Protest outside DEFRA calling for a full ban on the UK ivory trade!
The Conservative Party pledged in their manifestos in 2010 and 2015 to introduce a full ivory ban in the UK. It is now six years since their original promise was made and they have failed to implement any kind of enforcement.
At present, the legal ivory trade in the UK feeds one of the largest markets for ivory in Europe. Significant amounts of ivory are also sold through online marketplaces in the UK. The existence of a legal ivory trade serves as a cover for illegal sales of ivory, while continuing to perpetuate the cycle of supply and demand.
The laws that attempt to regulate the ivory trade in the UK have proved to be ineffective and unworkable. The police and the courts don’t have the resources to monitor the trade or prosecute all cases where the law is broken.
At the recent CITES conference in Johannesburg, CoP17 government delegates adopted a resolution which recommends that all Parties and non-Parties in whose jurisdiction there is a legal domestic market for ivory that is contributing to poaching or illegal trade, take all necessary legislative, regulatory and enforcement measures to close their domestic markets for commercial trade in raw and worked ivory as a matter of urgency!
A documentary commissioned by the BBC shows Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall investigating the ivory trade and how the UK ivory market is fuelling the trade to China and Hong Kong, the largest buyers of ivory.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
After carbon dating, six of the nine items purchased by Hugh from UK auctions sites, were shown to be illegal modern day ivory, i.e. post 1947.
With evidence that the UK market contributes to the poaching and illegal trade, we call on our government to announce a full ban on the UK ivory trade at the Illegal wildlife summit held in Vietnam http://iwthanoi.vn/
THE TIME IS NOW! PLEASE join us at 12:30pm Old Palace Yard for speeches before we walk to the DEFRA building and call for a full ban.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1712972932360258/
The UK Government must fulfil their manifesto pledge and commitment made at CoP17 to shut down domestic trade immediately.
