'Elephants in the Dust' report - UNEP
'Elephants in the Dust' report - UNEP
'Elephants in the Dust' report - UNEP
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Europe<br />
In 1997, <strong>the</strong> European Union passed legislation that made <strong>the</strong><br />
domestic work<strong>in</strong>g and sale of ivory legal <strong>in</strong> all member countries,<br />
if EU regulations were satisfied (Mart<strong>in</strong> and Stiles 2005).<br />
Up until <strong>the</strong> 1980s, Europe was one of <strong>the</strong> largest importers and<br />
manufacturers of ivory <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> world. Follow<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> CITES ivory<br />
trade ban however, demand for new ivory fell significantly as a<br />
result of greater consumer awareness about <strong>the</strong> harm that <strong>the</strong><br />
ivory <strong>in</strong>dustry caused to elephants. The ivory antiques market is<br />
still strong, however, particularly <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> UK, which predom<strong>in</strong>ates<br />
<strong>in</strong> both <strong>the</strong> import and export of ivory (Mart<strong>in</strong> and Stiles 2005).<br />
Ivory market surveys <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> past ten years have shown that<br />
G ermany and <strong>the</strong> UK have relatively large markets, while France,<br />
Portugal, Spa<strong>in</strong>, Italy and Belgium have small markets (Mart<strong>in</strong><br />
and Stiles 2005; Knapp and Affre 2007; Mart<strong>in</strong> and Mart<strong>in</strong><br />
2009). Most of <strong>the</strong> ivory sold <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong>se markets was pre-ban and<br />
thus legal, although some illegal ivory was found, imported after<br />
1990 ma<strong>in</strong>ly from East Asia and Africa. The ETIS <strong>report</strong>s show<br />
that small to modest amounts of illegal raw and worked ivory are<br />
seized <strong>in</strong> European countries (Milliken et al. 2012). The International<br />
Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has signalled that illegal<br />
ivory activity is worrisome both <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> UK and on <strong>the</strong> Internet,<br />
and that fur<strong>the</strong>r monitor<strong>in</strong>g is warranted (IFAW 2004; 2007).<br />
A century ago this shop <strong>in</strong> Paris claimed to be <strong>the</strong> largest ivory outlet <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> world, symboliz<strong>in</strong>g Europe’s importance as an<br />
importer, manufacturer and consumer of ivory.<br />
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