Welcome to No Animal Poaching
No Animal Poaching
  • Home
  • About
    • What is Poaching?
    • Who We Are
    • Purpose Statement
    • Mission Statement
    • Goals
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact & Donations
  • News
    • Animal Poaching News (2009-2013) >
      • "Sticky" Notes Part 1
      • "Sticky" Notes Part 2
    • Animal Poaching News, 2014-2015
    • Where >
      • Animal Poaching: Africa
      • Animal Poaching: Asia
      • Animal Poaching: Australasia
      • Animal Poaching: Europe
      • Animal Poaching: Middle East
      • Animal Poaching: The Americas >
        • Animal Poaching: Canada and the United States
        • Animal Poaching: Latin America (including the Caribbean)
    • Topics >
      • Animal Poaching Themes: Part 1 (all news themes)
      • Animal Poaching Themes: Part 2 (subdivision of Part 1 themes)
      • Animal Poaching: African National Parks & Game Reserves
      • Animal Poaching: Asian National Parks & Game Reserves
      • Animal Poaching: Parks, Reserves, People
      • Animal Poaching: Private and Government Organizations
      • Animal Poaching: Laws, Treaties, Agreements, & Definitions
    • Species >
      • Animal Poaching News: Species Listed Alphabetically
      • Animal Poaching News: Overview and Analysis
      • Animal Poaching News: Unclassified
      • Animal Poaching News: The Bovid Family
  • Forum
    • Future Blogging Page
  • Take Action
  • Resources
    • Aggregated Links
    • Allied Organizations & Government Agencies
    • Conferences, Events, And Meetings
    • No Animal Poaching: Reading List
    • Sitemap & Site Search

Hong Kong snubs calls to join Elephant Protection Initiative

11/29/2014

1 Comment

 
Source:  Scmp.com

By
Ernest Kao

No need to change our stance, official tells activist groups asking government to sign up

Hong Kong officials have rejected requests by activist groups for the city to join an African-led conservation initiative for elephants that aims to shut ivory markets and stamp out the trade.

The groups, including the African Wildlife Foundation, Wild Life Risk and WildAid, wrote to the government this month asking it to join the Elephant Protection Initiative.

Hong Kong is one of the world's biggest transit hubs and markets for contraband ivory, consistently ranking fifth for the quantity seized since the global trade in ivory was banned in 1989.

The Elephant Protection Initiative, started in February, requires partner states and organisations to work towards closing domestic ivory markets and to put all stockpiles beyond economic use. Five African elephant range states are part of the initiative - Botswana, Chad, Ethiopia, Gabon and Tanzania.

In a written response to the activist groups, Richard Chan Ping-kwong, senior endangered species protection officer at the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, said there was no need to adjust conservation measures already in place.

"While [Hong Kong] would not be able to join the 'Elephant Protection Initiative' … we will continue our unwavering efforts to implement the CITES provisions and maintain our enforcement momentum," Chan wrote.

He was referring to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna, an inter-governmental deal to protect plants and animals threatened by international trade. China is a signatory.

Hong Kong has banned all external trade of ivory but has a commercial licensing system to regulate the domestic sale of legal ivory. Chan said the system - which requires all who own commercial stocks of ivory in the city to obtain licences - was effective.

WildAid campaigner Alex Hofford expressed disappointment at the government's decision. The city should "stand in solidarity with the five African elephant range states", given its status as a huge ivory demand and transit point, he said.

"If Hong Kong could only join hands with them as the first non-range state to join the [initiative] ... It could send a very strong signal to the city's ivory traders that enough is enough, and that they should stop trading illegal ivory immediately," he said.

Hofford said he suspected the government turned down the invitation because Beijing had voted against joining the initiative at July's CITES Standing Committee meeting in Geneva.

Activists will protest against the government's decision outside the China Goods Centre, a major ivory goods retailer, in North Point at 11am today.

Lawmaker Elizabeth Quat earlier this year asked the initiative's secretariat to urge the Hong Kong government to join the programme. "Hong Kong now seems eligible to join the Elephant Protection Initiative as the city is currently undertaking the destruction of its stockpile and moving towards domestic legislation," she had said.

At the beginning of the year the government began destroying 28 tonnes of its 29.6-tonne stockpile of confiscated ivory - the rest will be kept for scientific and teaching purposes. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said 11.4 tonnes had been destroyed and the incineration would continue until the middle of next year.

1 Comment
Alberto José Ortega Sánchez
11/29/2014 02:23:20 pm

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    ADMIN. NOTES

    Like the Animal Poaching News 2014-2015 page, the comments here are all open (unless otherwise noted). Please feel free to comment! Also, note that the RSS feed for this page is separate and unrelated to the RSS feeds on either the Animal Poaching News page or the 2014-2015 page. Have an announcement? Post it here by sending it to us here.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Admin Nature Musings
    Admin Site Musings
    Announcements
    Bovid Family Posts
    Matthew Scully
    Republican Politics

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Archives

    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.