Worry over ivory trade increase
17 November 2009
The worldwide illegal ivory trade has been growing steadily since 2004, but in 2009 it jumped dramatically, according to latest figures.
The remarkable surge in illicit ivory trading in 2009 was shown up by a series of large-scale seizures. These suggest an increased involvement by organised crime syndicates, often connecting African source countries with Asian end users.
The new figures come from the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS), one of the two elephant monitoring systems set up under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).
International controls already exist to ban trade in ivory items between countries (except for certain agreed exceptions), but the problem has often been weak enforcement, particularly in some Asian and African countries.
Centres of illegal ivory trade
The latest ETIS analysis identifies Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Thailand as the three countries most heavily implicated in the illicit global ivory trade.
Another nine countries and territories – Cameroon, Gabon and Mozambique in Africa and Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam in Asia – were also identified as important in the illegal trade.
Ongoing evidence highlights widespread involvement of Chinese nationals now based in Africa in the illicit procurement of ivory. It’s a problem that needs to be addressed through an aggressive outreach and awareness initiative directed at Chinese communities living abroad.
More data needed on ivory trading
The analysis results are not conclusive as to the effects of the CITES-approved one-off ivory sales in 1999 and 2008.
After the 1999 ivory sale, there was a progressive decline in the illicit trade for five years with no evidence to suggest the sale had resulted in an increase in the illicit ivory trade globally. The results are unclear on the impacts of the second sale, in late 2008 as to whether it has stimulated more demand or whether it simply coincided with an increase in supply that was already underway over the last four years.
More data is needed over a longer period of time to throw further light on this vital issue.
UK man imprisoned for selling ivory on eBay
In October 2009 a man who traded in elephant and whale ivory on eBay was sentenced to 10 months in prison following a three-year international investigation by the UK's HM Revenue & Customs.
He’d been selling items made from African Elephant tusks and sperm whale teeth, mostly carved into billiard balls or used to make corkscrews.
While the internet may give illegal online traders a sense of anonymity, the international collaboration between enforcement officers in this case demonstrates that the web is no hiding place for their criminal activities.
And the sentence handed down shows that anyone tempted to trade in protected creatures and plants should think again.
You can…
read the full ETIS report
find out how we’re tackling the illegal wildlife trade
follow the work of TRAFFIC
learn more about CITES
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