Many of the countries involved in the illegal trade of elephant ivory have made positive steps toward stemming the crisis—except for Thailand, conservation experts announced this week. (Read "Blood Ivory" in National Geographic magazine.)

The Southeast Asian country has not done enough to hamper black market sales of ivory, and it remains the largest unregulated market for ivory in the world, according to officials with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which is holding its 65th Standing Committee Meeting in Geneva this week.

The Standing Committee for CITES, an international treaty created in 1973 to protect wildlife against overexploitation, holds regular meetings attended by nations that have signed the treaty, intergovernmental agencies,