Delay on full ban of ivory trade in Hong Kong could encourage elephant poaching, study shows
While China stopped the sale of ivory last year, Hong Kong’s gradual approach will only see it outlawed in December 2021
The shutdown of mainland China’s domestic ivory market last year may be shifting more of the trade across the border to Hong Kong where a citywide ban is to come into effect in three years, according to a study.
The mismatch in timing of the two bans may be inadvertently widening the window for illegal trading and smuggling, fuelling the poaching of elephants in Africa, researchers suggested.
Beijing implemented a nationwide ban on the ivory trade last year but Hong Kong has opted to phase out the trade gradually, with a complete ban coming into effect only on December 31, 2021.
“Because China prohibited the ivory trade at the end of 2017, there are concerns that the trade will now shift to Hong Kong – and records show this is already happening,” the article, published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, read.
Statistics compiled by the researchers showed that more than seven tonnes of elephant ivory were seized from major shipments within Hong Kong last year, the largest amount seized in a year, and none in the mainland since the ban. Less than a tonne was seized in 2016.