Ivory trade still flourishes
2004-09-17 17:25
Bangkok - Shoppers in Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok are greeted by gleaming white ivory statuettes and whole elephant tusks, but what tourists don't know is they have probably been made from illegal African ivory.
Conservationists are concerned that loopholes in Thailand's laws allow the ivory trade to flourish in that country, now dubbed the largest retail ivory market in the world.
This issue is likely to be discussed in October when Thailand plays host to the 13th Meeting of Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wildlife and Fauna (Cites).
Since 1993, Thailand has been a signatory to Cites, which prohibits the trade in certain wild animal products - including ivory.
However, trade in products from domesticated animals is not prohibited, which gives unscrupulous traders in Thailand an important loophole.
They can claim their ivory was procured from Thailand's small population of tamed, working elephants - currently estimated to be about 3 000.
"Domesticated elephants are not protected by wildlife laws. There is nothing that makes it illegal to sell ivory from domestic elephants in Thailand," Robert Mather, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) country representative for Thailand, pointed out.
"If you own an elephant and that elephant dies, you are entitled to sell the ivory from that elephant and there's nothing to say that's illegal. But the problem is that there is no system and no laws to manage and regulate this trade."
Mather said it was very difficult to prove that ivory products in shops were made from illegally imported ivory, and not from a domestic elephant.
He said there were not many captive elephants in Thailand with decent sized tusks to provide legal ivory to the market.
"The vast majority of ivory sold here - between 80 to 90% - is from Africa," he claimed.
According to a new study by Traffic, the wildlife trade monitoring network, ivory markets in Asia and Africa continue to be drivers of illegal killing of thousands of elephants annually.
Arrived in suitcases
Functioning as major suppliers, manufacturing centres and end-use markets for ivory, Thailand and China in Asia, and Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Nigeria in Africa, were identified in the report as the six most highly implicated countries in illegal ivory trading worldwide.
Based on a statistical analysis of more than 9 400 elephant product seizure records held in the Elephant Trade Information System (Etis), the Traffic report will be a formal agenda item for discussion at the Bangkok Cites conference.
In 2002, according to Thai Customs records, ivory worth nine million baht (about US$225 000) was seized in five separate raids at the Bangkok international airport.
"Most of it (the ivory) seems to be coming in suitcases from African countries in airlines originating from Ethiopia and the Gulf countries," Mather told IPS.
China was the world's largest consumer market for ivory and according to Traffic if the Chinese demand is abated, there would be significant difference in the current upward trend of trade in illicit ivory.
"You can often tell from the design of the different products which target market they are aiming for. If you see ivory sculptures with Chinese gods and goddesses, these are obviously aimed at the Chinese market," pointed out Mather.
Traffic's Director Tom Milliken, principal author of the report to Cites, said progress was being made by China to crackdown on the illegal ivory trade.
- SAPA