China, the world's largest market for legal and illegal ivory, is to reveal its timeline for closing its legal ivory-carving factories. The move comes as a new report by WWF International warns that China has been illegally killing elephants in order to meet demand from Chinese consumers. The EU has only ever sent more than 100 tusks offshore once in the past decade. Legal carvers use tusks imported during sanctioned sales from Africa, but conservationists argue that a wholesale ban would decrease black market demand. Zhou Fei, head of the China programme at wildlife watchdog Traffic, said that most legal ivory vendors are already developing alternative businesses.
China, the world's largest market for legal and illegal ivory, is to reveal its timeline for closing its legal ivory-carving factories. The move comes as a new report by WWF International warns that China has been illegally killing elephants in order to meet demand from Chinese consumers. Legal carvers use tusks imported during sanctioned sales from Africa, but conservationists argue that a wholesale ban would decrease black market demand. Zhou Fei, head of the China programme at wildlife watchdog Traffic, said that most legal ivory vendors are already developing alternative businesses.