China agrees to phase out its ivory industry to combat elephant poaching

EarthzineBiodiversity, Politics

Conservationists hail China’s first ever commitment to phase out legal, domestic manufacture and sale of ivory products as a victory in the fight to save Africa’s elephants
China has committed to phasing out the domestic manufacture and sale of ivory products for the first time. Conservation groups said the announcement was “the single greatest measure” in the fight to save the last African elephants from poaching.
At an event in Beijing where foreign diplomats witnessed 662kg of confiscated ivory being symbolically destroyed, Zhao Shucong, head of China’s State Forestry Administration, said: “We will strictly control ivory processing and trade until the commercial processing and sale of ivory and its products are eventually halted.”