The Pros And Cons Of The Ivory Trade

The topic of a legalized ivory trade has been hotly debated since the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species banned the international ivory trade in 1990 (Russo). The debate of the ivory trade has risen once again because of a drastic increase in the poaching of elephants. Some have argued that a limited legalized ivory trade is needed in order to satiate the demand, while others believe that the international ban needs to stay in place in order to protect the elephants (Russo). Due to the drastic decrease in the elephant population, a legalized ivory trade is not viable and more protections need to be integrated into the ivory trade ban in order to prevent the extinction of the elephants.

The ivory trade has been around for

There was some speculation that corrupt governments were selling a small amount of their stock piles at a time. But a recent carbon dating of illegal ivory has shown that the ivory was recently obtained, thereby disproving this speculation. Because poaching is the main way to obtain ivory, poaching has risen astronomically. Tanzania alone has lost 60 percent of its elephant populations from 2013 to 2016. To combat this, African countries have improved the penalties for poaching, but this solution has not been shown so far to deter poachers, and the poaching levels are continually increasing (Osterath).

The illegal ivory trade is more specifically being fueled by ivory harvested from African elephants. The reason for this is African elephants are generally larger than their cousins, the Asian elephants (“African Elephants.”). African elephant ivory is also more sought after by carvers because it is believed to be whiter and stronger than Asian elephant ivory which is considered to have a yellowish tint. Another reason African elephants are poached more is because both male and females of the African elephants produce ivory, while with the Asian elephants only males usually produce ivory (“Indian