→ 世界の希少動物 アフリカゾウ African Elephant
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has announced that it will let 60 tons of ivory to be sold to Japan where it is mainly used for stamps and crafts.
Today, only 600000 or 350000 (according to IFAW) African elephants are around, due to the environmental changes and smuggling of ivory. Among the major importers of ivory both legally and illegally include Japan and China. The price is tripled in recent years which has been giving more incentives to the smugglers.
The decision is most regrettable decision made by CITES. The influx of ivory will make it more difficult for the Japanese consumer simply to say no to all ivory products and most obviously, the trade would induce illegal hunting as pointed out in the paper.
One of the thing what the Japanese government can do is, as has been pointed out, to forbid the registration of ivory stamps for official use (jitsu-in). And most importantly, we should raise questions to those who deal with ivory trade, the manufacturers, and the consumers -- does it worth it, there certainly are alternatives? What price have we paid, and what prices will we be paying for the elephants' death, for what kind of ivory products?
→ 60 tons of ivory OK'd for trade to Japan (2007-6-2)
→ 象牙の対日輸出解禁を決定＝南アなど３カ国の６０トン－ワシントン条約委 (2007-6-3)
→ 押収象牙、２年で４０トン余／日本や中国が主要な市場 (2007-6-3)
→ 象牙製印鑑の実印登録の禁止
→ アフリカ：ワシントン条約会議：象牙貿易問題が新たな議論に 2007/05/31
→ 特集：地球の悲鳴 滅びゆくゾウの王国
→ アフリカ諸国、ゾウを救うため「象牙取引禁止」を訴える - フランス (2007-6-7)
Just last month, ivory smugglers were arrested being accused of selling billiard cues for seven years, and some of them are sold at the price of more than a million yen.
→ 象牙密輸で岡山の業者逮捕／ビリヤードのキュー製造 (2007-6-4)
