Statement
How to stop the ivory trade
- Without intervention in poaching and the ivory trade, African elephants face extinction within decades, with the collapse of the species predicted to trigger "disastrous" instability across African nations as nearly all recent conflicts are fueled by ivory revenues.
- Historical legal sales, such as the 2008 event intended to raise $15 million for local communities, are anticipated to have failed by spiking black market activity, reviving trader confidence, and providing a "perfect cover" for illegal trade due to the difficulty in distinguishing legal stockpiles from poached tusks.
- Approximately 70% of global ivory demand targets China, where intricate carvings can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars, and undercover investigations indicate that around 90% of ivory marketed as legal in China originated from the black market.
- Scientific advances led by Dr. Sam Wassa aim to prove tusk origins through DNA mapping and radiocarbon dating; recent research suggests virtually all large seizures over the last decade came from just two locations and that the ivory was newly harvested.
- These forensic tools are expected to enable conservationists to focus efforts effectively and provide prosecutable evidence to target militant and terrorist groups that the trade funds.
- Conservation strategies include African nations destroying stockpiles to prevent future sales and the cascade of events, including Kenya burning 100 tons of ivory, which drove prices down from roughly $2,000 per kilo in 2013 to between $700 and $800 per kilo.
- Global market closure is projected through specific timelines: the United States implemented a ban effective July 2016, China planned to end domestic trade in December 2017, and Britain is considering a total ban, with the ultimate goal of eliminating demand to prevent the trade from relying on legal markets as a cover.