Environment and Natural Resources Programme • Volume 8 • Number 14 • 25th July 2008

China Receives Go-ahead for Ivory Imports

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Despite strong resistance from environmental groups, China has been given the right to buy elephant ivory from the government stockpiles of four African countries.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) held the 57th meeting of its 33-member Standing Committee (SC-57) from 14-18 July. The committee, which provides policy guidance and oversees the convention, voted in favour of allowing China to take part in a one-time auction of 108 metric tonnes of ivory from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. In 2007, CITES authorised the four countries to sell off their stockpiles of ivory, which come from elephants that died of natural causes.

This is the third such auction since the promulgation of an international moratorium on ivory sales in 1989. After the sale, however, the four countries are not allowed to export ivory for at least nine years.

The Standing Committee had granted the same privilege only once before, to Japan in 2006 (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 8 June 2007).

“China has acted rather successfully against its own illegal domestic ivory market,” Tom Milliken, director of TRAFFIC East/Southern Africa, a wildlife trade monitoring organisation, said. He added that “following the last one-off ivory sale under CITES in 1999, it is encouraging to note that the illicit trade in ivory progressively declined over the next five years. We hope a similar result is achieved this time.”

A document prepared by the CITES Secretariat and presented to SC-57 stated that China’s law enforcement effort scores have improved steadily, rising from six percent in 2002, to 30 percent in 2004, to 58 percent in 2007. The document also noted that “China’s legislation contains some of the most severe criminal sanctions for CITES-related violations of all Parties and the courts have not hesitated to impose very substantial penalties (including capital punishment and life imprisonment) upon those who attempt to smuggle ivory into mainland China. China’s enforcement agencies have set combating illegal trade in ivory as a priority and its Customs anti-smuggling units have been particularly effective.”

In spite of the confidence endowed to China by the committee, many environmentalists are convinced that the decision spells a death warrant for thousands of African elephants. They argue that China’s lack of requisite trade controls and internal law enforcement, coupled now with increased trade, will stimulate demand and drive up prices, increasing the incentive to poach and smuggle ivory.

Will Travers, CEO of the Born Free Foundation and president of the Species Survival Network, characterised the decision as “unbelievable, naïve and deadly.”

“It was bad enough when Japan was approved as a trading partner more than a year ago but approving China is, in my view, like pouring petrol on an open fire,” Travers said.

China and Japan will bid for their share of the ivory stocks in a sale that will take place later this year. All proceeds of the sale will go towards conservation and development programmes that aim to protect local elephant populations in African communities.

Additional resources

Documents from the meeting can be found here.

For more daily updates and a summary report of the Standing Committee, see IISD’s Earth Negotiations Bulletin .

ICTSD reporting; “China gets ivory imports go-ahead,” BBC, 15 July 2008; “Four African countries to sell ivory, China permitted to buy,” ENS, 15 July 2008; “UN body lets China import African ivory,” AP, 15 July 2008; “UN panel paves the way for elephant poaching and ivory laundering,” WORLDWIRE, 15 July 2008.