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An intricately carved piece of ivory in China - Source: Reuters -
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Tucked into a grimy building in Guangzhou, a small band of
Chinese master carvers chip away at ivory tusks with chisels,
fashioning them into the sorts of intricate carvings that were
prized by Chinese emperors.
A passion for ivory ornaments such as these is what helped decimate
African and Asian elephant populations until a 1989 ban on ivory
trade.
Today, China's economic rise, and along with it a seemingly insatiable appetite for status symbols by its nouveau riche, has spurred demand for African ivory.
In remote pockets of Africa, such as the Tsavo East region in
Kenya where giraffe wander lazily across tarmac freshly laid by
Chinese labourers; and in teeming market towns on the banks of the
Nile in Sudan where Chinese barter and buy ivory openly; the
Chinese imprint is conspicuous and growing.
"The Chinese are all over Africa and are buying up ivory, worked
and raw," said Esmond Martin, a conservationist who has closely
tracked Chinese involvement in the black market ivory trade.
"The last time I was up in Khartoum or Omdurman I found that about
75% of all the ivory being sold was bought by Chinese," he
added.
In a 2007 report, the UN-backed CITES, the global wildlife trade
watchdog, said China faced a major challenge as it continues to be
the most important country globally as a destination for illicit
ivory, exacerbated in part by China's spreading influence and ties
in Africa.
Chinese nationals have been arrested and convicted for ivory
smuggling in Africa and organised crime gangs are also involved in
bringing large quantities of illicit ivory into China, according to
the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency.
In a controversial bid to stem illegal poaching, CITES allowed a
62-tonne batch of elephant tusks to be imported legally into China
last year.
The ivory stockpiles were bought by Chinese traders at
auctions.
At the time, Allan Thornton, of the Environmental Investigation
Agency, expressed concern the sale would fuel a massive appetite
for ivory in China.
"In a country of 1.3 billion people, demand for ivory from just
a fraction of one per cent of the population is colossal," he told
the Telegraph newspaper.
Ivory has been banned since 1989 after decades of poaching in which
Africa's elephant population was halved with only around 600,000
remaining by 1997, according to conservation groups.
The CITES secretariat in Geneva noted a trend of long-time
expatriate Chinese residents in Africa getting heavily involved in
the trade, while quite a number of lower-level ivory couriers
recently arrested have been mainland Chinese residents.
While most countries enforce the ban on ivory, in recent years
China and Japan have been permitted to buy non-poached ivory from
several African countries in a move aimed at raising money for
wildlife conservation, and to smother demand for poached ivory with
a steady flow of cheaper tusks.
"If the demand is supplied by legal origin ivory, then that should
begin to close the doors for the criminals," said John Sellar, a
senior enforcement officer for CITES in Geneva.
He added the two-decade long ivory ban had helped stabilise overall
elephant numbers, with only scattered local populations under any
real serious threat from poachers in countries such as Chad and the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
While only around 4,000 wild tigers remain worldwide, he noted, in
Botswana alone there are more than 130,000 wild elephants.
"The elephant as a species is no way in danger," he added.
Growing demand
Within China, officials who regulate the domestic ivory trade said
there hasn't been a conspicuous increase in ivory consumption given
tight laws and controls that restrict ivory sales and manufacturing
to some 130 addresses nationwide.
Yet this year alone, an extra 37 stores were approved as new,
official ivory retail outlets.
There have also been telling signs on the ground.
In Guangzhou's antiques market, numerous stalls were openly selling
uncertified ivory from trinkets to large carved tusks.
"I can get you as much as you like," said one dealer with the
surname Wu, who was asking 8000 Yuan ($1,584) for a small carved
ivory Buddha's head and a similar price for an elaborate fan.
"Come back later this afternoon," she added.
At another stall in the market, a small painted tusk was
prominently displayed in a bustling alleyway.
"Guangzhou has especially close economic ties with Africa and there
are tens of thousands of African (traders) there, so we cannot
discount the possibility they are bringing ivory in," said Wan
Ziming, the director of law enforcement and training at the CITES
management authority of China.
"Guangzhou has become a hub for the smuggling of ivory," added Wan
whose department which is under the Chinese government's State
Forestry Administration.
CITES rejects claims by animal rights groups that controlled ivory
sales worsen the illegal trade, instead saying poaching levels are
more closely linked to governance problems and political
instability in African regions.
But Professor Xu Hongfa, the China director of TRAFFIC, the
wildlife trade monitoring network, says enforcement needs to
improve across China with evidence of contraband ivory seeping
across China to places as far afield as Tibet.
A TRAFFIC researcher currently carrying out field investigations
across China and who requested anonymity given the sensitive nature
of her work, says the illegal ivory trade is now rife across China
with contraband ivory at least a third cheaper than in official
stores.
Meanwhile, after having been starved of fresh African ivory for
years and scraping by on rare and price excavated mammoth tusks,
Chinese carvers hope the recent availability of ivory will keep
their ancient craft alive.
"This will help us survive," said 77-year-old Li Dingning who has
watched Guangzhou's once booming ivory industry get whittled down
to around 100 master carvers including himself.
"Only if you have the raw materials to work with, will people learn
(to carve ivory). If not, then everyone will find other jobs," Li
added.
Carvers are banking on more of China's affluent masses buying their
wares which are seen as status symbols and can cost hundreds of
thousands of dollars.
"Before the 1990's you couldn't buy ivory within China. We used to
only export our carvings," Li said, as he stood before a monumental
ivory boat carved from a single massive tusk, with thousands of
miniature figurines milling over multiple decks.
"But now it can be freely circulated so there are more people than
ever who want to buy ivory carvings and products."
