Japanese media: several international organizations have asked Tokyo to ban ivory trade

Kyodo News Agency reported on August 20 that recently, elephant habitat countries and overseas environmental groups have sent letters to Tokyo governor Koichi baihezi, asking for a ban on ivory trading in the capital, on the grounds that Japan’s Ivory market would pose a threat to endangered African elephants. According to reports, the Washington Convention prohibits the international trade of ivory, and most countries turn to close their domestic markets. However, Japan claimed that it was “strictly regulated and not related to poaching” and maintained that it allowed domestic trade, which was criticized as inducing poaching and illegal trading. The African elephant Union, which is made up of elephant habitat countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia, said in a letter: “Japan’s market hinders the closure of markets by prohibited international trade and other countries.” After closing the relevant markets in 2018, China has seized at least 62 cases of ivory smuggling from Japan, severely criticizing that “Japan’s management system has no effect on preventing illegal export”. In addition, considering that ivory products may be illegally brought abroad as gifts with the Tokyo Olympic Games and Paralympic Committee next year, the above-mentioned countries and organizations stressed that “the metropolitan government should ban it before the central government, and ask the whole country to close the market uniformly”. The Kenyan environmental group “save the elephant” pointed out that “if Tokyo closes the ivory market, it will be a very positive message sent before the Olympic Games”, demanding that regulations be passed to prohibit the display and advertising of ivory for the purpose of selling and selling ivory in Tokyo. “The increasing international pressure to shut down [the market] has been confirmed by the demands put forward in succession,” said Yahang sakara, Secretary General of the tiger and elephant protection fund, who is familiar with ivory trading. It is hoped that the metropolitan government will take this request as an opportunity to decide as soon as possible to ban the transaction and urge the (Japanese) central government to act. ” < p > < p > due to international criticism, AEON, Yahoo! And Lotte have banned the trading of ivory products. In January this year novel coronavirus was set up by experts from the Tokyo metropolitan government to discuss the measures and deal with the situation. But the discussion was at a standstill due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus.