stockpiled ivory to Japan. Then in 2008 it authorized another one-off sale, this time to Japanese and Chinese markets. The Chinese carving industry roared back to life, as the Chinese government licensed dozens of carving factories and retail outlets. Since theres no way to distinguish between pre-ban and new ivory, the illegal ivory trade has accelerated to meet the demand, and poaching is now worse than before the global ban. ... There is no reliable way to tell pre-ban from post-ban ivory, or a real antique from a fake — in any country. Its not like you walk into a store and find someone selling cocaine, which is illegal on its face, said Edward Grace, deputy assistant director for law enforcement at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. In Chinese and U.S. shops alike, consumers simply assume that ivory trinkets are legal, and there is no way for law enforcement to prove that any particular item was made after 1989. Mary Rice, executive director of the Environmental Investigation Agency, says theres only one real solution: We need to learn from history and permanently shut down all ivory trade — international and domestic. Full story at theweek/article/index/257949/the-tragic-price-of-ivory Image (c) EIA
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 12:04:04 +0000
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