Shutting down ivory markets
Beyond CITES, WWF is working to secure time-bound commitments for enforcing ivory bans in some of the largest ivory consumer markets remaining: Vietnam, Japan, and Thailand.
Reducing consumer demand for ivory is essential to tackle the root of the ivory trade. By scaling up our consumer outreach efforts, we aim to increase public engagement, mobilize support for strong ivory laws and create a new social norm that ivory consumption is socially unacceptable.
Our “Travel Ivory Free” campaign launched last year targeted Chinese outbound travelers, the demographic within China with the highest interest in purchasing ivory, during two of their most popular travel seasons. By integrating sophisticated, targeted social media strategies with on-the-ground outreach activities and travel industry collaboration, the campaign was highly successful reaching these travelers – with more than 100 million views online and 2 million consumers making public pledges to Travel Ivory Free. We will continue this momentum by launching similar campaigns during upcoming travel periods in Asia.
International collaboration among governments and key industries is essential in tackling this global threat that’s endangering species populations around the world. WWF will continue to focus efforts in countries that are key players within the illegal wildlife trade to strengthen policy and laws and reduce demand for wildlife products among consumers.
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