China’s rush for ivory ill omen for Africa’s jumbos

“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.

“The elephant as a species is no way in danger,” he added.

Within China, officials who regulate the domestic ivory trade said there hasn’t been a conspicuous increase in ivory consumption given tight laws and controls that restrict ivory sales and manufacturing to some 130 addresses nationwide.

Yet this year alone, an extra 37 stores were approved as new, official ivory retail outlets.

There have also been telling signs on the ground.

In Guangzhou’s antiques market, numerous stalls were openly selling uncertified ivory from trinkets to large carved tusks.

“I can get you as much as you like,” said one dealer with the surname Wu, who was asking 8000 yuan ($1,172) for a small carved ivory Buddha’s head and a similar price for an elaborate fan.

“Come back later this afternoon,” she added.

At another stall in the market, a small painted tusk was prominently displayed in a bustling alleyway.

“Guangzhou has especially close economic ties with Africa and there are tens of thousands of African (traders) there, so we cannot discount the possibility they are bringing ivory in,” said Wan Ziming, the director of law enforcement and training at the CITES management authority of China.

“Guangzhou has become a hub for the smuggling of ivory,” added Wan whose department which is under the Chinese government’s State Forestry Administration.

CITES rejects claims by animal rights groups that controlled ivory sales worsen the illegal trade, instead saying poaching levels are more closely linked to governance problems and political instability in African regions.

But Professor Xu Hongfa, the China director of TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, says enforcement needs to improve across China with evidence of contraband ivory seeping across China to places as far afield as Tibet.