Environment
Illegal African ivory export goes to Asia

Misanet.com / IPS, 23 March - A major new study into the ivory trade shows a massive illegal movement of elephant tusks from Africa to Asia. The report "The South and South East Asian Ivory Markets", co-authored by Esmond Martin and Daniel Stiles and sponsored by Save the Elephants, shows that the majority of raw elephant tusks that leave Africa are sold to China and Thailand. 

Ivory imported into China is carved into jewellery and ornaments and then exported to neighbouring countries, according to the report released in Nairobi on Friday.

Thailand has almost as much worked ivory for retail sale as the entire African continent. "The biggest problem by far is Thailand. We found over 88,000 pieces of ivory for sale in just three towns in Thailand. That almost equals what we saw in Africa." 

- In these eight countries we visited (Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Singapore) we found 105,000 ivory items, says Martin. "In all of Africa we found about 110,000."

Yet Thailand is the only country in the region whose elephant population is not declining. Why not? "Because they are taking ivory from Africa in a major way," says Martin.

It is European tourists who are to blame for the booming ivory trade in Thailand because they are the main buyers. "Who's buying all this ivory in Thailand? It's not the diplomats; it's not the United Nations people. It's tourists from Europe - the number one by far. Specifically the French, Italians and Germans. Lesser so the Spanish. They are the main buyers of worked ivory," says Martin.

- In a place like Bangkok, you see ivory in the most expensive hotel shops and the most expensive shops, he says. "And the only reason it's in these shops is ivory is selling in a major way." Thailand is a major tourist destination, with over 10 million visitors a year. Some 80 percent of the ivory pieces found were small, mostly jewellery items.

Some of the ivory on sale in Thailand is poached from its neighbours in Indochina. Asia's own elephant population is also endangered. The population of wild elephants in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia has fallen by 75 percent in the last 11 years, according to the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF). In Asia, there are under 50,000 elephants compared to 500,000 in Africa. 

But conservation efforts are focused on Africa. "MIKE [Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants - a new monitoring system] hasn't even started in Asia and there's a real crisis over there. There are huge declines going on," complains Martin.

He believes the ivory trade can be stemmed. Thailand is a member of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) which listed elephants as Appendix I - "all species threatened with extinction which are or may be affected by trade" - in 1989, banning any import or export of ivory.

According to Thai law, the only sale of domestic ivory that is allowed are from elephants that are domesticated, like tamed elephants, that come from Thailand. Yet very little of the ivory currently on sale comes from such a source. 

It is also against the law for tourists to export ivory - according to Thai law and their own nation laws. "All Thailand has do to is enforce their own regulations. There's domestic legislation which essentially doesn't allow an ivory trade except if it's made from domesticated elephants and of course most of it is not," says Martin.

- The other thing they can do is the 10 million or so tourists in Thailand, the foreign ones that go there, should be educated not to buy these ivory items, he says.

Martin takes the example of India to prove this can be done. "If you go to India you will see no ivory for sale at all because it's illegal and the Indian authorities enforce it. It's against the law in India and the authorities are very strict." 

- There's a third world developing country that actually enforces their law. 1.1 billion people in India, used to have one of the biggest ivory carving industries in the world, had masses of shops all over the country, he says, "and now you don't see ivory for sale." 

- It shows that if there's the political commitment you can do it, he adds. "It would also be helpful if Africa could tighten up on the illegal exports of raw ivory to Asia."

African conservationists have welcomed the report. "Martin has done something which we all wanted to see happen but the CITES secretariat was unable to finance - studies in the ivory trade," says Paula Kahumbu of the Kenya Wildlife Service.

In 1999, Martin made a similar presentation on ivory markets in Africa. He found out that Central Africa and West Africa, particularly Cameroon, were the major ivory exporters. The major buyers were diplomats, people working for the United Nations, aid agencies and tourists.

This study - showing that elephant poaching is still continuing in a massive way - was instrumental in influencing the parties' positions in the CITES conference in 2000 at which several countries were lobbying for legalisation of the ivory trade. 

- We feel that this report is equally significant, she says. "It's very timely because there is talk of re-opening the ivory trade. Some parties are considering submitting proposals and we feel that it is premature." The next CITES conference will be in November and proposals are due by June.

Iain Douglas-Hamilton, chairperson of Save the Elephants, agrees with Kahumbu that the report shows the ivory trade must not be legalised. "The danger which is shown by Martin and Stiles report is that there is demand in the Far East and that Western tourists are still buying. It could be that in a rapidly expanding economy like China that any new fad for ivory could have devastating effects on elephants if the trade were opened prematurely," he says.

Kenya led the movement to ban the trade in ivory which has lasted for 12 years and in our view has significantly enhanced the survival of many elephant populations in Africa. "One of the most significant findings of the report is that since the ban, the ivory prices in Africa have remained low. We take the view that these relatively low prices in the retail market show that the ivory trade ban has worked," he says. 

However, Martin and Stiles also detected a perception among traders in Africa that any auction of ivory stocks - as was proposed before the last CITES conference - would be followed by general loosening of controls.

- Now we have a new monitoring system (MIKE) but this system is not going to have enough evidence ready by the next conference in November, he says. "Therefore in our view it would be irresponsible or any party to try to open up the trade before the monitoring is properly in position." 

By Katy Salmon (IPS)

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