US takes on China over its ivory loophole

BEIJING: A senior US official has told China that its legal imports of ivory provide a loophole for illegal traders, and it needs to understand the importance of wildlife NGOs.

China signed a pact banning global trade in ivory in 1981, but secured an exemption in 2008 to buy 62 tons of ivory from several African countries. It releases part of this stockpile to government-licensed ivory carving factories each year.

China, the world’s biggest consumer of elephant tusks, said in February it would ban the import of African ivory carvings for one year, but conservationists say the country’s growing appetite for the contraband imports has fuelled a surge in poaching in Africa.

Sally Jewell, the US Secretary of the Interior, said she met Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Yang and other officials in Beijing yesterday.

“We talked about the fact that legal ivory trade becomes a loophole that ille gal trade moves in. They understand that.”

Jewell said the discussions also touched on the trade in pangolins, turtles and tortoises, but not on black market sales of tiger products in China, which conservationists have long criticised. Many in China believe tiger bones and bile have medicinal properties.

US and Chinese officials agreed at high-level talks in Washington last week to work together to end the “massacre” of wildlife and reduce illegal wildlife trafficking.

Jewell said no agreements had been signed and China had not yet committed to a timeline for ending ivory import. “There is an intent to move in that direction.”

Her visit is to lay the groundwork for agreements on wildlife trafficking that the two countries’ leaders may sign next time they meet. Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama are to meet in September.

Jewell said she emphasised the importance of NGOs in combating wildlife trafficking, including those in China.

China’s government has intensified a clampdown on foreign and domestic NGOs. – Reuters