Hong Kong government 'aiding and abetting' illegal ivory trade, say 50 wildlife groups
Wildlife groups urge the environment chief to block licences that allow smugglers to send illegal stocks to carving factories across border
The government was accused of "aiding and abetting" the illegal ivory trade as more than 50 wildlife protection groups urged it to take new measures to curb the industry and fight an "elephant poaching epidemic in Africa".
In a letter submitted on Tuesday to Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing, the 51 NGOs - including WWF Hong Kong and the Jane Goodall Institute - demanded the government stop issuing import and re-export licences for so-called pre-convention elephant ivory.
Pre-convention ivory refers to elephant tusks in worldwide circulation prior to an international agreement formed in 1975 limiting trade in endangered species.
Hong Kong is considered a primary importer of this type of ivory as the raw material makes its way to carving factories on the mainland.
Ivory traders in the city are exploiting rules that let them import pre-convention ivory, by laundering recently poached illegal ivory into the legal market, according to the campaigners behind the letter.
"The Hong Kong government is aiding and abetting an illegal trade," said Alex Hofford, a wildlife campaigner for WildAid and co-author of the letter. "Government-issued paperwork is giving ivory traders a licence to print money.
"Traders are turning a blind eye to where the ivory goes. Criminal buyers of pre-convention raw ivory are smuggling it across Hong Kong's internationally recognised border with China to feed an insatiable demand from the mainland's ivory carving factories. Certainly Hong Kong is not the final destination for these raw ivory tusks."