The UK government today unveiled plans to impose a near-total ban on the sale and export of ivory products, a move that is likely give a boost to global elephant conservation plan.
UK Environment Secretary Michael Gove announced a consultation to end the trade in ivory of all ages as a "radical and robust" action against the menace of elephant poaching for their tusks.
An estimated 20,000 elephants are killed every year in Hong Kong and Asia to feed the global ivory trade and conservationists, in the UK led by Prince William, warn that unless action is taken elephants could become extinct in some countries within decades.
"The need for radical and robust action to protect one of the world's most iconic and treasured species is beyond dispute. Ivory should never be seen as a commodity for the financial gains or a status symbol so we want to ban its sale," Gove said.
The plans will put the UK "front and centre" of global efforts to end the trade in ivory, he added.
Gove also said that the decline in elephant populations fuelled by poaching for their tusks "shames our generation."
At present, there is a ban on sale of raw ivory in the UK but the sale of "worked" or "carved" older ivory ornaments and antique items, made before 1947, to other country is allowed.
Campaigners claim that this legal market has been used as a cover for illegal ivory trade.
The new consultation launched today encompasses antique ivory produced before 1947.
However, there would be exemptions for items such as pianos with ivory keys, items with historical value and sales to and between museums.
The UK would be following the US, which has already introduced a similar ban, while China and Hong Kong have promised to close their ivory markets.
The 12-week consultation process on the new proposals, which ends on December 29, will lead to new draft legislation covering a ban on sales and exports in the UK by the New Year.
While environmental groups have welcomed the government's new stand, there are concerns over the size and scale of exemptions to the ban, which could become loopholes and undermine attempts at a complete crackdown on the global ivory trade.
"This illegal trade involving organised criminals is a global problem requiring global solutions; to end it anywhere means ending it everywhere," World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) CEO Tanya Steele said.
"This is about a lot more than banning ivory sales in one country. It means working with global leaders and communities around the world, particularly in China and south-east Asia, to implement bans and stop the illegal trade," she added.
In October 2018, the UK is set to host a major international conference on the illegal wildlife trade, bringing global leaders to London to tackle the strategic challenges of the trade.
It is hoped that the new near-total ban will be in place by then.
The US-based Wildlife Conservation Society said it was "a critical step in joining other nations to reverse the precipitous decline of African elephants."
"The implementation of a strict ban without loopholes that traders can exploit is essential in the fight against the poaching of elephants and the trafficking in their ivory," it added.
After China, the United States is the world's second- largest consumer market for illegal ivory. The US has announced a near-total ban on the trade of African elephant ivory with the exception of antiques.
China has also said it will ban all ivory trade and processing by the end of the year.
African ivory is highly sought after in China, where it is seen as a status symbol and its price goes up to USD 1,000 a kilo.
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