Japan rolls out tough measures to curb illegal ivory trade

Under intense pressure to shut down its domestic ivory market, Japan has announced strict measures to control the illicit trade.

The country's Environment Ministry has made it mandatory for traders to prove the legal status of ivory pieces through carbon dating. The new law would be enforced starting July.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a global wildlife trade regulator, bans international trade of ivory obtained from African elephants after 1990.

But a large number of countries, including Japan, allow domestic trade of ivory procured before 1990.

For law enforcement agencies, it's a major challenge to ascertain the age of carved and raw ivory pieces. To make things worse, ivory traders often forge certificates to sell illegal ivory pieces procured from recently poached elephants.

The carbon dating method would make it difficult for traders to falsify the origin of ivory and its age, reducing the influx of illegal tusk.

"By shutting down the movement of ivory of unknown origin, the domestic market is moving closer to an effective closure," Japanese Minister of Environment Yoshiaki Harada said at a news conference, according to Japan Times.

In 2016, nearly 90 percent of large seizures of ivory shipments were from tuskers of elephants that died less than three years back, a radiocarbon dating and genetic analysis of 231 samples conducted by the University of Utah and the University of Oxford revealed.

Such loopholes have boosted the smuggling of ivory leading to large-scale poaching of African elephants. Every year more than 20,000 elephants are brutally killed in African countries for ivory.

Carbon dating is a positive step in the right direction to control illegal ivory trade, Peter Knights, CEO of WildAid, an environmental organization told CGTN.

"But now Japan needs to announce a phase-out of all ivory sales to join China, the U.S. and the rest of the world in protecting elephants," he added.

Japan and the European Union (EU) are facing sharp criticism from wildlife protection organizations for failing to take stringent action against illegal wildlife trade.

Last month, CITES termed Japan as one of the largest ivory markets in the world, reportedly creating demand in countries that have already closed domestic ivory markets.

The U.S., the UK, and China, including Taiwan and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, have all closed domestic ivory trade. Despite a ban in place, customs officials in these countries and regions regularly intercept large consignments of illegal ivory pieces.

Last year, Japan in a bid to tighten the noose around illegal ivory trade enforced regulations like registration of whole ivory tusks, traceability information for every cut piece and every worked product of ivory, and increased the penalty and prison term in case of violation.

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The new ivory: Endangered pangolins dominating illegal wildlife trade in SE Asia

China's shutdown of the domestic ivory market has crashed the price of elephant tusks by more than 60 percent, forcing smugglers to shift their trade towards another lucrative trade – endangered pangolin scales.

After the Chinese government's crackdown on the once thriving wildlife trade, smugglers are shifting to Vietnam and Laos for selling wildlife products, said experts citing recent ivory and pangolin scale seizure data.

The ivory price declined by nearly two-thirds – from 2,100 U.S. dollars per kg to less than 700 dollars per kg – after China's mainland and its regions Hong Kong and Taiwan closed their domestic markets last year. The massive global demand for ivory has led to the poaching of more than 20,000 African elephants every year.

“(Chinese) President Xi's ivory ban turned the tide in the ivory wars,” said Peter Knights, CEO of WildAid.

“As the price of ivory falls, smugglers appear to be turning increasingly to beleaguered pangolins,” a statement by WildAid, a conservation group maintained. “Pangolin scales can still be legally sold when smuggled into China,” it added.

The recent wildlife seizure data shows wildlife traders prefer to trade pangolins scales over ivory. Most of the consignments, originating from African countries, are routed to various Southeast Asian countries, with Vietnam and Laos emerging as a favorite destination.

Hong Kong, as a Chinese special administrative region and a major illegal wildlife product destination, intercepted 17.6 tons of pangolin scales in 2018, up from 7.9 tons in 2017. Ivory seizures dropped for around 20 times, from 7,600 kg in 2017 to barely 370 kg in 2018.

On Friday, customs authorities of Chinese mainland and Hong Kong announced a record seizure of 8.3 tons of pangolin from Nigeria, worth 5.4 million U.S. dollars. An estimated 13,000 pangolins were believed to be poached, given the large consignment size.

“This is the largest amount of pangolin scales ever seized in Hong Kong,” officials announced

In three other separate operations, Vietnam, Uganda, and Angola law enforcement agencies intercepted a massive haul of ivory and pangolin scales.

Around 750 pieces of ivory and thousands of pangolin scales were seized in Uganda on Thursday. The seized consignment, sent from neighboring South Sudan, is one of the country's largest seizures. Authorities arrested two Vietnamese nationals for smuggling the banned wildlife products.

At Vietnam's Haiphong port city, 1.4 tons of pangolin scales and 20 elephant tusks were seized last week. In Angola, five Vietnamese nationals were arrested for attempting to smuggle in 800 kg of ivory and 900 kg of pangolin scales.

The ant-eating pangolins are the most illegally traded mammal in the world. Concerned over the large scale poaching, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) declared all eight pangolin species as threatened with extinction.

Massive use of the product for traditional medicines, mostly in Southeast Asian countries, is leading to their extinction, IUCN said.

“China could help save African and Asian pangolins. Pangolins cannot be bred commercially, and all populations are banned from trade, so there is no possible legitimate source for ongoing scales sales,” Knights added.

(Top Image: Hong Kong Customs officials showing a record seizure of endangered pangolin scales on Friday, February 1, 2019. /Pix courtesy of WildAid)

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Africa: China to Shut Down 22 Domestic Ivory Carving Factories, 88 Outlets

By Joseph S. Margai

Beijing — In a bid to protect wildlife and other endangered species in both China and Africa, the Chinese government has taken drastic action to shut down 22 ivory carving factories and 88 outlets by the end of 2018.

Already, the country's State Forestry and Grassland Administration, through the Endangered Species of Wild Fuana and Flora Import and Management Office, has shut down 12 ivory carving domestic factories and 55 outlets in March 2017.

Many African and non-African tabloids have been accusing China of exporting tusks and ivory from Africa, thereby destroying Africa's wildlife and souring the relationship between both parties.

For instance, QUARTZ Africa published in its headline "Ivory smuggling continues to hurt China's alliances in Africa", adding that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni personally accused local officials and two Chinese diplomats of smuggling 1.3 metric tons (about 2,900 pounds) of ivory out of the country in 2014.

Another story published on August 29, 2017 by The Guardian, headlined "Under pressure: the story behind China's ivory ban" stated that for years Chinese government officials were followed around the world, at every meeting, by a single issue: the scores of dead elephants across Africa, and the international community that blamed China for this "ivory holocaust".

The African Geographic (AG) on 12th July 2017, with its headline "Exposing illegal ivory trade in China - the Shuidong Connection", published that even though China has taken steps to close their domestic ivory market by the end of 2017, there was still a complete lack of enforcement against Chinese nationals who are involved in the illegal ivory trade.




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China support instrumental in reducing elephant poaching in Kenya

By Lenah Bosibori

The Chinese government has completely closed down its domestic ivory market leading to the rise of African elephants in the wild.

In Kenya, – for instance-, the Chinese government has provided state of the art equipment like night goggles and, – camouflage gear, funding, vehicles for patrolling and tents for warmth at night.

Chinese President Xi Jinping made the announcement in September 2015, in a move that was widely celebrated by wildlife conservation organizations across the world. Since then, the Asian nation has taken actions to help reduce poaching and funded conservation efforts in several African countries.

Back in China, some charity organizations have been carrying out campaigns to educate the ordinary citizens on how illegal ivory trade in their country is threatening the African elephant.


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