«It is very telling that the Government of Japan is launching this campaign without making reforms to
the ivory tusk registration scheme,» said EIA senior policy analyst Danielle Grabiel.
«Japan's
ivory tusk registration scheme is a poacher's paradise, allowing vast amounts of illegal tusks to be legalized for sale on Japan's domestic market,» said EIA president, Allan Thornton.
TOKYO — Japan's
ivory tusk registration system is awash with fraud, fueling illegal ivory trade and undermining international action to protect Africa's disappearing elephants under pressure from intense ivory poaching.
Not exact matches
During the summer of 2015, investigators undertook an undercover survey of
ivory traders in Japan in order to gain a better understanding of the extent to which loopholes in the whole
tusk registration system were being abused.
• Thirty of 37 Japanese
ivory traders contacted by an undercover investigator offered to engage in some form of illegal activity to buy, sell, or fraudulently register a
tusk that did not qualify for
registration
As a result, the government's
tusk registration scheme is effectively a tool for granting amnesty to large quantities of pre-1989 poached
ivory
«Only a ban on Japan's domestic
ivory trade and permanently ending
registration of
tusks can rectify the damage.»
It is time to end the
tusk registration scheme and to close domestic
ivory trade to reduce the demand that fuels
ivory poaching.»
The campaign is purportedly intended to gauge the size of the national stockpile, but the
tusk registration regulations are weak and full of loopholes making it impossible to prevent illegal
ivory from being registered.
«To show it is serious about stopping its illegal
ivory trade problem, Japan needs to cease all
registration of whole
tusks immediately as a step in closing its domestic
ivory market,» said Grabiel.
Japanese Minister of Environment, Masaharu Nakagawa, announced on August 29th that the ministry is launching a campaign to promote the
registration of privately - held
ivory tusks.
The Government of Japan has announced its intention to launch an expanded
tusk registration campaign nationwide that will increase demand for
ivory in Japan, while legalizing large amounts of illegal
ivory.
EIA first reported in 2015 that Japan's
tusk registration scheme was rife with fraudulent declarations that allowed undocumented illegal
ivory tusks to be legalized for sale onto Japan's domestic market.
WASHINGTON, DC - The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is calling for the closure of Japan's domestic
ivory market after new evidence of illegal trade in
ivory tusks was linked to the Ministry of Environment's
tusk registration scheme.