National Geographic: Hong Kong ‘Open-Minded’ to Banning its Ivory Trade

But, he added, “To dovetail its position in line with China, the United States, and the rest of the world, the government needs to now start treating ivory in this city just like hard drugs—[by] initiating criminal and forensic investigations into the city's wildlife traders without delay. And it is time for AFCD's cursory inspections of meaningless bits of paper to end.”

A Hong Kong government spokesperson noted that an investigation was ongoing into the shady traders exposed in the undercover video—but that so far inspections have “revealed no irregularities as the ivory stock were either legal tusks with traceable markings or pre-ban [1989] ivory that match with the records of AFCD. We are following up with investigation on each and every report. We are also in regular touch with the NGOs who are working to end the illegal ivory trade.”

According to the government, Hong Kong’s control mechanisms over its domestic sale of ivory are “stricter than the requirements of CITES”—the international body that regulates wildlife trade.

According to the spokesperson, all license holders “are subject to inspection” and license applications “are scrutinised against proof of legal acquisition and proper record of transaction by AFCD. The ivory covered by such licences and registered with the AFCD was imported into Hong Kong legally and in accordance with the requirements of CITES before the ban on international trade in ivory.”

Mainland China Leads the Way

Hong Kong’s statements come on the heels of a series of steps in mainland China toward elimination of its domestic ivory trade. (Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China, which means it can act with a high degree of autonomy on domestic affairs and set its own policies on such retail and conservation matters as trade in ivory.)

In February 2015, China imposed a temporary, one-year ban on imports of carved ivory. In May, China said it would “strictly control ivory processing and trade until the commercial processing and sale of ivory and its products are eventually halted.”

And during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the U.S. in late September, he and President Barack Obama announced that both countries would “take significant and timely steps to halt the domestic commercial trade of ivory.”

In a response to National Geographic’s request for amplification about Hong Kong’s new open-mindedness and for information about what’s being done about ivory smuggling, a spokesperson for the Environment Bureau and AFCD said, “We are pleased to note the Sino-U.S. agreement on combating wildlife trafficking. With regard to ivory, at this stage we are taking parallel actions on two fronts.”

One measure is to step up enforcement by working with Hong Kong’s Customs and Excise Department and international law enforcement agencies such as the World Customs Organization and INTERPOL.

Priorities the spokesperson outlined are “deploying sniffer dogs to detect ivory at import and export control points, conducting a comprehensive check of all local ivory stock, using tamper-proof holograms to mark ivory, using hi-tech radiocarbon dating analysis to determine the age and hence the legality of ivory, [and] raising public awareness on the protection of endangered species.”