Beginning of the end for ivory in China

The doors to the ivory trade in China have closed, as the world started 2018 a step closer to a land free of the slaughter of endangered animals.

That was the message from the State Forestry Administration, which said the country has honored its commitment to end commercial processing and sales of ivory by the end of 2017, calling it a “new year gift to the elephant”.

It means all 34 processing enterprises and 143 designated trading venues have closed in what was once the world’s largest ivory market.

Rising wealth, a growing appreciation of ivory as part of Chinese cultural heritage, its value as a status symbol and popular gift, and a sense that it was an inflation-proof investment created a boom in the industry and an opportunity for global crime syndicates to exploit.

In 2015, China announced it would ban imports of ivory and ivory products. (Photo 1)