[wildtrade] Illegal ivory trade rising - ETIS

[Chris Shepherd]

Illegal ivory trade rising

Monday, November 9, 2009 at 15:25
TRAFFIC in CITES, Conservation awareness, Ivory 

 
<javascript:showFullImage('/display/ShowImage?imageUrl=%2Fstorage%2Fimages%2
Fivory-seizure-khaosiung-taiwan-joyce-wu.jpg%3F__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION%3D
1257866014582',533,400);> A series of recent large-scale ivory seizures
suggest an increased involvement of organized crime syndicates in the
illicit ivory trade, connecting African source countries with Asian end-use
markets. © Joyce Wu/TRAFFIC Click photo to enlarge   Cambridge, UK, 10
November 2009—The illicit trade in ivory, which has been increasing in
volume since 2004, moved sharply upward in 2009, according to the latest
analysis of seizure data in the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS). 

ETIS, one of the two monitoring systems for elephants under CITES (the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and
Flora) but managed by TRAFFIC, comprises the world’s largest collection of
elephant product seizure records. 

The analysis, undertaken in advance of the 15th meeting of the Conference of
the Parties (CoP15) to CITES, was based upon 14,364 elephant product seizure
records from 85 countries or territories since 1989, nearly 2,000 more
records than the previous analysis, in 2007. 

The remarkable surge in 2009 reflects a series of large-scale ivory seizure
events that suggest an increased involvement of organized crime syndicates
in the trade, connecting African source countries with Asian end-use
markets. The ETIS data indicate that such syndicates have become stronger
and more active over the last decade. 

There continues to be a highly significant correlation between large-scale
domestic ivory markets in Asia and Africa and poor law enforcement,
suggesting that illicit ivory trade flows typically follow a path to
destinations where law enforcement is weak and markets function with little
regulatory impediment. 

 
<javascript:showFullImage('/display/ShowImage?imageUrl=%2Fstorage%2Fetis-gra
phic.gif%3F__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION%3D1257876240494',597,800);> The latest
ETIS analysis reveals a sharp increase in illicit ivory trade in 2009 after
steadily rising from 2004 onwards © TRAFFIC Click graphic to enlarge Indeed,
the rise in illicit trade in ivory indicates that implementation of a CITES
“action plan for the control of trade in African elephant ivory,” the
Convention’s principal vehicle for closing such unregulated and illicit
domestic markets in Africa and Asia, has failed to drive any significant
change over the last five years. 

The ETIS analysis identifies Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo
and Thailand as the three countries most heavily implicated in the global
illicit ivory trade. Illegal trade involving each of these nations has been
repeatedly singled out for priority attention since the first assessment in
2002, but they continue to feature as critical hotspots in the trade as
sources, entrêpots and consumers of ivory. 

Another nine countries and territories—Cameroon, Gabon and Mozambique in
Africa and Hong Kong SAR, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and
Viet Nam in Asia—were also identified as important nodes in the illicit
ivory trade. 

China, which along with Japan was an approved destination of the legal,
CITES-sanctioned one-off ivory sale in 2008, faces a persistent illegal
trade challenge from Chinese nationals now based in Africa. Ongoing evidence
highlights widespread involvement of overseas Chinese in the illicit
procurement of ivory, a problem that needs to be addressed through an
aggressive outreach and awareness initiative directed at Chinese communities
living abroad. 

The results are less clear-cut concerning the impacts of the CITES approved
one-off ivory sales in 1999 and 2008. 

Following the first such sale, in June 1999, there was a progressive decline
in the illicit trade in ivory for five years, with no evidence to suggest
that the sale had resulted in an increase in the illicit ivory trade
globally. 

After the second CITES-approved ivory sale, in late 2008, the results are
unclear as to whether it has stimulated increase demand or whether it has
simply coincided with an increase in supply that was already underway over
the last four years. The collection of more data over an extended time
period will throw further light on this vital issue. 

The full ETIS report can be downloaded from the CITES website as document
E15-44.01A <http://www.cites.org/common/cop/15/doc/E15-44-01A.pdf>  (PDF,
300 KB) 

Article originally appeared on TRAFFIC (http://www.traffic.org/). 

See website for complete article licensing information.

 

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