hong kong ivory trade major threat to elephant survival
Last Updated : GMT 09:40:38
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
Last Updated : GMT 09:40:38
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle

Hong Kong ivory trade 'major threat' to elephant survival

Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle

Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicleHong Kong ivory trade 'major threat' to elephant survival

Surging demand for ivory in Asia
Nairobi - AFP

Hong Kong's booming ivory market is helping push elephants towards extinction, conservationists said Thursday, reporting more ivory items on sale there than in any other city.

The sale of ivory items from government-registered stockpiles predating the 1989 ban is legal for domestic use in Hong Kong, but a report by Save the Elephants found tusks from recently slaughtered elephants were being passed off as old ivory, and that this ivory was being bought and then illegally smuggled to mainland China on a huge scale.

"Hong Kong's ivory trade is creating a significant loophole in international efforts to end the killing of elephants in Africa," said the report released in Kenya and Hong Kong.

"No other city surveyed has so many pieces of ivory on sale as Hong Kong," report co-author Esmond Martin said.

The report found more than 30,800 items -- mainly jewellery and figurines -- for sale in 72 stores and estimated that over 90 percent of sales were to buyers from mainland China, where demand for ivory is high.

Hong Kong's low taxes make ivory cheaper to buy than in China and "lax" border controls mean some 40 million people cross each year with little oversight meaning the Hong Kong trade is having a major impact on efforts to end elephant poaching in Africa.

"A mass slaughtering of African elephants is underway, yet the Hong Kong government is turning a blind eye," said Alex Hofford of campaign group WildAid.

"For 25 years since the international ban, Hong Kong's ivory traders appear to have been laundering poached ivory from illegally-killed elephants into their stocks," said Hofford.

The report described Hong Kong as the world's third-largest ivory smuggling hub after Kenya and Tanzania.

- Call for total ivory retail ban -

Multi-tonne seizures of smuggled ivory have been made regularly in recent years, with the ivory coming from poached elephants in countries including Tanzania which saw its elephant population drop from 109,000 to 43,000 between 2009 and 2014.

Beijing has made efforts to curb the trade, stepping up prosecutions of smugglers and seizures of ivory at border posts, but campaigners say the measures have not gone far enough.

Surging demand for ivory in Asia is behind an increasing death toll of African elephants, conservationists say, as authorities fail to bust international smuggling networks.

"Unless the ivory trade in Hong Kong is closed down the territory will continue to represent a major threat to survival of the species," said Iain Douglas-Hamilton, founder of Save the Elephants who described the elephant slaughter as "a holocaust".

More than 30,000 elephants are killed every year to satisfy demand for ivory in China and the Far East, where tusks are worth more than $2,000 (1,790 euros) a kilogramme. It is estimated that there are between no more than 470,000 elephants left in Africa.

"China holds the key to the future of African elephants," said Hamilton. "If the killing continues we will lose most of the elephants in the wild in Africa."

In the 1960s, Hong Kong was one of the most famous and largest ivory carving centres in the world. No ivory has been legally imported to Hong Kong since 1990, with all sales since then officially coming from registered stockpiles.

According to official figures, 242 tonnes of ivory were sold in Hong Kong between 1990 and 2008, an average of around 13 tonnes a year. But since 2010 recorded sales have slowed to just a tonne a year, despite soaring demand and the number of visitors from mainland China having more than doubled in the same period.

"The only way to fix the problem is for the government to legislate for a commercial ivory sales ban," Hofford said.

themuslimchronicle
themuslimchronicle

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

hong kong ivory trade major threat to elephant survival hong kong ivory trade major threat to elephant survival

 



Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle

GMT 12:33 2017 Thursday ,20 April

Premier congratulated by Sudanese Ambassador

GMT 21:47 2017 Tuesday ,31 October

January 19 - February 17

GMT 12:17 2011 Wednesday ,27 July

N. Korea calls for peace treaty with U.S.

GMT 13:34 2012 Sunday ,29 July

Palestinian intellectual passes away

GMT 15:58 2014 Tuesday ,27 May

How to heal bones

GMT 20:40 2014 Sunday ,12 October

No plan to lift fuel, butane gas subsidies

GMT 08:29 2016 Saturday ,27 August

Turkey PM denies Syria operation singling out Kurds

GMT 14:09 2017 Wednesday ,13 September

WADA 'to clear 95 Russian athletes of doping charges'

GMT 14:59 2017 Monday ,04 September

We will not allow Iran to have a foothold in Yemen

GMT 20:17 2017 Friday ,17 March

Merkel to Meet Putin in Moscow on May 2

GMT 13:40 2011 Saturday ,25 June

Explosions rock Myanmar\'s capital city
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
 
 Themuslimchronicle Facebook,themuslimchronicle facebook  Themuslimchronicle Twitter,themuslimchronicle twitter Themuslimchronicle Rss,themuslimchronicle rss  Themuslimchronicle Youtube,themuslimchronicle youtube  Themuslimchronicle Youtube,themuslimchronicle youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2023 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2023 ©

muslimchronicle muslimchronicle muslimchronicle muslimchronicle
themuslimchronicle themuslimchronicle themuslimchronicle
themuslimchronicle
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle