The Eyes of Thailand Updates

Last week I found a link to an article about China’s ivory trade written by James Pomfret and Tom Kirkwood, dated November 9, 2009.  The authors write:

A passion for ivory ornaments such as these is what helped decimate African and Asian elephant populations until a 1989 ban on ivory trade. Today, China’s economic rise, and along with it a seemingly insatiable appetite for status symbols by its nouveau riche, has spurred demand for African ivory…

In a 2007 report, the U.N.-backed CITES, the global wildlife trade watchdog, said China faced a “major challenge” as it continues to be the “most important country globally as a destination for illicit ivory,” exacerbated in part by China’s spreading influence and ties in Africa.

Chinese nationals have been arrested and convicted for ivory smuggling in Africa and organized crime gangs are also involved in bringing large quantities of illicit ivory into China, according to the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency.

In a controversial bid to stem illegal poaching, CITES allowed a 62-tonne batch of elephant tusks to be imported legally into China last year. The ivory stockpiles were bought by Chinese traders at auctions.

At the time, Allan Thornton, of the Environmental Investigation Agency, expressed concern the sale would fuel a massive appetite for ivory in China. “In a country of 1.3 billion people, demand for ivory from just a fraction of one per cent of the population is colossal,” he told the Telegraph newspaper.

Ivory has been banned since 1989 after decades of poaching in which Africa’s elephant population was halved with only around 600,000 remaining by 1997, according to conservation groups.  Nonetheless, as the 20-year ban is about to expire, there is a growing sentiment within CITIES that, “The elephant as a species is no way in danger.”

“If the demand is supplied by legal origin ivory, then that should begin to close the doors for the criminals,” said John Sellar, a senior enforcement officer for CITES in Geneva.

He added the two-decade long ivory ban had helped stabilize overall elephant numbers, with only scattered local populations under any real serious threat from poachers in countries such as Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

While only around 4,000 wild tigers remain worldwide, he noted, in Botswana alone there are more than 130,000 wild elephants.

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=2203750#ixzz0eudfURBI

ElephantVoices wrote on its Facebook Page “Any sensible person would ask CITIES what is going to happen to Botswana’s elephant population once China finishes off of Central Africa?”

I would add: What will happen to Thailand’s elephants–or those of other Southeast Asian countries–if the ivory ban is lifted?

-Windy Borman

Producer, Director and Writer, The Eyes of Thailand