Nearly all poached elephant tusks are smuggled on ships from Africa to Asian ports, with 70% to 90% going to China. Although recent reports focus on this illegal ivory, many of China’s tusks arrived a few years back as legal stockpiled ivory. “Stockpiled ivory” refers to tusks that game scouts confiscated from poachers or picked up in the bush. In 2004, CITES gave final approval for the sale of 108 tons of stockpiled tusks from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe to China. These legal tusks arrived in China around 2010.
By a weird twist, these tusks ignited the recent elephant poaching crisis. Each time the Chinese government sold a tusk to a dealer, the dealer got a certificate. Because nobody knows by looking at a certificate which tusk goes with it, the dealers started re-using the certificates to justify the sale of poached tusks. These certificates became so valuable that a dealer would pay several hundred thousand dollars for one. In 2013, CITES recognized the problem when it said, “The legality of any particular piece of ivory comes down to paperwork, and weaknesses in the paper trail can allow illicit ivory to be sold as licit.” The result: as long as these certificates are valid, illegal ivory sales in China – and illegal elephant killing in Africa – will continue. The system is now so corrupt that dealers can sell hundreds of ivory pieces with one certificate.
But no more. In December 2016, the Chinese government announced that it is closing almost all ivory sales. It will no longer sell the stockpiled ivory it owns. Legal ivory owned by dealers, factories, artisans, collectors and investors may not be sold forward. All certificates will be invalid. Thus, buyers and sellers will be forced underground. This is added layer of complexity in making a sale is great news for elephants.
Although news outlets are calling the new ban a “shutdown,” there are loopholes, and there will be a quasi-legal market. For example, the Chinese government says some “ivory relics” may still be “certified” and sold. The vague wording gives the Chinese government the chance to commission artists to create legal “relics,” which increases the value of government tusks and allows the government a small market. The vagueness could also mean that a newly poached tusk, carved into a national symbol, could be considered a relic and therefore sold, which would encourage people and poachers to continue collecting ivory.
Another problem is that the Chinese government plans to sell registered relics “under strict monitoring and administrative approval.” Since China has already proven it cannot control a registry, ivory lovers and poachers may see yet another opening.
The Chinese government has also announced that people may continue to give ivory as gifts. Although this seems harmless to westerners, carved ivory in China is made into intricate artwork with great financial value. Pieces are bought and sold like stocks. By using the term “gift,” people will be able to use ivory as payment and bribes.
In addition to keeping a small legal market with potential hazards, China will soon be facing a booming underground market. The ivory in the soon-to-be defunct factories and shops will need to be bought and sold somewhere. The hundred or so authorized ivory repair shops (that are not closing because people are still allowed to own ivory) will become fertile grounds for future sales. Secret markets in distant Chinese provinces where the central government has little oversight will grow. The market will increase in Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar, countries with poor policing, and on WeChat and Baidu Post Bar, internet sites with open ivory sales. Significantly, since Hong Kong is still open for ivory sales, Chinese dealers and carvers will still be able to get ivory from and sell ivory inside Hong Kong.
Most importantly, no country is closed to an ivory market when its government keeps tons of raw tusks sitting in a warehouse with no promise to destroy it. As long as the Chinese government is harboring twenty to forty tons of tusks, they are sending a signal to the Chinese people (and the people killing elephants in Africa) that one day, the Chinese ivory trade may be legal again. This alone will keep the underground market alive and poachers in the bush with their guns.
By a weird twist, these tusks ignited the recent elephant poaching crisis. Each time the Chinese government sold a tusk to a dealer, the dealer got a certificate. Because nobody knows by looking at a certificate which tusk goes with it, the dealers started re-using the certificates to justify the sale of poached tusks. These certificates became so valuable that a dealer would pay several hundred thousand dollars for one. In 2013, CITES recognized the problem when it said, “The legality of any particular piece of ivory comes down to paperwork, and weaknesses in the paper trail can allow illicit ivory to be sold as licit.” The result: as long as these certificates are valid, illegal ivory sales in China – and illegal elephant killing in Africa – will continue. The system is now so corrupt that dealers can sell hundreds of ivory pieces with one certificate.
But no more. In December 2016, the Chinese government announced that it is closing almost all ivory sales. It will no longer sell the stockpiled ivory it owns. Legal ivory owned by dealers, factories, artisans, collectors and investors may not be sold forward. All certificates will be invalid. Thus, buyers and sellers will be forced underground. This is added layer of complexity in making a sale is great news for elephants.
Although news outlets are calling the new ban a “shutdown,” there are loopholes, and there will be a quasi-legal market. For example, the Chinese government says some “ivory relics” may still be “certified” and sold. The vague wording gives the Chinese government the chance to commission artists to create legal “relics,” which increases the value of government tusks and allows the government a small market. The vagueness could also mean that a newly poached tusk, carved into a national symbol, could be considered a relic and therefore sold, which would encourage people and poachers to continue collecting ivory.
Another problem is that the Chinese government plans to sell registered relics “under strict monitoring and administrative approval.” Since China has already proven it cannot control a registry, ivory lovers and poachers may see yet another opening.
The Chinese government has also announced that people may continue to give ivory as gifts. Although this seems harmless to westerners, carved ivory in China is made into intricate artwork with great financial value. Pieces are bought and sold like stocks. By using the term “gift,” people will be able to use ivory as payment and bribes.
In addition to keeping a small legal market with potential hazards, China will soon be facing a booming underground market. The ivory in the soon-to-be defunct factories and shops will need to be bought and sold somewhere. The hundred or so authorized ivory repair shops (that are not closing because people are still allowed to own ivory) will become fertile grounds for future sales. Secret markets in distant Chinese provinces where the central government has little oversight will grow. The market will increase in Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar, countries with poor policing, and on WeChat and Baidu Post Bar, internet sites with open ivory sales. Significantly, since Hong Kong is still open for ivory sales, Chinese dealers and carvers will still be able to get ivory from and sell ivory inside Hong Kong.
Most importantly, no country is closed to an ivory market when its government keeps tons of raw tusks sitting in a warehouse with no promise to destroy it. As long as the Chinese government is harboring twenty to forty tons of tusks, they are sending a signal to the Chinese people (and the people killing elephants in Africa) that one day, the Chinese ivory trade may be legal again. This alone will keep the underground market alive and poachers in the bush with their guns.
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