Vietnam's illegal Ivory trade a threat to Africa's elephants - Save the Elephants.

Record ID: 94757

  • Title: Vietnam's illegal Ivory trade a threat to Africa's elephants - Save the Elephants.
  • Date: 19th July 2016
  • Summary: NAIROBI, KENYA (JULY 19, 2016) (REUTERS) SAVE THE ELEPHANT MEMBERS SITTING IN A PRESS BRIEFING MEMBERS OF THE PRESS FOLLOWING PROCEEDINGS (SOUNDBITE) (English) IVORY RESEARCHER, ESMOND MARTIN, SAYING: "About two thirds of the ivory leaving the continent is going through east African ports, mainly Mombasa and Dar-es-Salaam, and to a lesser extent in Zanzibar and two thirds
  • Embargoed: 3rd August 2016 17:01
  • Keywords: Poaching Illegal Trade Ivory Elephants Report Stockpiles
  • Location: SAMURU, AMBOSELI, TSAVO AND NAIROBI, KENYA
  • City: SAMURU, AMBOSELI, TSAVO AND NAIROBI, KENYA
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Environment,Nature/Wildlife
  • Reuters ID: LVA0024RCRL93
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Ivory from Africa is increasingly finding its way into Vietnam, fuelling illegal trade and threatening the continent's elephants according to a report released by conservation group, Save the Elephants.
    Vietnam is now one of the world's biggest illegal ivory markets according to the organization, with the number of items for sale rising over six times between 2008 and 2015.
    Pledges last year by China and the United States, two of the biggest ivory markets, to enact almost complete bans on imports and exports have helped drive ivory prices lower, but rhino horn prices are still rising, conservationists say.
    Armed patrols of sanctuaries and other measures have helped curb some illegal hunting but the animal's future remains grim.
    In April, Kenya's president set fire to thousands of elephant tusks and rhino horns, destroying 105 tonnes of ivory from about 8,000 animals, the biggest ever incineration of its kind, sending a message that trade in the animal parts must be stopped.
    Conservationists are calling on governments to close down illegal markets and prevent new ones from springing up.
    "About two thirds of the ivory leaving the continent is going through east African ports, mainly Mombasa and Dar-es-Salaam, and to a lesser extent in Zanzibar and two thirds of the ivory in Africa is going to those ports and two thirds of the ivory that leaves Africa is going to China and Vietnam. Now the big difference between China and Vietnamese markets is the China market on the retail legal side and perhaps on the illegal retail side as well has been going down but the Vietnam market has been absolutely booming," said ivory researcher, Esmond Martin.
    The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) banned commercial trade in African elephant ivory in 1989, but since then has permitted one-off sales.
    Kenya is seeking a total world ban on ivory sales when the Convention on CITES meets in South Africa later this year as poaching poses an increasing risk to the species.
    From 1.2 million in the 1970s, the number of elephants roaming Africa has plunged to around 400,000 today.
    The future for rhinos, now numbering less than 30,000, is even bleaker unless poaching is checked.
    The report also notes that the number of ivory artisans in Vietnam has also increased ten times since 2008, where the business is seen to be lucrative.
    Vietnam only allows ivory obtained before 1992 to be traded legally, which makes it difficult to police ivory stock on sale.
    Illegal ivory is often bought in the form of small tusks and cut pieces for mass production of jewellery and other ornaments.
    Illegal ivory trade has thrived because of weak law enforcement especially in villages in Vietnam.
    "It's purely economics and the people in Vietnam, the carvers, the traders, and other people pay the same price for raw material, but there is no law enforcement within Vietnam itself, and labour is much cheaper. In Vietnam a crafts man will earn between $200 to $400 a month, while in China an equivalent craftsman will earn over $1,000 a month, some will even earn 2,000," said Martin.
    Kenya alone had 20,000 rhinos in the 1970s, falling to 400 in the 1990s. It now has almost 650 black rhinos. It is protecting the last three northern white rhinos as scientists race against time to find artificial reproduction techniques.
    Poachers in Kenya can sell the horns of a single dead rhino for the equivalent of about $50,000 in local markets, earning in one night what would take them many years in regular employment.
    Conservationists want more prosecutions of poachers, the slashing of demand for ivory and rhino horn, most of which is in east Asia, and deeper cooperation across borders to fight poachers.
    "Law enforcement is very important, but it is not enough. Fundamentally there has to be a change in human beliefs and attitudes towards a species like the elephant, and an understanding that, it's in our path to destroy or to save the African elephant, and the Asian elephant too," said founder and Save the Elephants, chief executive, Ian Douglas Martin.
    Kenya relies on tourism, with many drawn to safaris at luxury camps by the trove of animals Kenya boasts, particularly the "Big Five" - elephant, rhino, leopard, lion and buffalo.
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