Hong Kong To Destroy Its Stock Of Illegal Ivory
Hong Kong has said it will burn as much as twenty eight tons of illegal ivory which will make it the largest destruction of the contraband ever.
Hong Kong is the latest government to announce it will destroy its stockpile of illegal ivory, trailing the Philippines and the United States.
Last June the Philippines became the first country to destroy its ivory stock despite being an ivory consuming nation.
Hong Kong said it will destroy its ivory stock over a period of a couple of years and in future any confiscated ivory will be regularly destroyed.
“The committee strongly calls upon countries all over the world to make [a] concerted effort in combating illegal poaching of elephants and to undertake vigorous measures to protect elephants,” Paul Shin Chairman of the Hong Kong’s Endangered Species Advisory Committee said.
Poaching elephants continues to fuel a black market in ivory despite a global ban on the ivory trade which came into effect in 1989. It is estimated that approximately 96 elephants are illegally killed in Africa every day. Most of the ivory taken from elephants that have been poached ends up in Africa where it is carved and sold or exported.
The elephant population has declined dramatically falling from between three to five million in the 1930’s to an estimated half million today the World Wildlife Fund says.
Recently several countries have lent their support to the cause by destroying their stock of ivory. Last month China crushed six tons of ivory. The United States and Gabon have also destroyed their stocks of the illicit contraband.
Analysts say the destruction in Hong Kong is significant because the city has a centuries old ivory culture. It is expected the destruction will discourage those people who collect ivory from purchasing more.
Hong Kong acts as both a major transit hub and a destination in its own right for illegal ivory and it is hugely important that the city adds its name to a growing list of countries that places more emphasis on living elephants than trading bits of dead one’s.