Thailand: Asia's Biggest Source of Illegal Ivory

Thailand is Asia's biggest source of illegal ivory, and the Thai government seems to be making little effort to stop this international outrage, which continues to decimate the elephant populations in Africa and Asia. And this in a country that supposedly reveres the elephant. Hah!

Bangkok still harbours the largest illegal ivory market in Asia despite efforts to stamp out its reputation as an illegal wildlife trade hub, says a study by the Britain-based wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC. The network found more than 70% of souvenir shops in Thailand have ivory items for sale.

There are now more retail outlets involved in the illegal ivory trade than in the previous survey in 2001, but the business is being conducted in a more secret manner. TRAFFIC also documented more than 26,000 ivory items on sale in Thailand.

There are many workshops where ivory is turned into jewellery, belt buckles, knife handles and other products. These workshops include three in Bangkok, eight in Uthai Thani, and one each in Chainat and Nakhon Sawan provinces, the network says in its study report released yesterday. Most of the raw material used at these workshops came from Africa, it said.

Thailand has been identified by the Elephant Trade Information System as one of the world's top five countries implicated in the illicit ivory trade. However, the country has shown little sign of earnestly trying to address the problem, said Tom Milliken of TRAFFIC East/Southern Africa.

Since 2004, the Thai authority has recorded only two cases of confiscated ivory, which amounted to 1.2 tonnes in total, he said. ''Thailand needs to reassess its policy for controlling its local ivory markets as currently it is not implementing international requirements to the ongoing detriment of both African and Asian elephant populations,'' Mr Milliken said.

Kesemson Chinnavaso, chief of the Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, said the shortage of staff and lack of skill to tell genuine ivory apart from other raw materials were to blame for the authority's lack of success in cracking down on the illegal ivory trade. However, the department was trying its best to curb the illicit business by setting up a committee to deal with the problem, he said.

Bangkok Post