Mammoth And Elephant Ivory Presented by: Dr Caroline Cox, Portsmouth Law School Nobody In The World Needs An Elephant But An Elephant - Thomas Schmidt The United Kingdom, with the introduction of the Ivory Act 2018, is at the forefront of elephant protection and it is hoped that our Governments' commitments made in the 25 Year Environment Plan will see increased protection for other species at risk as a result of the illegal wildlife trade. However, there is a species which falls outside of the regulation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) but which can be directly linked to the ivory trade - the mammoth. Extinction brought an end of the mammoth's time of earth more than 10,000 years ago but as the world warms and the permafrost melts, mammoth tusks are being uncovered across the world, from Siberia to Alaska and from California to Devon. There are close similarities between the tusks of elephants and mammoths leading conservationists to fear that the increase in "ice ivory" heralds a new threat to elephants. The Global Illegal Wildlife Trade - - Collectively worth US$15-20 billion a year (Defra, 2018)  On a par with human trafficking, the illegal arms trade and illegal drugs trade  Estimated to have increased by 26% between 2014 and 2016  80% estimated to be illegal trade in ivory The International Community's Response  The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)  aim - to ensure that international trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species in the wild ‘Ratified in 1973 - "a magna carta for wildlife"  184 parties (including the U.K.) The Illegal Ivory Trade And The Decline Of Elephant Populations - All African elephants are included in Appendix I of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) except for the populations of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, which are included in Appendix II - This means: 1. For Appendix I elephants - commercial international trade in 'taken from the wild' is prohibited 2. For Appendix II elephants - commercial international trade is subject to obtaining the necessary permits - In 1930, as many as 10 million wild elephants roamed huge swaths of the African continent. - Decades of poaching and conflict have decimated African elephant populations. - Today, there are just 415,000 elephants across Africa. - Elephant poaching is trending downward but poaching continues to steer the species dangerously nearer to extinction. - Poachers kill c.20,000 elephants every year for their tusks which are traded illegally to eventually end up as ivory trinkets. Top Risks To Elephants In Africa - Poaching For Ivory  Poaching continues to be a huge problem across the Range States.  In 2016, the IUCN reported that Africa's elephant population had seen its worst decline in 25 years, mostly as the result of intensified poaching for ivory. - Habitat Loss And Fragmentation Due To Human Population Expansion And Land Conversion  The case of Zimbabwe  At 83,000 animals, Zimbabwe has the second largest population of elephants in Africa - around 50,000 more than the 1980s target  With an increasing population, humans are increasingly encroaching on protected areas - Human-Elephant Conflict  The case of Botswana and Namibia  70% Botswana's 130,000 elephants roam outside protected areas.  Both states have seen an increase in human-elephant conflict Step Change – To Save The Elephant The Ivory Act, 2018 "...one of the toughest bans on the planet..." From 6th June, 2022 the sale of ivory in the UK is prohibited with the exception of: 1. Portrait Miniatures made before 1918 with a surface area smaller than 320 square centimetres 2. Low Ivory Content Exemption (de minimis) made before 3 March 1947 with less than 10% ivory by volume 3. Musical Instruments - made before 1975 with less that 20% ivory by volume 4. Items that a qualifying museum intends to buy or hire 5. Items of outstanding cultural, historical or artistic significance - a pre-1918 item that is of outstandingly high artistic, cultural or historical value The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora - CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments. - Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species. All import, export, re-export and introduction from the sea of species covered by the Convention has to be authorized through a licensing system. - The species covered by CITES are listed in three Appendices, according to the degree of protection they need. - Appendix I includes species threatened with extinction. Trade in specimens of these species is permitted only in exceptional circumstances. - . Appendix II includes species not necessarily threatened with extinction, but in which trade must be controlled in order to avoid utilization incompatible with their survival. - Today, CITES accords varying degrees of protection to more than 37,000 species of animals and plants, whether they are traded as live specimens, fur coats or dried herbs. The Icy Blast From The Past - CITES The Convention on Internati Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and fauna. - International trade in mammoth ivory is not illegal (except for import to India under India's domestic legislation) and is poorly documented. - The Israeli and Kenyan delegations to the CITES Conference of the Parties, May 2019 in Sri Lanka, made the case to list the mammoth as a threatened species protected by CITES. - Made under the convention's 'lookalike' provision, the bid was not to ban trade in mammoth ivory but to require an exporting country to prove the ivory came from a mammoth. Although trade in mammoth ivory, if correctly labelled, should not present an enforcement problem for the Convention, the similarity between mammoth and elephant ivory is being used by unscrupulous traders to avoid CITES controls by labelling elephant ivory intended for export as mammoth specimens. Where Have We Heard This Before?  ...the similarity between mammoth and elephant ivory is being used by unscrupulous traders to avoid CITES controls by labelling elephant ivory intended for export as mammoth specimens.  The Ivory Act 2018 - bans the dealing in elephant ivory (apart from a small number of exemptions) but its path to enactment was not smooth.  Dealers expressed dismay at the "stringent restrictions" contained in the Act, arguing that it will do little to stop the trade in poached ivory but potentially render vast quantities of artworks and cultural objects unsellable. One dealer queried in th Antiques Trade Gazette, "I cannot see how one elephant alive today will be saved by me not being able to sell this chess set".  These two items, a bead necklace and two billiard balls were advertised on a well known on-line auction platform after the 6th June 2022.  Both were described as "antique bovine bone" (or as "antique faux bovine bone" in the case of the necklace)  Both are ivory.