"Ivory Free" campaign launched to protect wild elephants

An international campaign aimed at raising public awareness concerning elephant protection was launched in Ho Chi Minh City, on August 30.

ivoIllegal ivory from Africa confiscated at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Ho Chi Minh City. (Credit: NDO)

Co-organised by the Centre of Hands-on Actions and Networking for Growth and Environment (CHANGE) and WildAid, the "Ivory Free" campaign is part of the global wildlife relief programme entitled “When the Buying Stops, the Killing Can Too.”

Do Quang Tung, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Office, said that from approximately 1.2 million individuals in Africa in 1979, the number of African elephants has dropped to just over 420,000. Two thirds of the elephants have been killed mainly for ivory in order to serve the demand of Asian countries and every day the world loses around 100 African elephants.

Previously in Vietnam, there were over 1,000 elephants but now the country has only about 100 individuals living along the border with Laos and Cambodia. In the last ten years, Vietnam has become an illegal ivory transit point for transportation to other countries.

According to CHANGE, the most recent data showed that around 33,000 elephants are killed each year for ivory. China accounts for 70% of the global demand for ivory and the ivory is used to make carvings, jewellery and handicrafts and is considered a symbol of wealth. Worryingly, the profits from the sale of ivory are very high, estimated at US$450-900 per kg, only behind drug trafficking in terms of profits.

Wishing to prevent ivory trafficking in Vietnam in order to contribute to the global efforts to save the elephant from extinction, WildAid and CHANGE, along with several celebrities serving as the campaign’s Ambassadors, have joined hands in the “Ivory Free” campaign.

The campaign aims to highlight the dramatic decline of the African elephant population due to poaching, whilst encouraging people not to consume ivory and support their local governments to further enforce the laws to prevent the unauthorised transport of ivory through Vietnam to other markets.

(Source: NDO)