Google – AFP, Mariette Le Roux and Celine Serrat (AFP), 6 February 2014
Paris —
France fired the latest volley Thursday in the world's uphill battle against
African elephant poaching, crushing three tonnes of illegal ivory in a ceremony
at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.
The
contraband, with an estimated street value of one million euros ($1.4 million),
was fed into a giant crushing machine and ground into tiny fragments to be
carted off and incinerated.
It was the
first major crushing ceremony of ivory in Europe since a global ivory ban was
imposed in 1989.
"With
this destruction today... France is sending an unequivocal message to poachers,
traffickers and consumers of illicit wildlife products," said French
Environment Minister Philippe Martin who attended the event.
"We
are resolved to continue the fight against trafficking, and to remove any
temptation to recover the seized ivory" for the contraband market.
Africa's
elephants are being massacred in droves in a bid to meet surging demand for
ivory from the growing economies of Asia, particularly China and Thailand.
Some 22,000
African elephants were killed illegally in 2012, according to a report last
year by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which warned
of "local extinctions if the present killing rates continue".
The African
elephant population is presently estimated at some 500,000 individuals -- about
half the 1980 total.
Environmentalists
say destroying confiscated ivory is the only way of ensuring that the
contraband is permanently removed from the market.
France
destroys stocks of seized ivory (AFP, S. Ramis /
A. Bommenel, abm/jfs)
|
"There are several cases of seized ivory being 'lost' from stockpiles, ie stolen, then re-entering illegal trade," wildlife crime specialist Wendy Elliott of green group WWF told AFP by email.
French environmental group Robin des Bois, or "Robin Hood", estimates that France has seized some 17 tonnes of the commodity from smugglers.
The ban has since been partially overturned to allow limited legal sales -- a move that many conservationists claim has boosted black-market demand.
Most of France's stash has been held in museums or the storerooms of police and judicial agencies.
The
destroyed stockpile consisted of 2.3 tonnes or 698 individual tusks, both
unadorned and engraved, as well as 15,357 ivory ornaments including bracelets,
necklaces and sculptures.
Call for EU
action
Martin said
his country was the first in Europe since the 1989 ban to destroy seized ivory
in such a public gesture, adding he expected other nations will follow suit.
"We
hope that this new approach of systematically destroying seized ivory will be
extended to rhino horn and other illegal animal products," said Robin des
Bois president Jacky Bonnemains.
"We
call upon the rest of the European Union to do the same."
Three tonnes
of illegal ivory are displayed on February 6, 2014 in front of
the Eiffel tower
in Paris (AFP, Bertrand Guay)
|
France
became the latest country to destroy confiscated ivory after China, which
crushed a six-tonne pile in January, and the destruction of a similar stockpile
by the United States last November.
The
Philippines destroyed five tonnes of tusks in June last year, Gabon destroyed
4.8 tonnes in 2012 and Kenya set fire to a pile of similar weight in 2011. Last
month, Hong Kong said it would incinerate 28 tonnes within the next two years.
The World
Wildlife Fund (WWF) said such projects should only be undertaken after a full
and independent audit of the stock so that none gets "lost" in the
process, and finds its way back onto the market.
Environmentalists
stress that illicit ivory eradication on its own will not stop the elephant
massacre.
Consumers
must be made aware of the destruction they were causing, said Stephane Ringuet,
an expert with Traffic, a wildlife monitoring group.
"The
source of the problem is in Asia, where we are seeing a disproportionate
increase in demand for ivory," he told AFP.
Between
1989 and 2011, the biggest hauls of illegal ivory were in China, with more than
33,000 tonnes, according to Traffic, and 17,000 tonnes in Hong Kong.
Related Articles:
UN Security Council declares war on ivory poachers, traffickers
African and Asian states vow to crack down on illegal ivory trade
Chinese ivory smuggler gets record sentence after Kenya trial
UN Security Council declares war on ivory poachers, traffickers
African and Asian states vow to crack down on illegal ivory trade
Chinese ivory smuggler gets record sentence after Kenya trial
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