China needs to act on illegal ivory trade: EIA

LONDON, May 31 Kyodo

China has the largest illegal ivory trade in the world and its government must take more action to remedy the problem, environmentalists said Thursday.

Despite an international ban, ivory from the tusks of African elephants continues to be smuggled into China to feed its lucrative market, the Environmental Investigation Agency claims in a report launched in London.

And campaigners fears that as Chinese companies prepare souvenirs for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, more illegal ivory will be required.

The ban came into effect in most countries in 1989, and in China two years later, but the EIA claims China has been lax at enforcing the regulations on imports and exports.

It also describes a scheme to register ivory that was acquired before the ban as flawed: Some people have been able to register post-ban (ie. illegal) ivory as pre-ban ivory, merely by claiming to have forgotten to register it in the first place. This ivory is then classed as legitimate and can be traded freely in the domestic market or exported to lucrative markets, including Japan and Europe.

The EIA also claims that, according to traders, illegal ivory seized by the Chinese authorities has ''disappeared'' into government stocks and been sold on to them.

On the plus side for Beijing, the EIA notes that ''recent commendable efforts'' by the government to suppress the illegal trade, ''have resulted in some high-profile seizures as well as restrictions on ivory product sales.''

Allan Thornton, spokesman for the EIA, said, ''The Chinese government's determination to host a ''Green Olympics'' in 2008 will be badly tainted if it continues to protect a domestic ivory trade that is fuelling widespread poaching and illegal trade across several continents.

''The country's very belated efforts to ratchet up enforcement operations against large-scale smuggling and commercial trade in ivory are not enough to prevent a 21st century African elephant disaster, driven by Chinese consumer demand.''

The EIA would like to see China ban the domestic trade in ivory and boost enforcement procedures.

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