Africa's elephant herds are being targeted by poachers feeding a booming market for ivory in emerging colossus China, wildlife groups say.
JOHANNESBURG — Africa's elephant herds are being targeted by poachers feeding a booming market for ivory in emerging colossus China, wildlife groups say.
"The major driving force for illegal ivory is demand in China which is facilitated by unregulated markets," said Jason Bell-Leask, the southern African director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
Analysts say China's briskly growing economy is creating an insatiable demand for ivory, mirroring its appetite for other African commodities such as oil, coal and copper.
But while most African resources are powering Chinese industry, ivory is sought as a luxury item by a new middle class that covets it as an ancient symbol of wealth and status.
The white substance is used in ornate carvings and jewellery.
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"The ivory market in China continues to be the most important influence (in the illegal trade)," said a report last year prepared by the Elephant Trade Information System.
The report looked at records from 75 countries or territories of 9,426 seizures of illicit elephant products from 1989 -- when a global ban was imposed on trade in ivory to stem a slaughter of African elephants -- and 2004.
"The data show that the volume of ivory seized declined from 1989 to 1994, then gradually increased from 1995 onwards, though never to levels prior to 1992," it said.
"If Chinese demand is removed, the trend line is essentially flat from 1994 onwards, indicating that this single market alone accounts for the increase in illegal trade in ivory in recent years," it concluded.
SCRATCHING THE SURFACE
Researchers say anecdotal evidence and new data suggests the report only scratched the surface of China's ivory market.
"Since the report was published I visited China and discovered that there were far more seizures than had been reported," said Tom Milliken, one of the report's authors.
"The over 9,000 seizures that we looked at in the report included only 200 from China, though China was the final destination for many of the seizures from other countries. But Shanghai Customs alone reported from January 2000 to December 31, 2004, that they had made 486 ivory seizures," he told Reuters.
Increasing seizures in illegal ivory almost certainly mean that elephants are being killed for their tusks but there is no hard data on the poaching of the pachyderms.
"There is no reliable estimate on illegal elephant killings but there are lots of disturbing reports out of places like the Democratic Republic of Congo which suggest it is on the increase to meet the new demand for ivory," said IFAW's Bell-Leask.
One recent study suggested that 4,000 or more elephants are being killed each year for the illicit ivory market.
If the past is any guide, surging demand from a new market should push up the price and entice even more poachers.
The price of ivory soared in the 1970s to meet fresh demand from newly affluent Japan, triggering a wave of poaching.
"The price of ivory jumped from $5.50 per kilo in 1969 to $7.50 in 1970 ... to $120 in 1987; and to $300 in 1989," writes Martin Meredith in his book "Africa's Elephant: A Biography".
"Elephants in the bush were suddenly worth small fortunes, not just to poachers but to a host of middlemen ... who settled over the trade like flies," he writes.
BLOOD-SOAKED MARKET
Hundreds of thousands of African elephants were slain for this lucrative but blood-soaked market for two decades until 1989, when the global ban on ivory sales was imposed. Countries such as Kenya were hard hit by ruthless and heavily armed gangs of poachers prowling the bush with impunity.
Conservationists say the ban on the trade, which has seen only limited easings for one-off auctions, halted the killings.
The World Conservation Union, a body whose estimates on animal populations are among the most authoritative, says elephant numbers in east and southern Africa are rising.
It said surveys showed elephant numbers in the two regions rose to 355,000 from 283,000 in the five years to 2002 -- a growth rate of about 4.5 percent per year.
Conservationists worry the new demand for ivory could provoke another round of slaughter.
And unlike other Asian states that provided the market in the past, China has a growing presence in Africa -- which means middlemen to facilitate the trade.
"The Japanese never established a commercial foothold in Africa for the ivory trade. But China by contrast is mushrooming its presence in Africa," Milliken said.
"This gives China access to both legal and illegal commodities. There have been numerous ivory seizures in Africa which involve Chinese nationals so we know they are engaged in the trade as one feature of their presence on the continent."
He said the Chinese government was aware of the problem and was trying to crack down on the trade -- but like all illegal activities that made lots of cash, this was difficult.
Source: Reuters
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