Spotlight: China's ivory trade ban heralds new dawn in Africa's elephants protection

NAIROBI, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- The historic decision by China to terminate commercial processing and sale of ivory will usher a new era in protection of Africa's elephants and other iconic species, campaigners and officials have told Xinhua.

China's State Forestry Administration on December 31, 2017 announced the closure of domestic ivory market in line with a pledge made by Beijing at the end of 2016 to strengthen its role in protection of Africa's giant mammals.

The State Forestry Administration said the ivory trade ban was China's "new year gift to the elephant" and will lead to closure of 34 processing enterprises and 143 designated trading venues.

African wildlife campaigners have hailed the precedent setting move by China to ban trade in ivory products, saying it will boost protection of elephants that are facing a host of threats like poaching and shrinking habitat.

Kaddu Sebunya, the president of Nairobi-based African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), said China's ivory trade ban marked a significant milestone in protection of elephants and other giant land mammals inhabiting the world's second largest continent.

"The AWF commends China for the implementation of the ban. Already we have seen the effect by 80 percent decline in seizures of ivory entering China and a shrinking market," Sebunya said.

This is a game changer in curbing elephant poaching and illegal trade in wildlife, he added.

Sebunya noted that Beijing has consistently honored its earlier pledges to be part of global efforts aimed at eradicating the menace of poaching that has put the survival of African elephants at stake.

"China has made good on the commitment it made to the African Union and African States during the 2015 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit to work with Africa in curbing elephant poaching and illegal trade in wildlife," he said.

The closure of ivory market in China is expected to drastically reduce slaughter of African elephants whose population declined by 110,000 over the past decade based on statistics from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Kenyan officials applauded China's far-reaching move to end processing and sale of ivory products, saying it heralded a new dawn in protection of elephants.

"I think this is a positive development and people will be discouraged from carrying out poaching now that a key ivory market has been dismantled. It means poaching will reduce," remarked Paul Gathitu, the spokesman for the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).

He urged Japan and other countries where trade in ivory products is legal to emulate China's example in a bid to save the remaining population of African elephants.

"We want all nations including Japan to take up this call and close their ivory markets," said Gathitu.

China's ivory trade ban won accolades from international conservation lobby groups that have been on the frontlines to save African elephants from looming extinction linked to human actions and climatic shocks.

John Stephenson, the CEO of Stop Ivory, said the survival of African elephants is guaranteed thanks to China's landmark decision to end commercial processing and sale of ivory.

"China's ivory ban is hugely significant and has the potential if enforced to play a huge role in the reduction of poaching levels and thus halt the seemingly inexorable journey towards extinction for the African elephant," said Stephenson.

He decried failure by Japan to outlaw ivory trade despite overwhelming evidence the practice is to blame for escalating the poaching crisis in Africa.

"Japan must not be one of the few remaining countries that regard the desire to buy and sell ivory as acceptable in the face of such devastation," Stephenson added.

Iain Douglas-Hamilton, the founder of Nairobi-based conservation lobby, Save The Elephants, hailed China's enforcement of the ivory trade ban and stressed that public education should be intensified in countries that have legal ivory markets like Japan in order to end the poaching menace in Africa. Enditem