ENVIRONMENT-JAPAN

Yahoo! Small Business

2/12/99

News Story

ENVIRONMENT-JAPAN: IVORY IMPORTS MAY SEAL ELEPHANTS' FATE

TOKYO - Inter Press Service via NewsEdge Corporation : They are elegant, exquisite, and are status symbols among rich Japanese. But the hand- carved "hanko" or seal that many top Japanese businessmen use to sign contracts or letters are also life-threatening -- at least to the fast disappearing elephant population worldwide.

Next month, Japan is expected to begin importing ivory once more after a ten-year ban on such action. Activists say the move was triggered by the incessant clamor among hanko dealers for ivory, which is the material used to make the beautiful seals engraved with the family names of the owners.

Trade in ivory has been forbidden by the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) since 1989.

While other ivory traders, such as Hong Kong, are reporting rapidly dwindling business in ivory products as a result of the ban, Japan is the only country that still has active sales in the merchandise.

According to dealers, the ivory products being sold here were made largely from the stocks apparently hoarded by importers mostly during 1990, or a year after the ban went into effect.

Ivory is used in Japan primarily for hanko, which fetch from 100 to $500 each. Activists say there are almost 50,000 hanko retailers in Japan, including stationery stores, mail-order houses and jewelers.

"There is no replacement for ivory," says a spokesman for the ivory trade in Japan. "We have tried buffalo horn and even old mammoth tusk imported from Siberia during these past ten years, but our customers are not pleased."

Japan bought almost 500 tons of raw ivory in the early 1980s, making the country the world's top buyer of elephant tusks. As producing countries began to be affected by the decreasing elephant populations, imports to Japan decreased to 100 tons in 1989, after which the importation of ivory became illegal.

But now Japan has agreed to a one-time ivory purchase with Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe, all of which are reporting increases in their elephant population. The move to import some 59.1 tons from the three African nations is s aid to have the blessing of CITES.

The decision to allow Japan to make the importation will be finalized this week at a CITES meeting in Geneva. If it pushes through, Japan will be the only country in the world to resume ivory purchases.

"The new sale, if authorized, will stimulate long-awaited demand, increasing fears of poaching of the endangered African elephant and the Asian elephant, whose numbers have dwindled, not increased," says Kumi Togawa of the Japan Wildlife Conservation Society.

She warns: "Japan's insatiable appetite for ivory is only going to be rekindled if new imports are allowed."

The African elephant was placed on CITES's Appendix 1, which protects listed animals and their products from being traded internationally, after it was determined that poaching had drastically threatened the species.

The World Wildlife Fund, Japan, says despite higher elephant populations in Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe, the overall African elephant population has been decreasing -- from 1.34 million in 1979 to 580,000 in 1995.

Conservationists fear that the Asian elephant, whose populations are dangerously low, will be affected if Japan imports ivory because Asian ivory is more highly prized by the Japanese.

Says Togawa: "The import from the three African countries is insufficient to fulfill the whole potential demand."

Government officials, however, scoff at such apprehensions.

Retorts an Environment Agency official who declined to be named: "Japan's decision is based on sustainable trade and is not an emotional argument such as by conservationists who want to protect elephants at all costs."

Officials here have also defended the decision by pointing out safeguards are now in place to ensure that the ivory products made and sold locally will come only from legal sources. One of these measures are penalties running to as high as 500,000 yen ($4,800) for ivory dealers who fail to register each ivory product sale they make.

The Environment Agency has also pledged to work closely with the powerful Ministry of International Trade and Industry to discourage rampant trading by tight monitoring, including spot checks of dealers. Insists a government official: "Japan is ready to accept the ivory because of our new effective laws."

But activists like Tog awa say authorities are simply not prepared to do what the government is promising. Togawa argues, for instance, that there is no guarantee that customs officials will know for sure that the ivory being imported come from the three African states contracted by the government and not from other sources. \par \par After all, she notes, dealers have only to register by filling in official papers and providing photographs of the whole ivory or ivory products they imported.

Togawa says there have already been several cases of smuggling in Japan. The Finance Ministry, meanwhile, says there were three reported cases of ivory smuggling last year, up by just one from the two cases discovered in 1997.

Still, Togawa says, "The smuggling goes on because people want to buy ivory. Japan must guarantee a better monitoring system."