Demand for ivory by China threatens Africa’s elephants

Vietnam is now one of the world’s biggest illegal ivory markets, thanks to huge demand from China.

This is according to a survey report released on Tuesday by Save The Elephants at a Nairobi hotel.

The survey shows the number of items seen for sale had risen by over six times from 2008 to 2015.

Mombasa Port remains the exit point of the illegal ivory export, backed by a recent report in May released by TRAFFIC, a global non-governmental organisation which also listed Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. “An increase in the number of Asian tourists in the Central Highlands of Buon Ma Thuot, for example, has driven up demand causing the ivory business to flourish as it offers a relatively quick way to make money,” said ivory researcher Ms Lucy Vigne. The report only mentions countries where smuggling is rampant due to lack of enforcement of laws.

President Uhuru Kenyatta led the country in torching 105 tonnes of ivory in May.

“Although we do not have specific number of tonnes smuggled out of Africa, Kenya is among the nations that ivory is smuggled from to Vietnam including Tanzania, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Zambia and South Sudan,” said another ivory researcher Esmond Martin.