question: Why are people still buying Ivory?
comment: Asia is the biggest consumers of ivory (China specifically if my memory serves me correctly) it’s been long believed that ivory holds some magical property that can cure any illness/disease. They actually ingest it believing it will cure their ailments. Some cultures argue that it’s part of their heritage and of course for some it’s simply a symbol of status.
passages: The effect of the sale of ivory to Japan in 2000 was hotly debated with Traffic, the organization which compiled the ETIS and MIKE databases, claiming they could not determine any link. However, many of those on the ground claimed that the sale had changed the perception of ivory, and many poachers and traders believed they were back in business.
   Ultimately, Mathiesen describes the debate as "characterized by a lack of data", while Tom Milliken concluded in 2014 that the strategy needs to be closely monitored for effectiveness and that more data needs to be collected because there was not sufficient "proof that destroying supply leads to a decline in demand".
   Owing to the rapid decline in the populations of the animals that produce it, the importation and sale of ivory in many countries is banned or severely restricted. In the ten years preceding a decision in 1989 by CITES to ban international trade in African elephant ivory, the population of African elephants declined from 1.3 million to around 600,000. It was found by investigators from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) that CITES sales of stockpiles from Singapore and Burundi (270 tonnes and 89.5 tonnes respectively) had created a system that increased the value of ivory on the international market, thus rewarding international smugglers and giving them the ability to control the trade and continue smuggling new ivory.
   Section::::Justification, objections, and impact.:Corruption and security.
  
  Although the destruction of ivory is centered upon conservation, there are other considerations which affect institutions' decisions on the matter.
   Economic research published in 2016 analyzed the efficacy of a one-time legal sale of ivory stockpiles to China and Japan, allowed by CITES in 2008. The idea was to try to flood the market, sinking prices and profitability, but the result was "catastrophic" according to one researcher, who attributes to it a significant, long-term increase in poaching due to factors like a reduction of the social stigma of ivory and providing a mechanism to obscure smuggling activities. Christopher Alden, who supported but did not take part in this analysis, specifically criticized requests from countries like Zimbabwe and Namibia to allow limited sales, due to the likelihood of them having a similar counterproductive outcome.
   With the dramatic decline in population for African and Asian elephants along with poaching there are certain laws and regulations for ivory.
  
  Section::::Ethical concerns.:Laws.
  
  See also, Ivory trade.
  
  BULLET::::- The Lacey Act (1900 and later amendments) prohibits the trade of wildlife that is taken in violation of any state or foreign wildlife law or regulations. This affects interstate commerce.
   Section::::Justification, objections, and impact.
  
  Section::::Justification, objections, and impact.:Messaging.
  
  Destroying ivory is a tactic endorsed by several governments, activists, and NGOs.
   The ban proved effective for about a decade, and saw rising elephant populations, but starting in 1997 CITES began granting exceptions to the ban to allow countries such as Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia to sell a limited amount of ivory, as well as an exception to Japan to buy a limited amount, based on each country's declared confidence in their effective regulation and control. From 1998 to 2011, other countries were granted exceptions and illegal trafficking at least tripled. The majority of ivory in the 21st century has gone to growing Asian markets, including and especially China, where the material has been viewed as a status symbol sometimes known as "white gold". In 2015, Chinese officials expressed their intent to phase out the country's involvement with the ivory trade. Prices fell by nearly half in the year prior to a 2016 report, and at the end of that year China's State Council declared its intent to halt ivory-related commerce by the end of March 2017.
   Despite arguments prevailing on the ivory trade for the last thirty years through CITES, there is one fact upon which virtually all informed parties now agree – poaching of African elephants for ivory is now seriously on the increase.
   BULLET::::- China: China is the world's largest consumer of ivory, accounting for 70% of global demand . Many of the countries that have destroyed their ivory accumulated the stockpiles because of their location on the trade route between Africa and China. Given its prominent role in the market, China's decision to crush 6.1 tons of ivory in January 2014 was a major cause for celebration among conservationists.
  
  BULLET::::- France: France was the first European country to destroy its three tons of seized illegal ivory in February 2014, with tusks fed one-by-one along with other ivory goods into a pulverizer.
   BULLET::::- Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is made up of 180 countries to eliminate the illegal trade in animals, their parts, and associated products. CITES regulations do not take place of national laws. CITES has an Ivory Control System that is focused on the ivory trade.
  
  BULLET::::- The African Elephant Conservation Act (1988) prohibits raw or worked ivory to be imported into the United States with some exceptions. It also established a grant program that funds elephant conservation work.
  
  Section::::Ethical concerns.:Transportation regulations.
   Non-Commercial Purposes: If the ivory was removed from the wild prior to February 26, 1976 and was otherwise legally acquired then the following can be imported into the United States for non-commercial purposes. 
  
  BULLET::::- Musical instruments
  
  BULLET::::- Items in a household move or that are part of an inheritance
  
  BULLET::::- No more than two sport-hunted trophies per year (trophies must have appropriate permit that have been issued by the country hosting the hunt).
  
  Section::::Ethical concerns.:Transportation regulations.:African elephant ivory.:Sale & export.
   BULLET::::- Gabon: In 2012, Gabon burned the tusks and carved ivory it had been confiscating since 1985, adding up to about 4.8 tons.
   China and Japan bought 108 tonnes of ivory in another "one-off" sale in November 2008 from Botswana, South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe. At the time, the idea was that these legal ivory sales may depress the price, thereby removing poaching pressure, an idea supported by both TRAFFIC and WWF. Illegal ivory continues to flow into Japan's ivory market, but since 2012, the demand for ivory has decreased as a result of new consumer awareness through education about the connection between buying ivory and the killing of elephants.
   Hunting for ivory is responsible for significant reductions in elephant populations in several parts of Africa. Between 1979 and 1989, the African elephant population decreased in size from 1.3 million to 600,000. Ivory became a billion-dollar market, with about 80% of the supply taken from illegally killed elephants. , according to a report by the Wildlife Conservation Society, about 96 African elephants are killed for their tusks every day.
   China was the biggest market for poached ivory but announced they would phase out the legal domestic manufacture and sale of ivory products in May 2015, months later in September of the same year, China and the U.S. "said they would enact a nearly complete ban on the import and export of ivory." The Chinese market has a high degree of influence on the elephant population.
  
  Section::::Availability.:Alternative sources.
   BULLET::::- United States: In November 2013, the United States employed an industrial rock crusher to pulverize six tons of amassed ivory. Although the US does not ban the domestic sale of ivory, it is illegal to bring ivory into the country. Its interest in destroying its ivory was also connected to research that found links between the ivory trade and threats to national security through terrorism and organized crime. The US government and American non-governmental organizations have been involved in multiple forms of anti-poaching measures, largely in Africa, and American diplomats are actively engaging other governments to take part in eroding the ivory market by destroying stockpiles. Another ivory crush took place in New York City's Times Square in June 2015.
   Southern African countries have continued to push for the international ivory trade. Led by Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, they have had some success through CITES. Mugabe himself has been accused of bartering tonnes of ivory for weapons with China, breaking his country's commitment to CITES. 
  
  On November 16 2017, it was announced that US President Donald Trump had lifted a ban on ivory imports from Zimbabwe implemented by Barack Obama.
  
  Section::::Elephant ivory.:African Elephant.:African voices.
  
  The debate surrounding ivory trade has often been depicted as Africa versus the West.
   The use and trade of elephant ivory have become controversial because they have contributed to seriously declining elephant populations in many countries. It is estimated that consumption in Great Britain alone in 1831 amounted to the deaths of nearly 4,000 elephants. In 1975, the Asian elephant was placed on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which prevents international trade between member states of species that are threatened by trade. The African elephant was placed on Appendix I in January 1990. Since then, some southern African countries have had their populations of elephants "downlisted" to Appendix II, allowing the domestic trade of non-ivory items; there have also been two "one off" sales of ivory stockpiles.
   In June 2015, more than a ton of confiscated ivory was crushed in New York's Times Square by the Wildlife Conservation Society to send a message that the illegal trade will not be tolerated. The ivory, confiscated in New York and Philadelphia, was sent up a conveyor belt into a rock crusher. The Wildlife Conservation Society has pointed out that the global ivory trade leads to the slaughter of up to 35,000 elephants a year in Africa. In June 2018, Conservative MEPs’ Deputy Leader Jacqueline Foster MEP urged the EU to follow the UK's lead and introduce a tougher ivory ban across Europe.
   Since the ivory ban, some Southern African countries have claimed their elephant populations are stable or increasing, and argued that ivory sales would support their conservation efforts. Other African countries oppose this position, stating that renewed ivory trading puts their own elephant populations under greater threat from poachers reacting to demand. CITES allowed the sale of 49 tonnes of ivory from Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana in 1997 to Japan.
   A related concern expressed by Stiles is that perceived scarcity may lead countries still active in the ivory trade to create stockpiles of their own, owing to "the senseless system now in operation" in countries like the United States, Thailand, and China, whereby international ivory trade is considered illegal but domestic trade is permitted, ensuring at least some continued demand and, in Stiles's view, "guaranteeing extinction of the elephant".
  
  Section::::Justification, objections, and impact.:Economics.:Opportunity costs.
   Section::::Ethical concerns.:Transportation regulations.:Asian elephant ivory.:Import, export, & interstate commerce.
  
  It is legal if it meets the following criteria:
  
  BULLET::::- The item has not been repaired or modified with ivory, or any other part of a federally protected species since 1973
  
  BULLET::::- The item is at least 100 years old
  
  BULLET::::- The item was either imported prior to 1982 or after 1982 through one of the 13 ports specifically designated for antiques. Or the item was manufactured in the United States from legally imported ivory.
  
  Section::::Ethical concerns.:Transportation regulations.:Asian elephant ivory.:Intrastate commerce.
   BULLET::::- Hong Kong: In May 2014, Hong Kong began a systematic destruction of its 28-ton stockpile, which was scheduled to take place over the course of two years. In its announcement of the destruction, Hong Kong's Endangered Species Advisory Committee chairman, Wong Kam-sing, explained that, moving forward, "any future forfeiture of ivory will be similarly disposed of on a regular basis". Although the sale of ivory has not been banned entirely in Hong Kong, the commitment and actions it has taken are significant not just for being the largest stockpile destroyed to-date, but also because it has been the world's largest ivory market.
   In 2018, a study by Avaaz sponsored by Oxford University indicated that legal antique ivory trading in the European Union continues to fuel the poaching of elephants. It is believed that a legal loophole that allows for the trading of old ivory masks the sale of items made of ivory from more recently killed elephants.
  
  Section::::Elephant ivory.:African Elephant.:As a source of terrorism funding.
  