bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Kylie Knott

A joint pledge by Beijing and Washington to take significant steps to end their domestic ivory trades has increased pressure on Hong Kong to halt its own sales of elephant tusks, the World Wide Fund for Nature Hong Kong says.
Leaders of the two countries - the largest markets for illegal ivory - vowed to enact a near-complete ban on imports and exports, the White House said on Friday during President Xi Jinping's state visit.
Green groups say the move is one of the most significant steps to date in efforts to shut down an industry that has fuelled the illegal hunting of elephants.
The ban will cover "significant and timely restrictions on the import of ivory as hunting trophies" as well as unspecified "significant and timely steps to halt the domestic commercial trade".

"With 30,000 elephants killed in Africa every year, the China-US announcement is timely and encouraging," WWF-Hong Kong's conservation director, Gavin Edwards, said.
"As our city plays a significant ongoing role in the global ivory trade, the pressure is now on the Hong Kong government to follow suit and halt the local ivory trade."
However, Edwards said a timeline for the Sino-US deal was vital.
"Both governments must now define an aggressive timeline for their actions."
WildAid chief executive Peter Knights said the pledge was one of the greatest single steps that could be taken to reduce poaching for elephants.
Knights called on Hong Kong to join mainland China and the US in banning the ivory trade.
According to WildAid, the announcement marks Xi's first public commitment to end ivory sales in China.
Hong Kong is a major trading hub for illegal ivory products; the city ranks fifth in the world in terms of the quantity of ivory contraband confiscated, ivory researchers Esmond Martin & Lucy Vigne say in a 2015 report.
It is also the city with the world's largest retail market for ivory, with 400 licensed businesses offering more than 30,000 pieces on sale, the report says.
The news out of the White House follows a WWF-Hong Kong report this month linking the city directly to ongoing poaching in Africa.
That report, titled The Hard Truth, is largely based on video dialogues with three ivory traders in the city.
Watch: Undercover activists' infiltrate and speak to ivory traders

A global ivory ban came into force in Hong Kong in 1990, but domestic trade continues with licensed dealers allowed to use and sell their existing private stocks obtained before the ban.
The private stocks are separate from the government's 29.6-tonne stockpile of seized illegal ivory, which is being destroyed in a process that started in May last year.
In the video, undercover activists get the three retailers to admit they know how to manipulate the system.
One trader reveals a buyer in Hong Kong could make a "purchase order" for ivory directly smuggled from Africa.
"Most of it goes to mainland China through two routes; some is smuggled into China. We don't care, as long as the transactions are conducted in Hong Kong," one of the trio says. "Sometimes, [mainland clients] buy the ivory, then 'escape' to Zhuhai through Macau. So simple."
Another trader states: "After I sell an ivory item, I can use illegal ivory to top up my stock again. The government officials have no idea how to govern."
The report also revealed re-exporting ivory from Hong Kong without a permit - which is illegal - was rampant.
"This investigation confirmed what we long suspected, that there's an ongoing trade in illegal ivory here," Edwards said.
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said it was investigating claims made in the video.


Is US-China deal enough pressure to push away Hong Kong's illegal ivory trade?

Children, parents and volunteers marched around Sheung Wan this March, protesting against the ivory trade. Photo: David Wong

A raw elephant ivory tusk and trinkets made out of ivory are seen for sale in a shop on Hollywood Road, Central. Photo: EPA

WWF set to back end to sale of ivory in Hong Kong

Elephants are dying because of Hong Kong’s failure to tackle illegal ivory trade, report says

Some 100,000 elephants were killed for their ivory between 2010 and 2012, according to a conservation group. Photo: AP

A herd of elephants walks in Kenya, as the highest mountain in Africa Mount Kilimanjaro, in neighbouring Tanzania, is seen in the background. Photo: AP

Animal rights activists protest against the sale of ivory at a Hong Kong store earlier this year. Photo: EPA

Resson Kantai Duff (left), Head of Awareness at Kenya-based NGO 'Save the Elephants', and Cheryl Lo (right), Senior Wildlife Crime Officer, hold up pictures of an elephant and a bangle made from elephant ivory, in Hong Kong. Photo: EPA

Ng King-hong, Hong Kong Customs & Excise Department, briefs the media on a seizure of 790 kilogrammes of ivory valued about $7.9 million at Hong Kong International Airport during inspection passenger baggage in transit arriving from Angola and destined for Cambodia in 2014. Photo: Nora Tam

China’s ivory market looks to be cooling amid Beijing’s restrictions

A Hong Kong customs officer with seized ivory. Photo: EPA 

News

Hong Kong

Health & Environment

Beijing and Washington vow to implement near total ban on imports and exports in one of most significant steps so far to shut down the industry
