
China Shuts Down Its Legal Ivory Trade - dsr12
https://relay.nationalgeographic.com/proxy/distribution/public/amp/2017/12/wildlife-watch-china-ivory-ban-goes-into-effect
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pipio21
I have seen the terrible effects China and Asia market had on elephants and
specially rhinos in Africa. People in Africa earn very little money so
poaching means you could be a hero in your village, buy cell phones, computers
or cars, even if you risk your life.

About cultural heritage, in the past Chinese artist used their hands to carve
ivory. Today they use dental drills that are extremely fast carving in
industrial scale. It is not sustainable.

The only way to preserve Africa's animals are for the demand dissapearing:
that is to make people ashamed for owning ivory instead of proud in China.

This will take time, but today news is good news.

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wilgertvelinga
That is great news for the elephants and the world. Does anybody know if a
similar agreement exists on rhinoceros horn products?

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raverbashing
I wonder if there's research on synthetic Ivory

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onion2k
Huge amounts of research, starting about 150 years ago. Billiard balls used to
be ivory but they were expensive. One manufacturer ran a competition to find
an alternative which lead to the invention of cellulose and modern plastics.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billiard_ball](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billiard_ball)

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raverbashing
Ah yeah, some of those had an extra explosive capability

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sitkack
What is the legal Ivory trade?

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dis-sys
It means ivory trading is still legal or the ban is intentionally not
enforced, e.g. in Japan,

[https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/20/japan-
in...](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/20/japan-inaction-on-
illegal-ivory-exports-threatens-chinese-ban-report-says)

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sitkack
I just did a bit of research, it looks like the "legal" trade is a cover for
the illegal one. I would argue that there is no legal ivory trade.

> An estimated 20,000 African elephants are killed every year for their tusks,
> according to conservation groups. Last year, a record 40 tonnes of ivory
> were seized worldwide, triple the amount in 2007.

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esaym
Probably not good for the elephant. They make lousy pets and if no part of
them is of any value, or legal, then what is the point of keeping them around
when they are a hazard to people and their property? Thank about it. If it
weren't for the many (legal) uses of cattle, they'd be headed towards
extinction too.

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onion2k
In the case of elephants killed for ivory no one is "keeping them around". The
only source is wild elephants that were killed legally until 2008 and since
then illegally hunted. Without the ivory ban elephants would be poached until
they're extinct.

No one is keeping domestic elephants for the ivory.

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esaym
> No one is keeping domestic elephants for the ivory.

Of course, since selling ivory is illegal. I've known people that had large
acreage out in Texas that wanted to raise elephants just for the ivory. The
reason illegal ivory is such a lucrative business is because it is illegal!
This is why the prices are high. If the market was flooded with legal ivory,
there'd be no black market.

