The streets have been occupied in more than 136 cities recently, but for very different reasons than those of the Hong Kong movement. Marches across six continents were held on October 4 in a global show of force against the poaching of elephants and rhinos, which have seen drastic drops in their populations in Africa. Tougher action, especially by governments along the illegal ivory trade routes, is urgently needed. As Hong Kong remains a major smuggling hub for illegal ivory, there is no room for complacency here. However, in June the environment secretary asserted, in a reply to a Legislative Council question, that its licensing regime for domestic ivory sellers was working just fine, indicating no changes to existing controls were necessary to curb the illegal ivory trade. I beg to differ. The sheer scale of smuggled ivory, in spite of existing measures, shows that additional efforts are necessary. Hong Kong’s pivotal role in the global ivory trade is highlighted in a new report by Civic Exchange, which shows that the city’s Customs and Excise Department intercepted nearly 8 tonnes of undeclared ivory last year, worth more than HK$80 million. This was the largest quantity of ivory ever confiscated at Hong Kong’s borders. During the 2012-2013 period, it is estimated that ivory intercepted in Hong Kong formed about 15 per cent of all ivory confiscated worldwide.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 06:07:15 +0000
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