- Who is buying ivory? (need to find source)
1) China
2) USA
3) Thailand
4) Hong Kong
5) Taiwan
6) Vietnam
7) Philippines
8) Japan
9) Malaysia
10) Singapore
11) India
- Who is selling ivory?
• poachers in Africa/Asia
• legal tusk shavings/cuts from captive elephants from all over the world
• Auction Houses in the USA
HISTORY (need to find more)
Ivory has been traded for hundreds of years by people in such regions as Greenland, Alaska, and Siberia. The trade, in more recent times, has led to endangerment of species, resulting in restrictions and bans. Ivory was formerly used to make piano keys and other decorative items because of the white color it presents when processed but the piano industry abandoned ivory as a key covering material in the 1970s.
Elephant ivory has been exported from Africa and Asia for centuries with records going back to the 14th century BC. Throughout the colonisation of Africa ivory was removed, often using slaves to carry the tusks, to be used for piano keys, billiard balls and other expressions of exotic wealth.[3]
Ivory hunters were responsible for wiping out elephants in North Africa perhaps about 1,000 years ago, in much of South Africa in the 19th century and most of West Africa by the end of the 20th century. At the peak of the ivory trade, pre 20th century, during the colonisation of Africa, around 800 to 1,000 tonnes of ivory was sent to Europe alone.[4]
World wars and the subsequent economic depressions caused a lull in this luxury commodity, but increased prosperity in the early 1970s saw a resurgence. Japan, relieved from its exchange restrictions imposed after World War II, started to buy up raw (unworked) ivory. This started to put pressure on the forest elephants of Africa and Asia, both of which were used to supply the hard ivory preferred by the Japanese for the production of hankos, or name seals. Prior to this period, most name seals had been made from wood with an ivory tip, carved with the signature. But increased prosperity saw the formerly unseen solid ivory hankos in mass production. Softer ivory from East Africa and southern Africa was traded for souvenirs, jewellery and trinkets.
By the 1970s, Japan consumed about 40% of the global trade; another 40% was consumed by Europe and North America, often worked in Hong Kong, which was the largest trade hub, with most of the rest remaining in Africa. China, yet to become the economic force of today, consumed small amounts of ivory to keep its skilled carvers in business. (from Wikipedia)
• In 2008, the International Trade and Endangered Species (part of the U.N.) declared China an "Approved Ivory Trading Country", allowing a one-time legal sale of ivory from 4 South African countries. 62 tons were imported at that time. This re-opened illegal trade because officials could no longer tell the difference between "antique" and "new" ivory. (Smithsonian)• In 2014, a new ban on all commercial ivory sales in the US created stricter antique documentation.
LAWS
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Internal Affairs
- Moves to Ban Commercial Elephant Ivory Trade
- How to interact with your ivory in the U.S.
What Other Species Are Affected By Banning Ivory?
Wikipedia- Brief history of the Ivory Trade (need more on this)
Current (2014) U.S. interaction with Ivory Trade - article
Resistance to the Ivory Trade
• Anti-poaching groups around the world protest
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| Protests outside shop in Hong Kong that sells large amounts of Ivory http://hongwrong.com/hong-kong-ivory-2/ |
• U.S. massive ivory crushing
• China massive ivory crushing
