Illegal ivory has halved in value in China according to new research, leading to hopes that the demand which drives poaching in Africa might be on the wane.

Kenya-based conservation organisation Save the Elephants said Monday that the price of illegal raw ivory in China had fallen to $1,100 (1,000 euros) per kilogramme, down from a record high last year of $2,100 (1,900 euros) per kilo.

"The news gives cautious hope that the unsustainable killing of Africa's elephants -- driven by demand for their tusks -- may eventually be reduced," Save the Elephants said in a statement.

The group added that at current prices the organised criminal gangs that run the illegal ivory trade will still make profits but that "the trend is a positive sign".

China has this year taken steps to reduce both the legal and illegal ivory trades -- although a total ban has not been put in place -- and awareness of the impact of the trade on Africa's elephants is growing among Chinese consumers.

Chinese celebrities have fronted advertising campaigns and in October Britain's Prince William appealed to Chinese people to boycott ivory during a state visit to London by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

It is estimated that more than 30,000 elephants are killed for their tusks every year.

"The fall in the price of ivory gives us hope, but with numbers of elephants still being killed in Africa we're a long way from celebrating yet," said Save the Elephants founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton.

The international ivory trade was banned in 1989 but one-off sales of ivory stockpiles have since been permitted and trade in old ivory is also allowed, giving criminal smugglers cover for their illegal trade.

Pamela Anderson visits Kremlin to lobby for animal protection
Moscow (AFP) Dec 7, 2015 - Actress Pamela Anderson on Monday urged Russia to step up the fight to protect rare animals as she met President Vladimir Putin's powerful chief of staff at the Kremlin.

The Canadian-born former Baywatch star, 48, raised issues from the conservation of endangered Amur Tigers to a legal ban on killing baby seals and stopping aquariums from keeping killer whales in captivity in a televised meeting with top official Sergei Ivanov.

"I think Russia could really win over some hearts and minds in the West if Russia were to take a leadership position on defending wildlife and the rights of animals," Anderson said, sitting at a round table with Ivanov and activists from the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

"Millions of people around the world are looking for world leaders that have compassion for defending nature, biodiversity and the rights of animals," she said.

"Russia has proven to be a nation unafraid to take undaunted action where action is needed."

Playboy model Anderson was given a private tour of the historic Kremlin fortress in central Moscow and was warmly welcomed by Ivanov.

"For me, today's meeting is very unusual and interesting since I can discuss with beautiful women the problems of protecting wildlife and very beautiful animals," Ivanov, a former KGB agent, said.

- Putin meeting? -

Anderson came to Moscow after writing to President Vladimir Putin asking him to support her environmental causes, particularly her fight against whale hunting.

She did not, however, get to meet the Kremlin strongman, who has previously darted an endangered tiger and flown with cranes in Siberia in highly choreographed publicity stunts aimed at boosting his ratings.

"He's very busy and that time will come when it needs to come," Anderson said at a press conference.

"I didn't want to be just a celebrity coming to meet President Putin, I wanted to come as an environmentalist and talk more about real issues, so I'm not ready yet to meet him."

The actress -- who also starred in the 1996 film Barb Wire -- did criticise the Russian leader for opening a new oceanarium in Moscow in August where orca whales are being kept.

"I don't think any whales should be in captivity," she said. "I'm very surprised that they have captured these animals and hopefully they will be set free into the wild."

The visit to Moscow is not Anderson's first to Russia. In September she attended an economic forum in the far eastern city of Vladivostok to urge Russia to do more to protect wildlife.

Anderson attended a charity auction to raise money to protect endangered species and sold off a bright red float used in the 1990s US television show Baywatch for 3 million rubles ($45,000).

At the press conference in the Russian capital the model addressed a wide range of issues from how wearing fur makes women look fat to her recent shoot for the last "nude" edition of Playboy magazine.

Anderson is not the only Hollywood star involved in environmental activism in Russia -- but others have faced varying degrees of success.

Earlier this year a Russian environmental group was forced to return a grant from actor Leanardo DiCaprio to help protect wild salmon after it fell foul of a controversial law that brands organisations receiving funding from abroad as "foreign agents."