Asian gangs fueling the illegal ivory trade
Asian gangs fueling the illegal ivory trade
mongabay.com
May 13, 2007
Asian-run organized crime syndicates based in Africa are behind the rising illegal trade in elephant ivory, reports TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network of WWF and IUCN-The World Conservation Union.
The study found that the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon and Nigeria are the primary sources for poached ivory.
“Markets in China create a high demand for illicit ivory, which arrives either directly or through ports such as Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. Japan and Thailand are also important final destinations, whereas the Philippines mainly acts as a transit country linked to the major importers,” said WWF in a statement. “Together, these seven countries and territories account for 62 per cent of the ivory recovered in the 49 largest seizure cases recorded… in the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) — the world’s largest database of elephant product seizure records.”
The TRAFFIC study shows that ivory seizures average 92 cases a month, or three per day, and that large-scale ivory seizures (of 1 metric ton or more) have increased both in number and in size in recent years.
“This demonstrates greater sophistication, organization and finance behind the illegal movement of ever larger volumes of ivory from Africa to Asia,” said Dr. Susan Lieberman, Director WWF’s Global Species Programme. “This is clearly a negative consequence of the ongoing globalization of African markets and economies.”
The report comes a month after a study in the journal Public Library of Science revealed links between elephant poaching and presence of logging roads in Central Africa.
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This article is based on a news release from WWF.