Skip to content
  • Home
  • Our Work
    • Our Work
    • Climate
      • Net Zero Carbon
      • Sustainable Finance
    • Sustainability & Circular Economy
      • Sustainable Palm Oil
      • Circular Economy
    • Nature & Biodiversity
      • Illegal Wildlife Trade
      • Marine Conservation
      • Forest Landscape Restoration
    • Closer to Home
      • Future Sustainability Leaders
      • Green Cities
  • About Us
    • About us
    • Chairman & CEO Message
    • Board of Directors
    • Senior Management
    • Whistleblowing Policy
    • Personal Data Protection Policy
    • Work With Us
    • Volunteering
  • Resources
    • Resources
    • Annual Reports
    • News, Reports & Events
  • Partnerships
    • Partnerships
    • Corporate Partnerships
    • Government Partnerships
    • Philanthropy
  • Home
  • Our Work
    • Our Work
    • Climate
      • Net Zero Carbon
      • Sustainable Finance
    • Sustainability & Circular Economy
      • Sustainable Palm Oil
      • Circular Economy
    • Nature & Biodiversity
      • Illegal Wildlife Trade
      • Marine Conservation
      • Forest Landscape Restoration
    • Closer to Home
      • Future Sustainability Leaders
      • Green Cities
  • About Us
    • About us
    • Chairman & CEO Message
    • Board of Directors
    • Senior Management
    • Whistleblowing Policy
    • Personal Data Protection Policy
    • Work With Us
    • Volunteering
  • Resources
    • Resources
    • Annual Reports
    • News, Reports & Events
  • Partnerships
    • Partnerships
    • Corporate Partnerships
    • Government Partnerships
    • Philanthropy
Menu
  • Support WWF
    • Donate
    • Adopt
    • Fundraiser
  • Support WWF
    • Donate
    • Adopt
    • Fundraiser
  • Home
  • Our Work
    • Our Work
    • Climate
      • Net Zero Carbon
      • Sustainable Finance
    • Sustainability & Circular Economy
      • Sustainable Palm Oil
      • Circular Economy
    • Nature & Biodiversity
      • Illegal Wildlife Trade
      • Marine Conservation
      • Forest Landscape Restoration
    • Closer to Home
      • Future Sustainability Leaders
      • Green Cities
  • About Us
    • About us
    • Chairman & CEO Message
    • Board of Directors
    • Senior Management
    • Whistleblowing Policy
    • Personal Data Protection Policy
    • Work With Us
    • Volunteering
  • Resources
    • Resources
    • Annual Reports
    • News, Reports & Events
  • Partnerships
    • Partnerships
    • Corporate Partnerships
    • Government Partnerships
    • Philanthropy
DONATE
ADOPT
SHOP

Building a future in which people live in harmony with nature

Facebook Instagram Youtube Linkedin Twitter

Home » China gets green light to buy ivory

China gets green light to buy ivory

July 15, 2008

China has been approved as a buyer of African Elephant ivory in a one-off sale from four southern African countries, probably later this year.

The decision was taken to accept China at a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Geneva, Switzerland.

To gain approval, China had to convince CITES it had put in place adequate measures to manage regulated sales and tackle any illegal domestic ivory trade.

“China has acted rather successfully against its own illegal domestic ivory market,” said Tom Milliken of TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network which operates the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) on behalf of CITES.

“Now China should help other countries do the same, especially in Central Africa where elephant poaching is rampant and Chinese nationals have been implicated in moving ivory out of the region.”

China thus joins Japan in having CITES approval to bid in the one-off sale for registered government-owned ivory stockpiles from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The ivory to be sold originates from elephants that died from natural causes or as a result of population management (e.g. problem animal control). None of the ivory is from elephants deliberately killed to obtain their ivory.

A massive illegal trade in ivory caused dramatic declines in many elephant populations in Africa in the 1970s and 1980s, and an international ban on trade in ivory came into effect in January 1990.

“The sight of ivory openly and illegally on sale in many African cities is likely to be a far more powerful encouragement to those contemplating poaching and smuggling than a strictly controlled one-off sale,” said Dr Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF International’s Species Programme.

“The only way to end elephant poaching is through an effective clampdown on illegal domestic ivory markets.”

Since the CITES trade ban, international commercial trade in ivory has legally taken place only once, in 1997, when a one-off sale of raw ivory was approved for Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

The African Elephant range states who export ivory are required by CITES to use the revenue derived from the sale exclusively for elephant conservation and community development programmes within or adjacent to the elephant ranges.

PrevBack to Previous Page
NextNext

RELATED PUBLICATIONS

RELATED LINKS

Read more about WWF’s African Elephant programme

SHARE THIS

RELATED ARTICLES

Loading...
May 16, 2025

Add Your Heading Text Here

WWF Earth Summit 2025: Accelerating the Climate–Nature Transition for a Net Positive Future

March 22, 2025

Add Your Heading Text Here

A City Dims, a Nation Shines: WWF Earth Hour Festival at Sentosa Sensoryscape Unites Thousands Across Singapore to Drive Sustained Collaboration for a Nature-Positive Future

March 10, 2025

Add Your Heading Text Here

WWF Earth Hour Festival 2025 at Sentosa Sensoryscape will feature community driven engagement at Singapore’s green connector and empower the public to adopt climate and nature-positive habits for SG60 and beyond

January 23, 2025

Add Your Heading Text Here

Agoda Expands Its Eco Deals Program Pledging Up to $1.5 Million to Fund Critical Conservation Projects Across 10 Asian Markets in Partnership with WWF

Facebook Instagram Youtube Linkedin X-twitter

Help us build a future in which people live in harmony with nature

Contact Us
354 Tanglin Road #02-11, Tanglin Block Tanglin International Centre Singapore 247672

+65 6730 8100

info@wwf.sg

Our Work
  • Climate
  • Sustainability & Circular Economy
  • Nature & Biodiversity
  • Closer to Home
  • Climate
  • Sustainability & Circular Economy
  • Nature & Biodiversity
  • Closer to Home
About Us
  • About us
  • Chairman & CEO’s Note
  • Board of Directors
  • Senior Management
  • Whistleblowing Policy
  • Personal Data Protection Policy
  • Work With Us
  • Volunteering
  • About us
  • Chairman & CEO’s Note
  • Board of Directors
  • Senior Management
  • Whistleblowing Policy
  • Personal Data Protection Policy
  • Work With Us
  • Volunteering
Resources
  • Annual reports
  • News, Reports & Events
  • Blog
  • Annual reports
  • News, Reports & Events
  • Blog
Partnerships
  • Corporate Partnerships
  • Government Partnerships
  • Philanthropy
  • Corporate Partnerships
  • Government Partnerships
  • Philanthropy
Support WWF
  • Donate
  • Adopt
  • Fundraiser
  • Donate
  • Adopt
  • Fundraiser

©️ 2022 WWF – World Wide Fund for Nature (Singapore) Limited (UEN 200602275E) |
©️ 1986 Panda Symbol WWF – World Wide Fund For Nature (formerly World Wildlife Fund) | ®️ “WWF” is a WWF Registered Trademark

Eco School Registration

Particulars of Teacher-In-Charge

Preferred days and timings for workshops

(Read more about the workshops on the website)