Now, a new era has begun as the Chinese government announced on Dec. 30 its plans to proscribe processing and sale of ivory by the end of 2017.
Jabes Okumu, a wildlife expert with the East African Wild Life Society, in an interview with Xinhua, hailed it as a strong move towards protection of elephants.
“This move is likely to attract support from other ivory-consuming countries and this will help build synergies towards pushing for full protection of elephants as indicated in schedule II to I of the CITES,” he said.
CITES, or Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, is an international agreement between governments aiming to ensure that global trade in specimens of wild animals and plants do not threaten their survival.