UNEP hails China’s move to destroy ivory

Nairobi – The UN environmental agency welcomed a bold move by the Chinese government to destroy 6 tonnes of confiscated ivory in an effort to combat the illegal trade in elephant tusks.

UN Environment Program (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner congratulated China and the State Forestry Administration on the milestone event.

“The largest remaining land mammal on the planet is facing one of the greatest crises to hit the species in decades. The latest CITES data estimates that some 47,000 animals were killed in Africa in 2011 and 2012,” Steiner said in a statement issued in Nairobi, Kenya.

Officials in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province pulverised 6.1 tonnes of confiscated tusks and carvings in an event attended by representatives from 10 countries including Britain, and elephant states including Kenya, Gabon, and Tanzania.

The burning of the 6.1 tonnes of ivory stockpiled over the years marks the commitment by the Chinese government to publicly fight the multi-billion-dollar illegal wildlife trade.

The seized ivory was fed into crushing machines in the southern city of Dongguan, in what was described as the first public destruction of ivory in China.

According to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES), elephant poaching in Africa could lead to local extinctions if the present killing rates continue.

Conservationists say rampant poaching and loss of habitats are decimating the continent’s elephant populations, especially in Central African countries.

The UN estimates that over 17,000 elephants were illegally killed in monitored sites in 2011 alone.

Conservationists say rising demand for ivory and rhino horn in Asia has caused a poaching crisis in recent years across Kenya in particular and Africa as a whole with over 1,000 rhinos having been killed on the continent in the last 20 months.

According to African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) statistics, as many as 50,000 African elephants are killed for their tusks every year.

Criminal networks are responsible for the illegal trafficking of ivory between Africa and Asia. Large-scale seizures of ivory destined for Asia have more than doubled since 2009 and reached an all-time high in 2011. – Xinhua  

Jan. 6, 2014