UK ivory trade debate follows China's commitment to total ivory ban
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Confiscated ivory to be destroyed at Beijing Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Beijing, capital of China. [Photo: Xinhua]

In the next few hours, British MPs will begin debating the ivory trade, after more than one hundred thousand people signed a petition calling for the UK to ban its domestic trade completely. Last year, China committed to a total ban, and campaigners are hoping the UK will follow suit.

Dan Ashby sent this report from Tanzania, a country often described as the world’s poaching hotspot.The debate over ivory has gone on for decades,but Britain’s politicians are being asked to act with urgency.

It is still legal in the UK to trade ivory that was bought before 1947. But now a petition has forced MPs to debate whether they should ban it completely.

“Well they better hurry up!”

Conservationist and campaigner Malcolm Ryen, says it’s about closing loopholes.

“The possibility of trading antiques allows for such loopholes, because it’s very difficult to regulate and prove that the ivory was actually acquired before the total ban. So as a sign to all other countries, it should absolutely ban all trade - including in the antiques.”

And it is countries like Tanzania that are suffering because of the trade.Sixty per cent of the country’s elephants were slaughtered in the five years to 2014.

And many of those illegal tusks were smuggled into legal markets in Asia.

But last month Chinese people took to the streets of Tanzania, demanding an end to the trade.

And Beijing now says it will enforce a total ban by the end of the year.

Tanzania’s former President Benjamin Mkapa welcomed the move.

“They deserve our heartiest congratulations, because it’s the trade that encourages the traders and poachers. If it is banned, they will have no market, and therefore they will be dissuaded in engaging in this terrible activity.”

The UK only represents a small market for ivory traders, far tinier than Asia.

But a leading charity in Kenya, the David Sheldrick Trust, says it has fallen behind.

The British Government says it’s made a manifesto commitment to ban ivory. And that it’s consulting on ways forward.

But campaigners say time is of the essence: 20,000 elephants were killed last year alone.

And by the end of the MPs’ debate, another 50 elephants will be dead.

Author： 　　　Source：CRI　　　 Editor：Yang Fan