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Thai prime minister announces end to elephant ivory trade

Thai prime minister announces ivory ban

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra pledged to start a legislative process to end elephant ivory trade in Thailand, seizing a key opportunity to stem global wildlife trafficking at the opening of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Bangkok.

“The fight to stop wildlife crime and shut down Thailand’s elephant ivory markets is not over. Prime Minister Shinawatra now needs to provide a timeline for this ban and ensure that it takes place as a matter of urgency, because the slaughter of elephants continues.”

Carlos Drews
Head of WWF’s delegation to CITES

Her statement came after a petition calling on Thailand to ban its elephant ivory trade was signed by nearly 1.5 million WWF, Leonardo DiCaprio and Avaaz supporters. Prime Minister Shinawatra said that Thailand would take steps to end elephant ivory trade – the first time the Thai government has said this publicly.

“As a next step we will forward amending the national legislation with the goal of putting an end on ivory trade and to be in line with international norms,” Prime Minster Shinawatra said. “This will help protect all forms of elephants including Thailand’s wild and domestic elephants and those from Africa.”

The prime minister’s decision comes as WWF and TRAFFIC continue asking CITES governments to sanction countries fuelling the global illegal wildlife trade. Poaching has escalated to crisis levels in recent years, and is a major threat to iconic species such as elephants, rhinos and tigers.

Ending elephant ivory trade in Thailand – currently the world’s largest unregulated ivory market – will go a long way in stemming a global poaching crisis that is leading to the slaughter of tens of thousands of elephants each year and fuelling a global criminal trade in animal parts.

Thailand, Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo have failed repeatedly to address their rampant domestic elephant ivory markets despite CITES rules that outlaw the unregulated sale of elephant ivory. Under treaty rules, CITES member states can recommend that parties stop trading with non-compliant countries in the 35,000 species covered under the convention, from timbers to crocodile skins.


NOTE: This story refers specifically to elephant ivory. While many people outside the Arctic often associate ivory with elephants, the term is also used for items that come from other species, and has different stipulations. Learn more

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