UK Ivory Ban to Stay

On Tuesday 19th May, the UK Ivory ban was confirmed as here to stay.

Jonathan Ames, Legal Editor | Tuesday May 19 2020, 12.01am, The Times

On Tuesday 19th May, the UK Ivory ban was confirmed as here to stay.

“Antique ivory dealers have lost a challenge to Britain’s strict ban on sales.”

When the ban was first brought up in 2018 I was actually against it: We can test if ivory is antique or not – pre- or post-1947 – and have developed a new fingerprinting dust designed to work on ivory a few years ago. I always assumed Britain was low down the list of smuggled blood ivory, so how would making ivory illegal actually help wild elephants in any way?

“It bans dealing in items containing elephant ivory, regardless of their age.”

I could sort of understand the point behind it, but I also thought it would have no actual affect on poaching. What good does limiting demand half a world away from Africa do?

Upon looking into the ban, though, I was surprisingly relieved to spot the exemptions for museum-quality ‘pieces of historical significance’. As well as a comment that really surprised me:

Will Travers OBE and Virginia McKenna OBE, Co-Founders the Born Free Foundation, said: "Protecting wild elephants from the ravages of the bloody ivory trade requires anti-poaching; intelligence gathering; trafficking interception; deterrent sentencing; public education in market countries; and ending the trade in ivory - all ivory. The measures taken by the Westminster government to bring near-complete closure to the UK’s domestic ivory market - one of the largest in the world - are fully endorsed by the Born Free Foundation and have overwhelming support in the country. They are not only practical, workable and effective, but send a powerful signal that we no longer value the teeth of dead elephants, but champion the compassionate conservation of wild, free-living elephants and the habitats they rely on."

...How on earth was the UK one of the largest ivory markets in the world??

Paul De Ornellas, Chief Wildlife Advisor at WWF: "Stopping the brutal trade in ivory is crucial to end trafficking and ensure a future for elephants. The UK government has listened and is showing decisive leadership. Now, we need China, the major destination for illegal ivory in recent years, to resolutely enforce its trade ban. It’s also equally important, for other countries on the Chinese border, to commit to closing their ivory markets.”

So I’ve come around to the Ivory Ban. Or at least what it is supposed to do: stop demand, and peer-pressure other countries into doing the same.

John Stephenson, Stop Ivory CEO: "... hasten the day when ivory is no longer valued as a commodity. When the buying stops, the killing will stop.”

I still have a lot of questions. What happens if you already own an antique ivory item? Can you gift or inherit it? What happens to ivory ‘seized’ ? Can museums protect/acquire any new pieces if the exemption is solely toward trade between museums?

However, what I really want to know now, particularly as the ban has been reconfirmed on its two-year anniversary, is this:

Is it working??

When I was writing Affinities, my research pointed to China being the world’s largest ivory market. In the two years of ivory being, essentially, illegal in the UK, how has elephant poaching changed?