Elephant trade, ivory trade, illegal hunting and trade of elephants and ivory | Big Environmental Issues

This is part of our series/section titled Current Big Environmental Issues Summary Trackers

Summary overview and brief background:

The ivory trade and associated ramifications in business markets has been going on since ancient times.  More broadly perhaps, are the tusks and teeth of usually larger animals.  Some of the animals that tusks and teeth were extracted from might have become smaller in stature over time, or the tusks and teeth themselves smaller and hence less profitable, or the animals have become extinct or nearly so, or different combinations of these.

Over the past few centuries, studies have shown ivory to have been used for a spectrum of uses, from the tusks themselves, to jewelry, to decorative objects such as door handles, to piano keys, knife handles found in museums and other weapons to gun handles, and modern electrical uses.  Ivory is known to be used for carvings.

For example, the Brooklyn Museum has a knife handle that they have dated going back about 5000 years ago, attributed to Egypt.  Scholastic searches for ivory inscriptions and carvings will yield numerous findings over the eras manifestations of historical developments in them.

This entry focuses on elephants.  Ivory generally is developed from the tusks of the elephants.

In short, usually in order to get to the ivory, interested parties had to get to the elephant.

Elephants are most commonly found in the wild in Saharan and Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as further east, such as in India and even China.

 

What are the main issues?

Hunters in pursuit of ivory have on many occasions killed the entire elephant, just for the sake of obtaining the ivory.

So much hunting has been done that some elephant species are on the verge of being extinct, if they haven’t been already.

In the past few years, post year 2000, elephants have been killed in statistics such the 10s of thousands year, possibly over a hundred thousand.

In an effort to protect the elephants, and minimize the repercussions of dead elephants on the environment killed for no other reason than the tusks, laws and regulations have been devised and implemented.  These laws include banning international trade of ivory.

Still, there are some who wish to break the laws in their want for more ivory.

Which brings us to where we are today, which is illegal poaching and hunting of elephants, and matters pertinent the ivory trade.  Criminality to keep illegal aspects of the trade going continues to evolve with respect to suppressive regulations and enforcement.

Boycotting ivory products plausibly has been a strategy employed or promulgated by certain groups in the protective effort.

 

Who are the major players in the arena?

  • Local jurisdiction authorities where elephants are found in the wild
  • Chinese State Forestry Bureau
  • CITES- United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
    • AEAP- African Elephant Action Plan
  • IFAW- International Fund for Animal Welfare
  • http://www.bloodyivory.org/
  • ETIS- Elephant Trade Information System
    • (not to be confused with ETIS International, Environmental Technologies – Information Systems)
  • World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
  • WWF Kuiburi Wildlife Conservation project (Thailand)
  • Task Force in India dedicated to the cause

Where is this all taking place?

As said above, elephants located in Africa and southern regions of Asia, especially around India, poaching laws are present there.  Bans on the trade of ivory is on an international level.  Participants in the effort to reduce unlawful poaching, hunting, and trading likewise come from the world over.

Quick timeline of developments:

Ancient ivory trade

Elephants identified as endangered, such as in India in the late 1950s

International bans on ivory trading, 1980s

Regulations set in place in local regions to reduce hunting and poaching

Debating the viability of all aspects of bans on elephant ivory trading occurrences

Increasing international attention to the matter in forums such as conferences, websites and fundraising, today 2000, 2016, and foreseeable future