Environmental News Network - Increasing Value of Ivory Poses Major Threat to Elephant Populations

Details: By University of Bristol; 29.Jul

The global price of ivory increased tenfold since its 1989 trade ban by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), new research has found.

Cheryl Porter

The global price of ivory increased tenfold since its 1989 trade ban by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), new research has found. The University of Bristol Veterinary School study, published in Biological Conservation [25 July], is the first to analyse trends in global ivory market values since the ban came into effect.

Higher ivory market prices lead to higher poaching incentives, and therefore greater numbers of elephants being killed. Despite the CITES ban on ivory, poaching associated with its illegal trade has not prevented the suffering of elephants and is estimated to cause an eight per cent loss in the world's elephant population every year.

Using a large dataset of ivory prices collected between 1989 and 2017 from literature searches and visits to ivory markets across Africa, Europe and Asia, together with information such as ivory product type (raw, polished, carved), weight, region, and legality, the researchers were able to determine the factors that drive increases in ivory prices.

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Increasing Value of Ivory Poses Major Threat to Elephant Populations