Concerns heighten on China ivory import

GENEVA, Switzerland, July 15 (UPI) -- A Geneva meeting on endangered species will decide whether to let China import elephant ivory but the issue has already raised alarm among animal rights groups.

Among the issues on the agenda of the five-day meeting of the U.N. Convention on Endangered Species is whether China should be allowed to import about 108 tons of African elephant ivory.

The stockpile, offered for sale by Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, has come from culling operations in overpopulated areas, natural deaths and seizures, Britain's Guardian reported.

The report said the meeting may allow China to import the ivory as the communist country is seen as having cracked down on its illegal domestic trade. However, those opposed to the sale insist it would only be a "smokescreen" for more poaching.

Environmental groups told the BBC China does not have adequate control of its ivory trade and warned the import would only lead to more illegal marketing.

The United Nations banned trade in elephant ivory in 1989. Since then only the four African countries, where elephant population is seen as having stabilized, have been allowed to sell their ivory.

Environmental groups told the BBC elephant ivory fetches hundreds of millions of dollars in the black-market, where China is the largest customer. Some of the groups allege those meeting in Geneva, bowing to pressure from China, have ignored the advice of their own wildlife experts.

Britain's Independent said allowing China to import the ivory would pose a dire threat to the survival of wild elephants in Africa and in Asia.