UK to vote on Ivory ban

China will go head to head with governments such as the UK, as it attempts to make a stand against the 1989 law by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, to become a licensed ivory buyer.

The demand for ivory in China is on the increase, and the warning is, if they become a licensed buyer, then there will be, subsequently, an increase in illegal poaching.

The ban, which came into place in 1989, highlighted the issue of the population of elephants, which decreased from 1.3 million to just 625,000 within a 10 year period.

In 1997 an auction took place for ivory, said only to be from elephants which died from natural causes, with Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia included.

Then in 1999 Japan was included, and now with the potential for a future auction, China wants to be in the mix of things.

The fact of the matter is, the present climate suggests the ivory is legally sourced, but with more countries involved, and demand increasing, it would only be a matter of time before major poaching operations began again.

Around 20,000 elephants are being killed every year already, just to feed the needs of the trade.