Kenya praises China for its plan to end ivory trade

China, the world’s largest consumer of ivory, has been praised for releasing a detailed road map of how it intends to end ivory trade. On Friday last week, China announced it will ban domestic ivory sale by the end of this year. The first batch of factories and traders will close business by March 31.

Kenya, which has been at war with many countries to ban the trade, said this is good news to elephant conservation across the world. Kenya Wildlife Service deputy director of species conservation and management Patrick Omondi (pictured) yesterday said poaching will decline.

“By having no major market, it will be less lucrative to kill elephants … But we cannot be complacent yet, as we still have some markets,” he said on the phone.

Omondi was part of the Kenyan delegation to South Africa for the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora from September 24 to October 5 last year.

Kenya’s bid to have the trade banned flopped, even after garnering the support of 29 African Elephant Coalition states. The 29 African countries represent more than 70 per cent of African elephant range states.

Omondi said with reduced demand as a result of lack of market, law enforcers will have an easy time. Chinese President Xi Jinping last year said it is committed to phasing out ivory trade. International attention now shifts to Japan, which voted against all CITES proposals.