The spirit of the Washington Convention (cites) is to regulate, rather than completely ban, the international trade of wild species. It uses species classification and licensing to achieve sustainable utilization of the wild species market. The Convention controls internationally traded species.
The results of the Environmental Investigation Agency's undercover investigation were compiled into the report "Opening of Hunting Season: ******** and Zambia's Rapidly Evolving Illegal Ivory Trade", which provided strong evidence to prove the existence of illegal ivory trade between Zambia and China.
, and played an important role in vetoing Zambia's proposal.
Because large, complex ivory carvings can sell for tens of thousands of dollars in China, domestic demand for ivory carvings has been increasing in recent years.
It is these reasons that have contributed to the rising price of ivory, so now, illegal poaching is becoming more and more serious, and this has prompted nature conservation groups to say that the debate on trade is becoming "more and more one-sided."
Oppose trade.
"But is this one-sided ban really good?" At this time, Liu Xu asked.
Han Peacock sighed. Although he also opposed the hunting of elephants, a one-sided ban on elephant trade was not necessarily a good thing.
Of course, Han Kongque is not the only one to understand this, there are many people who understand it. However, as soon as anyone brings it up, they will face countless abuses, especially the title of executioner, which will definitely be hit on the head.
For one thing, even if someone sees the disadvantages of a complete ban on ivory trade, they would not dare to speak out about it.
"The world is like this. What is correct may not be accepted by others." Han Kongque said.
A complete ban on ivory trade will naturally protect elephants, but this requires a sound political system. But all countries in the world care about themselves, who cares about the life and death of others?
Nowadays, even some big countries in the world are not kind-hearted when facing some small countries, so why should they let others sacrifice their interests?
"So there are still many people who support the legalization of ivory trade, right?" Liu Xu said.
Han Kongque said: "It makes sense to legalize the ivory trade, but it absolutely cannot be implemented now, otherwise, elephants will definitely be exterminated."
"If you have a reason, you should work hard to achieve it. Only in this way can you truly protect elephants." Liu Xu said.
Han Kongque spread his hands and realized that this was not something he could do.
Han Kongque has known about the ivory market for a long time, and it can be said that he is also a vested interest in banning the ivory trade.
Why do you say that? Since the ivory trade is banned, how can there still be benefits?
There are some wonderful relationships here. For example, some people still express their support for the legalization of ivory trade.
Daniel Stiles, a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's African Elephant Specialist Group, lives in Kenya and has long studied the ivory trade markets in Asia and Africa.
This organization provides scientific information to cites,
Stiles said his views did not necessarily reflect those of the African Elephant Panel, and acknowledged that he is now considered an "other" because of his support for the ivory trade.
Stiles believes that wildlife conservation groups often mistakenly advocate against the controlled trade of raw ivory because they are composed of "zoologists or scientists who only study elephants and do not understand how the trade system works."
of.
Han Kongque agreed with his views, so in the end he said: "Those who blindly oppose it do not understand the basic principles of economic supply and demand. When the demand for scarce and high-priced resources rises, the worst thing you can do is
The thing is to cut off the supply, which will cause the value of the commodity to skyrocket, and in the case of ivory, elephants have been hit catastrophically by it."
Korean Peacock has ivory in his hands. If the ivory trade is completely banned, the price of the ivory in his hands will definitely increase, and the price will increase without a bottom line.
Therefore, even if some people now see the disadvantages of a complete ban on ivory trade, they have vested interests, so they will not speak out.
In this world, it’s not that if you say it’s illegal, no one will poach elephants, but because it’s illegal, there are more poachers, and because the trade is illegal, there will be greater profits from ivory.
This world is such a contradiction. For example, Stiles just now received training in anthropology. He supports an international ban on finished ivory, but he also advocates restricted trade of legal raw ivory with China.
He also believes that the domestic ivory market in some countries, such as Thailand, should be completely closed.
He believes that China's raw ivory market and finished ivory market are different. They have different buyers, different trade chains, and different demand drivers.
Regarding finished ivory, Stiles believes: "Buyers are consumers. They are at the end of the trade chain. They buy ivory for aesthetic, cultural or social prestige needs and give ivory as gifts."
The problem, he said, is that most of the finished ivory in China "most likely comes from poached elephants, and almost all of the finished ivory in Southeast Asia is illegal."
According to Stiles, successful legal trade means that the finished ivory purchased by consumers comes from legal sources.
According to Stiles, a successful trade in legal raw ivory would look like this: ivory comes from tightly regulated African ivory stocks, where the ivory comes from natural deaths, or
Elephants were shot as "problem animals". He was firmly opposed to culling wild elephants to increase ivory stocks.
The ivory will be delivered directly to Chinese buyers.
Ivory will not come to China as a one-time sale, but "through annual or semi-annual auctions."
At the same time, he also believes that if 50 tons of legal ivory are supplied to China every year, the poaching rate will plummet.
It is disorderly auctions that "cause real chaos." He also believes that a strong supply of ivory will eliminate ivory speculation. He believes that it is these ivory speculators that have prompted the growing number of poaching since 2007.
Behavior.
Han Peacock also agrees with this. Without artificial restrictions, if ivory products increase, there will naturally not be much profit. At that time, the rewards from poaching will not be enough to make up for the poachers' efforts, so natural poaching will
will decrease.
The Forestry Police Bureau of a province in China spent more than a year uncovering the illegal production and sale of large ivory, seizing more than 600 kilograms of ivory products worth approximately 22 million yuan.
Han Kongque said with a smile: “Since cites closed all opportunities to obtain new legal ivory in 2008, the price of ivory has soared so much that speculators have begun to hoard ivory in the hope of selling it later and making high profits.
.
They are assuming that there will no longer be legal ivory on the market, and that ivory will become increasingly scarce (due to poaching and stock destruction), which will drive the price of ivory even higher, and it is the existence of these speculators that is
Reasons why poaching has increased since August 2007."
Liu Xu said thoughtfully: "So closing the Chinese market is wrong? At this point, it is definitely untenable for foreigners to attack China?"
Han Kongque said: "It can be said that the current situation is that in China, large-scale and complete black markets are still operating. Therefore, if a ban is implemented, it will not have any impact on the black market, and may even make it more and more popular.
The bigger.”
"But the ivory sales in 2008 did not promote an orderly international ivory market, but led to unprecedented elephant killings."
LiuXu said with a smile.
She knew that a government-approved ivory dealer in China smuggled more than 7 tons of ivory through his shop. He was convicted in 2014. Although he received the punishment he deserved, how much did those seven tons of ivory cost?
Elephant life?
Han Peacock chuckled and said: "Imagine it, can you say, 'This pile of cocoa is legal but that pile is not'? In fact, no one has any reason to need ivory. After all, this person despises the necessities of life, so
Some people believe that they are firmly opposed to any trade in ivory."
Such groups have been lobbying to close the domestic ivory market in the United States (with some very special exemptions).
"In a corrupt world, poaching will never stop, trafficking will never stop, and buying will never stop." This kind of thinking completely puts an end to the possibility of a viable legal ivory trade.
"Even if international trade is sustainable, that doesn't mean it should happen. Ivory comes from a living being. You can't sell ivory as a commodity without harming any elephants. You can't sell it in factories."
Making ivory in it is completely different from making other gadgets."
Moreover, “Ivory is used only for artistic or decorative purposes, and wherever ivory is used today, there is nothing that cannot be replaced by something else.”
"The truth is, no one needs ivory for a good reason, except elephants."
This is the fact. Although it is right, unfortunately, the reality will not be the ideal. Therefore, whether it is legal to buy and sell ivory is still debated, and whether to kill elephants is still debated. Those who want to kill are still debated.
People are still killing, and those who don’t want to kill can’t completely stop it.
This is why Han Kongque believes that the orderly sale of ivory is necessary. Since it cannot be completely banned, it should be included in the order as much as possible.
"Since we can't stop others, let's attack this market." Han Kongque said.
"How to impact? To impact the ivory market, more ivory will be needed." Liu Xu looked at Han Peacock and said.
Han Peacock turned on the computer, pointed to a piece of news and said: "Look, this is Siberia, where a large number of mammoth ivory fossils have been found. If more are found, it may be possible to impact the ivory market, as long as there are more ivory products.
, if the market collapses, who will take the huge risk to poach ivory?”
"Mammoth tusks? Are there really that many mammoth ivory fossils in the Siberian permafrost?" Liu Xu looked at the screen on the computer in surprise. (~^~)