(CN) Sale of illegal ivory thrives on mainland

November 13, 2008

South China Morning Post

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Agence France-Presse in Beijing

Nov 13, 2008

The trade in illegal elephant tusks is thriving in mainland markets and

upmarket hotels although there are signs the problem could be on the

decline, an environmental group said yesterday.

Tusks continue to be smuggled into the mainland despite a ban on illegal

ivory imports that dates back to 1991, with the tusks mainly being sourced

from Africa, according to the report released by Traffic, a wildlife

monitoring organisation.

Nevertheless, it said increased enforcement of regulations on the mainland

had led to some improvements, with surveys of markets showing that fewer

illegal products were on sale.

The report, entitled " The State of Wildlife Trade in China " , said the main

factories for processing illegally imported ivory were in the provinces of

Fujian , Guangdong and Jiangsu .

The mainland is one of the world's biggest markets for ivory, which is

traditionally used to make family seals to stamp documents as well as

decorative antiques.

Chinese traders were the biggest buyers at a recent, controversial series of

auctions in four southern African countries - South Africa, Namibia,

Botswana and Zimbabwe - in which 102 tonnes of government-owned ivory stocks

were sold for just over US$15 million.

The legal sale, the first since 1999, came from elephants that died of

natural causes or were culled to control their population, and funds will be

used for elephant conservation and community development projects.

As the ivory sales were conducted through legal channels, the tusks can be

imported into the mainland without violating the 1991 ban.

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