[LINK] "With Ivory Ban Imminent, What Will Happen to China’s Legal Stockpile?"

[rfmcdonald]

National Geographic's Rachael Bale wrote in November about the problems of China with ivory.

Tusks are displayed at an authorized auction in South Africa in 2008. China bought 73 tons of ivory at several sales over two weeks to supply its legal, domestic market.

After years of defending and supporting a legal domestic trade in ivory, China made a big announcement in September: It’s shutting down the trade.

The United States is, too. Together, the presidents of both countries have made an unprecedented public pledge to put a stop to all ivory trading—legal and illegal.

The U.S. is on track to approve new regulations within a year that essentially would fulfill its promise under the September pledge to take “significant and timely steps” to end the ivory trade. But the joint pledge doesn’t have any deadlines, and the Chinese government hasn’t said what time frame it’s aiming for.

The Chinese government may, however, consider an ivory buyback program, says Li Zhang, a professor at Beijing Normal University who is studying the feasibility of such a plan. The idea is that the government would use an eco-compensation fund, similar to those Beijing has used to improve watersheds, to buy back legal raw and unfinished ivory owned by licensed carving factories.

China’s state-sponsored industry has resulted in legal ivory from government stockpiles eventually mingling with illegal ivory, fueling the black market and driving the relentless poaching of African elephants.