Seizures of elephant ivory hit 30-year high

Elephant ivory seizures have hit their highest level for almost 30 years while poaching incidents have stabilised, according to the world conservation body.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, known as Cites, said that last year about 40 tonnes of ivory were seized from poachers and from people trying to import into places such as mainland China and Hong Kong. It was the best return since 1989.

The organisation’s secretary-general, John Scanlon, said that the prospect of tougher enforcement, greater awareness about illegal wildlife products among the general public and a growing number of countries banning the trade in ivory appeared to have dampened enthusiasm in the market.

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Conservationists Call for Enforcement Powers to Crack Down on Ivory Gangs

LONDON — Global delegates and campaigners are gathering in Geneva this week for a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, known as CITES. The trade in ivory is high on the agenda as poaching continues to hit elephant populations across parts of Africa. Campaigners want tougher enforcement of regulations to tackle organized criminal gangs behind the trade.

The United Nations estimates the illegal wildlife trade is worth $23 billion per year, with much of that value coming from ivory.

Asia, and especially China, is by far the biggest market.

The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency spent three years infiltrating one of the major smuggling syndicates shipping ivory from east African ports. Investigators identified the southern Chinese town of Shuidong as the major hub for poached ivory, they say 80 percent of ivory destined for China passes through the town.

“[Shuidong] has emerged as probably the biggest hub in the world for the illegal trade of ivory tusks. We first came across the footprints of this group in Tanzania in 2014. The country has lost half its elephants in five years, the biggest loss in Africa,” said Julian Newman, the agency’s campaign director.

As Tanzania began to clamp down on smuggling, the gangs moved to Mozambique. Investigators secretly recorded one of the traffickers, named as "Xie", describing the trade through the Mozambican port of Pemba.

Xie boasted that he is able to move anything through Pemba. He said all the authorities there have been bought off and the customs clearance agent, the customs also gets a share of the money.

Newman said smugglers are operating with impunity.

“There were a few cases where they had some tusks seized. But they were never arrested. And they saw these seizures as a business expense,” said Newman.

Earlier this month, $10 million-worth of ivory was seized in Hong Kong. China plans to ban the trade by the end of 2017.

But John Sellar, former chief enforcement officer at CITES, told VOA via Skype there is too much focus on the trade and not enough on the criminals involved.

“There is speculation involved here, there is undoubtedly money-laundering to my mind. This is a much more complex issue. Organized criminal networks are now major players in all forms or many forms of wildlife trafficking. And you need to bring an organized law enforcement response to that,” said Sellar.

Without that enforcement, campaigners warn the poaching of ivory will likely continue, until the criminal networks are investigated and broken down.

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HK seizes $12m worth of ivory

More than seven tonnes of ivory worth over US$9 million (S$12.4 million) were seized in Hong Kong, officials said, the largest bust of its kind in the city in three decades.

The 7,200kg haul was hidden underneath frozen fish and raised suspicions due to the high transport fees listed on the bill of import.

Hong Kong Customs officials said on Thursday the cargo had come from Malaysia and was believed to have been the work of a major smuggling ring. One man and two women have been arrested in connection with the find, Customs official Wan Hing Chuen said, warning that there could be more arrests.

Hong Kong is a major hub for ivory import and processing, but it launched a landmark Bill last month to phase out the trade by 2021. Critics say the city's authorities are lagging behind mainland China, where officials have pledged to completely ban ivory trading by the end of this year.

The global trade in elephant ivory, with rare exceptions, has been outlawed since 1989 after populations of the African giants dropped from millions in the mid-20th century to around 600,000 by the end of the 1980s.

There are now believed to be some 415,000 left, with 30,000 illegally killed each year.

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Hong Kong seizes $9m worth of ivory in Malaysia shipment

Hong Kong customs officials said Thursday they have seized more than $9 million worth of ivory this week in the city’s biggest haul in 30 years.

Customs officers discovered 15,900 pounds of elephant tusks on Tuesday in a shipment that orginated in Malaysia that had been labeled as frozen fish, the Customs and Excise Department announced

Customs officers displayed samples of the tusks piled on the floor at their offices close to some of Hong Kong’s giant container ports.

The department said three people at a trading company in Hong Kong have been arrested in connection with the shipment.

Hong Kong, which is a major transshipment hub for illicit wildlife products, is preparing to ban local ivory sales by 2021.

But under Hong Kong’s customs regulations, anyone found importing or exporting endangered species without a license or trying to smuggle such items into or out of the territory faces possible fines and imprisonment.

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Hong Kong launches ivory ban bill

HONG KONG: Hong Kong launched a landmark bill to ban its ivory trade Wednesday, describing it as an effort to “eradicate” the illegal poaching of elephants.

The southern Chinese city is a major hub for ivory sales and announced last year that it would ban the import and export of the goods, but later clarified it would only completely abolish the trade by 2021.
Critics say authorities are dragging their feet and lagging behind China, where officials in December pledged to halt the enterprise by the end of 2017.

A new amendment to the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants ordinance was presented to lawmakers Wednesday, designed to toughen regulations and “phase out the local ivory trade,” but said it would be a five-year process.

Environment minister Wong Kam-sing said the city must respond to the demands of the international community as he formally introduced the bill at the legislative council Wednesday.
The trade would “fully come to a close” by 2021, he added.

A frontline park ranger from the Democratic Republic of Congo last week delivered emotional testimony to legislators, describing the violent nature of the trade.

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China denies involvement in ivory smuggling from Uganda

China on Thursday rejected allegations that two of its diplomats smuggled ivory from Uganda.

“The Chinese embassy officials are suspected of helping move ivory from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic and South Sudan, using Uganda as a transit point,” Ali Munira, a spokeswoman for Uganda’s top anti-corruption body, told AFP this week.

Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni directed the two diplomats to be probed into the alleged wildlife interference.

China has denied such allegations terming them totally unfounded but at the same time vowed to punish them if found guilty.

“We have rigorous regulations and laws on governmental officials, embassy members, and visiting groups to forbid them from buying or engaging in [smuggling] activities,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters.

“We have rigorous regulations and laws on governmental officials, embassy members, and visiting groups to forbid them from buying or engaging in (smuggling) activities,” she added.

Poaching is a major factor contributing to the rapid decline in the numbers of African elephants, with about 20,000 slaughtered every year, according to the WildAid’s wildlife organization.

It says about 415,000 African elephants remain today, compared with the 3 to 5 million in the early 20th century. The animal is officially listed as a vulnerable species.

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Ivory Prices Drop in Asia Following China's Ban

A new, as yet unpublished research by the Wildlife Justice Commission shows that the price of raw ivory in Asia has fallen dramatically since the Chinese government announced plans to ban its domestic legal ivory trade.

However, poaching has not dropped yet, according to the Guardian, which has seen the research.

Undercover investigators from the Wildlife Justice Commission have been visiting traders in Hanoi over the last three years. In 2015, they were being offered raw ivory for an average of $1,322 per kg in 2015, but by October 2016 that price had dropped to $750/kg, and by February this year prices were as much as 50% lower overall, at $660/kg.

Of all the ivory industries across Asia, it is Vietnam that has increased its production of illegal ivory items the fastest in the last decade, according to the non-profit Save the Elephants.

Vietnam now has one of the largest illegal ivory markets in the world, with the majority of tusks being brought in from Africa. Although historically ivory carving is not considered a prestigious art form in Vietnam, as it is in China, the number of carvers has increased greatly.

Demand for the carved pieces comes mostly from mainland China. Until recently, the chances of being arrested at the border was slim due to inefficient law enforcement.

However, the prices for raw ivory are now declining as the Chinese market slows; this is partly due to China’s economic slowdown and also due to the announcement that the country will close down its domestic ivory trade.

China’s ivory factories were officially shut down by 31 March 2017 and all the retail outlets will be closed by the end of the year.

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China Poised to Close Ivory Factories

NAIROBI, KENYA —
China is preparing to shut down ivory factories Friday. It is the first phase of the government’s plan to end all domestic ivory trade this year. Kenyan conservation group Save the Elephants says that commitment has already had some impact.

Save the Elephants says the wholesale price of ivory in China dropped up to 60 percent in the last three years. The Nairobi-based conservation group says in 2014 a tusk sold wholesale for $2,100 per kilogram. In February of this year, an ivory tusk was sold at $700 per kilogram.

Save the Elephants researcher Esmond Martin did the study, which was released Wednesday in Nairobi.

“The government of China announced in December last year, 2016, it was going to close down the ivory factories, the legal ones and illegal shops,” Martin said. “So what we found was many of the shops are now, are diversifying, getting out of ivory, moving into other materials.”

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Mammoth tusk haul seized by Chinese customs

Chinese customs officers have seized more than a tonne of tusks from animals that have been extinct for thousands of years - mammoths.

State media are reporting that the massive haul came from Russia and was seized in north-east China in February.

The largest piece of mammoth ivory seized was more than 1.6m (5ft) long, a customs officer was quoted as saying.

There is no international ban on the trade but Chinese officials said the haul was not declared.
Millions of mammoths

The stockpile is part of a booming trade between Russia and China in ivory taken from the skeletons of mammoths found in the Siberian tundra. The effects of global warming in the Arctic has made it easier to collect tusks preserved in ice for thousands of years, researchers say.

More than 100 woolly mammoth tusks were seized at the port of Luobei in Heilongjiang province, in addition to 37 woolly rhino horn parts and more than a tonne of jade. They were hidden in concealed compartments in a truck, according to reports.

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China announces to ban all ivory sales by the end of 2017

African elephants currently face a crisis of numbers because the value of ivory has increased dramatically.

#Ivory can fetch almost $600 per pound on the black market. The demand has increased the rate of poaching with an elephant being killed every 15 minutes. Beyond the ecological effects of poaching is the economic effects on local communities, where it can destroy livelihoods of those who live within areas that elephants range.

Poachers spread crime and rob communities of an asset because elephants draw tourists from all over the world. This provides communities with a legal, sustainable source of income for locals.

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Nam wants China action on poachers

WINDHOEK-CHINESE nationals involved in criminal activities in Namibia are straining diplomatic relations between the two countries, The Southern Times has learnt.

Namibia and the East Asian giant established diplomatic relations in early 1990 and China has invested over R60 billion into Namibia over the past 26 years. China also assisted Namibia in building essential infrastructure including hospitals, schools and roads.

But the Chinese community in Namibia, believed to have a population of over 100,000, has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons – inciting growing xenophobic sentiment from the hosts.

Chinese nationals’ involvement in illegal wildlife trade is blamed for fuelling rhino and elephant poaching in Namibia. Increasingly, Namibians including senior public officials are voicing their anger over these activities.

In March 2014, Wang Hui, 41, Li Xiaoliang, 32, Li Zhibing, 55 and Pu Xuexin, 51, were intercepted at Hosea Kutako International Airport attempting to smuggle 14 rhino horns worth R2.3 million and a leopard skin worth R50,000, out of the country.

The four were each sentenced to 14 years imprisonment by a Windhoek court. At the time, the case was the country’s record rhino horn smuggling incident.

Then, in November 2016, a 28-year-old Chinese man managed to sneak out of Namibia with 18 rhino horns hidden in his luggage at Hosea Kutako International Airport, before he was apprehended upon his arrival at the Oliver Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa.

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