China’s announcement that it will “strictly control ivory processing and trade until the commercial processing and sale of ivory and its products are eventually halted” has been given a cautious welcome by the Species Survival Network (SSN). SSN is working to prevent over-exploitation of animals and plants due to international trade. www.ssn.org.
SSN’s letter to the Chinese President urges him to end the domestic ivory trade in China as an immediate and critical priority, inform his citizens of the importance of the measure, He is also urged to use his influence to encourage leaders in other countries with a domestic ivory trade to do the same.
According to Will Travers OBE, President of SSN and the Born Free Foundation, “An immediate ban on the importation and sale of all ivory in China would be the single most valuable, effective and unequivocal action that could be taken to end the elephant poaching crisis in Africa.”
Approximately 30,000 African elephants are being poached each year for their ivory across Africa . As a result two-thirds of forest elephants are thought to be killed in the past decade.
Furthermore, there are huge losses of elephants in a number of countries, most recently in Mozambique which has lost almost half of its elephants over the past 5 years. In Tanzania, a reduction of 60%, or more than 65,000 animals, is reported to have occurred over the same period.
China is one of a number of countries that continues to permit domestic trade in ivory. It has also consistently been identified as the principal destination for both legally and illegally obtained ivory since CITES permitted China to import 62 tons of ivory in a “one-off sale” in 2008. The closure of domestic ivory markets is seen as an essential component of efforts to control elephant poaching.
Six tonnes of ivory were crushed in Guangdong province in January 2014 and a further 662kg in Beijing in May this year, coupled with similar decisions in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in May 2014. However on April 29, 2015, a few weeks before the recent ivory destruction, China issued a new list of 34 ivory processing factories and 130 sales outlets, with authorizations valid until the end of 2016 and subject to renewal.
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I’m shocked China is supporting this since they are the worst country in regards to animal cruelty. They will have to do more than this to impress me.
G am I reading this right? China is agreeing to support this? if they do this will they finally end the dog meat/fur and cat meat/fure trade over there?
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I think this is a very good sign from China. I hope this is the beginning of those in charge having a conscience when it comes to animal brutality.
I hate China because of the way they treat animals and people.