A SURVEY of East Asia鈥檚 ivory markets has vindicated the decision in 1999 to relax the worldwide ban on ivory sales. Contrary to the fears of some conservationists, the sell-off of legal stockpiles by Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana did not stimulate the black market.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) allowed the 1999 auction because the three nations had vast stockpiles from culling their large elephant populations. All the tusks 鈥� 50 tonnes of ivory 鈥� were sold to Japan, which has a well-regulated internal market, and the proceeds were ploughed into elephant conservation. But critics argued that the auction would give smugglers a chance to 鈥渓aunder鈥� poached ivory, and that relaxing the rules would send the wrong signals to buyers.
Now Esmond Martin and Daniel Stiles of the Nairobi-based campaign group Save the Elephants have documented ivory products on sale in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. They also canvassed the views of traders and carvers.
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With the exception of China, the Save the Elephants report paints a picture of a trade in steady decline (see Table), although this may be partly due to south-east Asia鈥檚 poor economic state. 鈥淭he message seems to be that it is not 鈥榮ignals鈥� that drive illegal trade in ivory, but rather real-life economic forces,鈥� says Tom Milliken, who prepared a report on smuggling using CITES鈥檚 Elephant Trade Information System for a meeting of the organisation in Chile last year.
Martin says the downside is that the economic boom in China is fuelling the illegal ivory trade, with numerous backstreet carving businesses replacing large state-owned workshops. Nearly 50 tonnes of smuggled ivory has been seized on its way to China since 1996. 鈥淐hina is the main country in the world importing illegal consignments of tusks from Africa,鈥� says Martin.
However, he concedes that the authorities have tightened up controls in the past year. A massive ivory bust in Hong Kong last week 鈥� the largest in a decade 鈥� may indicate that the new approach is working. Officials seized 2 tonnes of ivory shipped from Tanzania, estimated to be worth $350,000.