China Says It Will Shut Down Ivory Trade By End of 2017 (go.com) 67
An anonymous reader quotes a report from ABC News: China says it plans to shut down its ivory trade by the end of 2017 in a move designed to curb the mass slaughter of African elephants. The Chinese government will end the processing and selling of ivory and ivory products by the end of March as it phases out the legal trade, according to a statement released on Friday. China had previously announced it planned to shut down the commercial trade, which conservationists described as significant because China's vast, increasingly affluent consumer market drives much of the elephant poaching across Africa. China, which has supported an ivory-carving industry as part of its cultural heritage, said carvers will be encouraged to change their activities and work, for example, in the restoration of artifacts for museums. More efforts will be made to stop the illegal trade, the statement said. China has allowed trade in ivory acquired before a 1989 ban on the ivory trade by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which seeks to regulate the multi-billion-dollar trade in wild animals and plants. The number of Africa's savannah elephants dropped by about 30 percent from 2007 to 2014, to 352,000, because of poaching, according to a study published this year. Forest elephants, which are more difficult to count, are also under severe threat.
this is not news for nerds, stuff that matters (Score:2, Insightful)
this is not news for nerds, stuff that matters
Re:this is not news for nerds, stuff that matters (Score:5, Insightful)
Well it might matter to science nerds like biologists that may wish to study large African land mammals.
Re: (Score:1)
It might also matter to eco-nerds, who appreciate a complex biosphere in general.
Re: (Score:1)
Also to people, of whom nerds are a subclass.
Re: (Score:3)
What a coincidence. (Score:1)
Re:What a coincidence. (Score:5, Informative)
What? You think the Chinese fucking CARE?
This is from a 2013 Time article [time.com] (emphasis added):
In a 2007 survey, the IFAW [International Fund for Animal Welfare] discovered that 70% of Chinese polled did not know that ivory came from dead elephants. This led to the organization's first ad campaign- a simple poster explaining the actual origins of ivory. A campaign evaluation earlier this year found that the ad, promoted by the world's largest outdoor advertising company JC Decaux, had been seen by 75% by China's urban population, and heavily impacted their view on ivory. Among people classified as "high risk"- that is, those likeliest to buy ivory- the proportion who would actually do so after seeing the ad was almost slashed by half.
Re: (Score:2)
70% of Chinese polled did not know that ivory came from dead elephants.
Does it have to? Why not cut the tusks off live elephants? That would remove the incentive to poach them.
Re: (Score:3)
Does it have to? Why not cut the tusks off live elephants? That would remove the incentive to poach them.
They've actually done this - cut off rhino horns as well, for the same reason. But there are a couple problems...
- It's a rather expensive thing to do per-animal, both in terms of time, money and manpower. It's hard to keep ahead of the poachers, who have a much simpler task to plan for.
- It has a deleterious impact on the ability of the animals to defend themselves.
Re: (Score:1)
You didn't mention that they have to stalk the rhino to sight it - that can take days. When it turns out the horn is cut off, they shoot it so they don't waste the time of stalking it again.
So cutting off the horn to save the rhino is a stupid waste of money.
Re: (Score:2)
When it turns out the horn is cut off, they shoot it so they don't waste the time of stalking it again.
If you cut off the horns of all the rhinos, then they won't stalk them in the first place.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes they will, because there will still be a stub of horn left. You can't completely remove all of the horns without killing it.
Re: (Score:2)
It was not posters it was Yao Ming (Score:1, Interesting)
As someone who lived in China, those posters did jack shit to raise awareness, it was beloved basketball star Yao Ming on TV telling people about the problem that finally raised awareness.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Indeed.
Even if it works perfectly, it is too late. Particularly for the rhinos. I do hope they focus on shark fins before the great whites start entering endangered levels.
Re: (Score:2)
While written with snarky vitriol, your point has merit. The problem is mostly that the populace in China is uneducated and extremely poor, meaning belief in magic and magical cures is still rampant. An educated society is dangerous, so don't look for this to change any time soon.
Re:What a coincidence. (Score:5, Interesting)
While written with snarky vitriol, your point has merit. The problem is mostly that the populace in China is uneducated and extremely poor, meaning belief in magic and magical cures is still rampant. An educated society is dangerous, so don't look for this to change any time soon.
The uneducated and extremely poor receive adulterated concoctions containing little if any of the very expensive raw materials they claim to have. The trade in black market materials for traditional medicine didn't explode because China got poorer but because it got wealthier. Westerner's spend Billions a year in "alternative medicine," like supplements which at best are doing little and at worst are actually harming. The Chinese are not that different in trying to cling to hope when the Medical Community offers little
Re: (Score:1)
Boners. When anybody starts rambling about 'Chinese medicine' remind them that Rhino Horn, various animal organs, etc. are not 'aphrodisiacs.' They are boner pills for aging Chinese losers.
That's the wrong move. Build a market for ivory (Score:1)
You want to keep the elephants alive? Keep the poachers out?
Commercialize ivory. Make it a private market. Have companies make money selling ivory. Make those companies defend and protect their elephants.
Re: (Score:1)
I cannot see it working well in Africa.
It doesn't have to work in Africa. China can raise their own elephants. There are elephants in Yunnan, and a few millennia ago, they used to migrate as far north as the Yellow River Valley. The only problem is that Asiatic elephants have small tusks. But maybe they could import African elephants to Yunnan. The climate is not that different.
Even better would be to clone mammoths, and raise them in Siberia. The have enormous tusks, and there is plenty of unused tundra where they can graze. Also, mammot
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
Does it need to be cheaper than mass graves for elephant poachers? Because I bet we could round up a decent-sized hunting crew. And a few volunteers with shovels.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Commercialize ivory. Make it a private market. Have companies make money selling ivory.
A better solution would be to use genetic engineering to create fake ivory in factories, and use that to flood the market and push down prices.
Re: That's the wrong move. Build a market for ivor (Score:1)
There are already any number of synthetic substitutes for Ivory.
Dove, Dial, Irish Spring...
Doubtful (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
if farming elephants was practical they'd be doing it already.
There is an elephant farm in Thailand [wikipedia.org], but those are the wrong kind of elephant. Asian elephants are much easier to tame and handle than African elephants, and also produce much less ivory.
They burn good ivroy (Score:2)
There are actually large collections of ivory in several southern African countries. And they burned a whole lot recently.
If that ivory were sold, it would raise a lot of cash for looking after elephants. It would also reduce prices for ivory, and make poaching less attractive. Perhaps more importantly, it would make elephants of some value, which could compensate people for the damage they do to crops etc.
Re: (Score:2)
To be clear, most of the stocked ivory is legal. Elephants die naturally. Or are culled when the numbers get excessive.
Re: (Score:2)
Not a farm (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
It was a private market. What part of "phases out the legal trade" is complicated?
Re: (Score:1)
Thay makes the assumption that it's worth (economically) raising/protecting the elephants for their tusks.
It may or may not be, but it's definitely cheaper to just kill wild ones, cheaper enough that there are poachers and not farmers right now.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Make those companies defend and protect their elephants.
And where do you think these elephants come from? Farm them now and maybe in 15-20 years you have a single suitable harvest which can produce a grand total of 2 tusks per animal. Then what?
These aren't chickens. They don't grow in a few months and then start crapping out endless products while rapidly multiplying. The reason that these animals are hunted rather than farmed is dictated by the economics of the trade in the first place.
Re: (Score:3)
Except this is a statement regarding the immediate future - by the end of next year (2017). It's a little different situation than a 5-10-15 year plan.
That means only one thing... (Score:2)
the payoffs will have to be MUCH bigger!
Don't Forget New York (Score:2)
There are some very large Ivory markets in NYC. There's a lot of fake paperwork that says it's old pre-ban or Mammoth ivory. There was a bust back in September of millions of dollars of illegal ivory. It's really only the surface.