China finally Bans Ivory Trade

After years of international and domestic pressure China has finally banned all Ivory commerce effective from January 1 2018. This will shutdown the world’s largest Ivory market and boost wildlife protection especially in Africa. The announcement from Chinese State Council said the shutdown of the Ivory market includes all processing and sales and it’s already being enforced in phases that started in 2017. In the first step, a designated group of legal ivory processing factories and businesses will be forced to close by March 31 2018 and the Ministry of Culture will assist in the transition of legal ivory into museum and other cultural site collections.