Mr. Christy gave a presentation about his investigation before the tusk destruction. He said there is very little punishment for the crime of wildlife trafficking.
“Wildlife trafficking is among the most profitable forms, perhaps the most profitable form, of illegal transnational crime because of the penalties. The profits are good. But the penalties are close to zero.”
Mr. Christy noted that in 1989, Kenya burned 13 tons of ivory tusks. At that time, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species banned the ivory trade worldwide. He says the ban worked until the convention let some ivory be sold in Japan in 1999 and again in China in 2008. The reporter says China’s demand for ivory goes along with its rising economy.
The National Geographic investigation found that ivory is mainly used for religious carvings in China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Mr. Christy says the ivory trade is a 50-million-dollar-a-year industry and may be much larger, because only about 10 percent of the trade has been discovered.
Still, the representative of the Lusaka Agreement Task Force expressed hope about the public destruction of ivory in Manila. Bonaventure Ebayi said it could bring about a bigger change than the one in Kenya in 1989. He said, “This is the first time that a consuming country decides voluntarily to destroy the ivory. It is a stronger message.”
Philippine environmental officials say the current price for raw ivory is about 200 dollars per kilogram.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25