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Price of ivory in China triples
Illegal trade killing African elephants
driven by rising demand in China, with
price of kilogram of ivory now £1225
A Hong Kong Customs officer displays
seized ivory at the Hong Kong
international airport, China, on 10 June
2014. Photograph: ALEX HOFFORD/EPA
AFP
Thursday 3 July 2014 11.28 BST
The price of ivory taken from African
elephants slaughtered for their tusks
has tripled in the past four years in
China, the world's biggest market,
conservationists said on Thursday.
"The surge in the price of ivory is
driving a wave of killing of elephants
across Africa that shows little sign of
abating," campaign group Save the
Elephants said
.
"With the ivory price in Africa a tenth of
that reached in China, substantial
profits are being generated for
organised crime that fuels insecurity,
corruption, and deprives local
communities of valuable income."
Researchers from the Kenyan-based
group studying ivory sales in China
said prices had risen for a kilogram of
raw ivory from $750 (£437) in 2010 to
$2,100 (£1225) in 2014.
This week wildlife group TRAFFIC
warned that Thailand's ivory market
was "out of control"
and that the number of ivory products
on sale in Bangkok had nearly trebled
in the past year.
Save the Elephants estimates an
average of 33,000 elephants were lost
to poachers every year between 2010
and 2012.
"Without concerted international action
to reduce the demand for ivory,
measures to reduce the killing of
elephants for ivory will fail," said Iain
Douglas-Hamilton, founder of Save the
Elephants.
"Although half a world away, China
holds the key to the future of the
African elephant."
The group has also tracked ivory sales
within Africa, discovering that Lagos in
Nigeria, followed by Luanda in Angola,
has the largest numbers of ivory
trinkets on open sale.
Organised crime syndicates and rebel
militia increasingly use poaching to
fund insurgencies, reaping the benefits
of multi-billion-dollar demand for ivory
in China.
Illegal trade killing African elephants
driven by rising demand in China, with
price of kilogram of ivory now £1225
A Hong Kong Customs officer displays
seized ivory at the Hong Kong
international airport, China, on 10 June
2014. Photograph: ALEX HOFFORD/EPA
AFP
Thursday 3 July 2014 11.28 BST
The price of ivory taken from African
elephants slaughtered for their tusks
has tripled in the past four years in
China, the world's biggest market,
conservationists said on Thursday.
"The surge in the price of ivory is
driving a wave of killing of elephants
across Africa that shows little sign of
abating," campaign group Save the
Elephants said
.
"With the ivory price in Africa a tenth of
that reached in China, substantial
profits are being generated for
organised crime that fuels insecurity,
corruption, and deprives local
communities of valuable income."
Researchers from the Kenyan-based
group studying ivory sales in China
said prices had risen for a kilogram of
raw ivory from $750 (£437) in 2010 to
$2,100 (£1225) in 2014.
This week wildlife group TRAFFIC
warned that Thailand's ivory market
was "out of control"
and that the number of ivory products
on sale in Bangkok had nearly trebled
in the past year.
Save the Elephants estimates an
average of 33,000 elephants were lost
to poachers every year between 2010
and 2012.
"Without concerted international action
to reduce the demand for ivory,
measures to reduce the killing of
elephants for ivory will fail," said Iain
Douglas-Hamilton, founder of Save the
Elephants.
"Although half a world away, China
holds the key to the future of the
African elephant."
The group has also tracked ivory sales
within Africa, discovering that Lagos in
Nigeria, followed by Luanda in Angola,
has the largest numbers of ivory
trinkets on open sale.
Organised crime syndicates and rebel
militia increasingly use poaching to
fund insurgencies, reaping the benefits
of multi-billion-dollar demand for ivory
in China.
