Should Other Countries Follow China's Example in Banning the Illegal Ivory Trade?

Elephants

The government of Tanzania and conservation organizations have recently applauded China's decision to ban the illegal ivory trade, indicating that the action gave hope for the future of Africa's elephants. According to Major General Gaudence Milanzi, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, China's attempts, including the prohibition on all trade in ivory and its products, have helped reduce poaching levels in the country. He congratulated the Chinese government for the move which showed the global community that China was serious to end the ivory trade and protect the elephants, and urged other countries to do the same. Other government officials who praised China for its anti-ivory trade efforts included January Makamba, Minister of State in the Vice-President's Office responsible for the Environment, who credited China for its consistency in its leadership in climate change and other critical international issues. The State Forestry Administration of China has stated that the country has recognized its obligation to ceasing commercial processing and sales of ivory by the end of 2017. The administration also assured that China's authorities will continue to curb ivory collection, along with sales, preparing, smuggling, and transportation of elephant tusks. The affection has affected 34 processing companies and 143 authorized trading venues, with all of them to shut down, in the world's once largest ivory market.

January Makamba was one of several Tanzanian politicians who applauded China's ban on ivory trade.

I find this to be an incredibly good news that China has decided to put its foot down on the illegal trade of ivory. The country had long been viewed as the largest ivory market by conservation groups with several enterprises processing smuggled elephant ivory for public consumption. But now, it appears that China has changed its image by living up to its promise and banning the ivory trade. This means severe reduction in ivory prices which in turn results into a significant drop in Africa's elephant poaching. In addition, China also pledged that it will continue to combat and suppress the smuggling, transportation, processing, and sales of elephant ivory. This move has been applauded by various members of the Tanzanian government, including former President Benjamin Mkapa, who urged other countries around the world to follow China's example. I very much feel it is highly crucial that many other countries should emulate what China has done to save the elephants. A recent report by wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC, with the support of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), indicated that Japan is one of the largest markets of domestic ivory and has an active, though declining, ivory producing industry. It also mentioned that 2.42 tonnes of ivory, including tusks, antiques, and jewelry, were illegally smuggled from the country between 2011 and 2016. Tomomi Kitade, the report's co-author, stated that their findings showed that Japan's predominantly  uncontrolled domestic ivory is contributing to the illegal trade and it is necessary that the country's role in the global illegal ivory trade be recognized. Japan is not the only country involved in the illegal ivory trade; the U.S under the Trump administration recently announced that it will lift the ban on importing elephant ivory into the country from Africa causing widespread outrage amongst animal rights and environmental groups. The governments of the U.S and other countries should recognize the connection between the illegal ivory trade and terrorism. This is seen as African militant groups like the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Al-Shabaab, and Janjaweed benefit financially from elephant ivory as it provides them access to arms and ammunition to carry out their carnage against both local people and foreigners. This is not just a matter of global conservation of endangered species, but also of international security. I urge other countries across the world to follow suit, in order to put an end to the international illegal ivory trade.

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