 Hong Kong convicts two for ivory on radiocarbon dating Hong Kong (AFP) March 29, 2017 - A Hong Kong court has convicted two men for illegal possession of ivory chopsticks after radiocarbon dating proved it was produced after 1990 and therefore unlawful, local media reported. Hong Kong, a key hub for the ivory trade and manufacturing, announced plans last year to phase out sales completely by 2021. Government officials bought the pair of ivory chopsticks from a crafts shop during an operation last August in the city's Sheung Wan district, which is dotted with curio and antique vendors. Radiocarbon dating showed the ivory was obtained after 1990, according to an earlier government press release. The pair were Tuesday handed fines of US$770 and US$1,000 respectively. "It's the first time the Hong Kong government has ever used radiocarbon analysis to determine the age of ivory -- that's a total game changer in the market," WildAid wildlife campaigner Alex Hofford told AFP. While environmental groups welcomed the use of forensic evidence, they condemned the light penalty, compared with the maximum punishment of a US$640,000 fine and two years in jail. Domestic trade in ivory imported legally into Hong Kong before 1990 is legal with a government licence. "Today's sentencing is a strong reminder that penalties in Hong Kong need to increase to reflect better the gravity of wildlife crime and be an effective deterrent to prevent illegal ivory traders from carrying out similar acts in future," said Yannick Kuehl of wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC in a statement. The Chinese government announced plans late last year to ban all ivory trade and processing by the end of 2017 in a move hailed by conservationists. Critics have argued Hong Kong's five-year timetable to outlaw sales was too slow and would attract ivory laundering to the city as mainland China moves forward with the ban. Conservationists estimate that more than 20,000 elephants were killed for their ivory in 2015, with similar tolls in previous years. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which took effect in 1975, banned the ivory trade in 1989.
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The price of ivory has fallen by nearly two-thirds in the last three years, according to research conducted in China and published Wednesday by the conservation group Save the Elephants.
At its peak in 2014 the estimated wholesale price for raw ivory stood at $2,100 (1,900 euros) per kilogramme on the Chinese black market, but by early 2017 the price had fallen to $730 per kilogramme, according to the report by two ivory trade experts, Esmond Martin and Lucy Vigne.
"This is good news, but poaching continues," said Martin.
Chinese demand has driven a decade-long spike in elephant poaching in Africa, where the population has fallen by 110,000 over the last 10 years to just 415,000, according to a recent continental survey.
Vigne said both the amount of ivory for sale as well as prices had also fallen at 130 licensed outlets in China, reflecting a drop in demand in the world's biggest ivory market.
The researchers said China's economic slowdown, plus a crackdown on corruption which sharply reduced the giving of ivory trinkets as gifts to officials, had also crimped demand, alongside a growing awareness of the catastrophic consequences of the ivory trade for elephants.
In the past, said Save the Elephants founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton, "few Chinese associated ivory products with elephant death," but a series of campaigns had helped inform the public.
- Chinese ban begins -
At the end of this month China's 34 remaining licensed ivory-carving factories will be closed and at the end of the year the last retail outlets will also close, following a recent government order putting an end to the legal trade.
But it remains unclear how the closing of the legal market will affect the illegal trade in elephant ivory and the poaching it drives.
International trade in ivory was banned in 1989, yet poaching continued and accelerated in recent years, feeding a black market fuelled by corruption and controlled by criminal gangs.
The researchers said that as China's legal ivory market has contracted, illegal markets in Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam have boomed.
"The legal ivory trade will collapse in China, but in neighbouring countries there's been a boom in the illegal trade," said Martin, with "90 percent of customers" crossing the border from China.
"The illegal ivory trade is the biggest problem," said Vigne. "A ban on its own won't help save the elephants, there has to be enforcement as well against the illegal ivory trade."
Douglas-Hamilton said it was a critical but hopeful moment for elephants.
"With the end of the legal ivory trade in China, the survival chances for elephants have distinctly improved," he said.
"The future of the African elephant is in the hands of China.
"There is still a long way to go to end the excessive killing of elephants for ivory, but there is now greater hope for the species," he added.
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