China crushes six tonnes of 6 January 2014

Chinese forestry and customs officials oversaw the destruction, which was shown live by state broadcaster CCTV. It reported that the ivory weighed 6.1 tonnes and had been seized over a period of years.

Some of the crushed ivory powder would be disposed of, some would be displayed in a museum exhibit while the rest would be "preserved", state- run National Radio reported. The substance can be used as an ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine.

China was in March named by the Convention on International Trade in (CITES) China destroys a pile of ivory reportedly weighing over as one of eight nations failing to do enough to six tonnes tackle the illegal trade in elephant ivory.

CITES banned international ivory trading in 1989, but the environmental group WWF estimates that China crushed a pile of ivory reportedly weighing around 22,000 elephants were hunted for their over six tonnes on Monday, in a landmark event tusks in 2012, with a greater number projected for aimed at shedding its image as a global hub for the the following year. There could be as few as illegal trade in African elephant tusks. 470,000 left, it says.

In what was described as the first ever public Other countries have carried out similar exercises, destruction of ivory in China, masked workers fed with the US crushing six tons of ivory in November. tusks from a pile surrounded by ivory carvings into The destroyed five tonnes of tusks in crushing machines in the southern city of June, and Kenya set fire to a pile weighing the Dongguan. same amount in 2011.

The event was "the country's latest effort to © 2014 AFP discourage illegal , protect wildlife and raise public awareness", the official news agency Xinhua said.

Surging demand for ivory in Asia is behind an ever- mounting death toll of African elephants, conservationists say, as authorities have failed to rein in international smuggling networks.

Experts believe that most illegal ivory is headed to China—where products made from the material have long been seen as status symbols—with some estimating the country accounts for as much as 70 percent of global demand.

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APA citation: China crushes six tonnes of ivory (2014, January 6) retrieved 25 September 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2014-01-china-tonnes-ivory.html

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