Hong Kong ‘Open-Minded’ to Banning its Ivory Trade
In a major policy shift, the world’s largest legal ivory market pledges new efforts to combat wildlife trafficking and may end ivory sales.
Hong Kong—the world’s largest retail market for elephant ivory—says it may now consider banning its ivory trade.
Hong Kong is also a major transit hub for illegal ivory, much of it bound for mainland China, the world’s largest consumer of smuggled ivory. With some 30,000 African elephants being killed every year for their ivory, a decision by Hong Kong to shut down its domestic trade would be significant.
“The Government is open-minded on the ban on domestic trade” was how a spokesperson for Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) put it in an email to the South China Morning Post.
The government’s statement follows the release last week of a report by WildAid, an international non-governmental organization that aims
