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China Bans Ivory Trade

China has put a ban on all ivory trade in the country. The ban came into effect on
January 1 of this year. 67 official ivory
processing factories and shops were
closed last year and a remaining 100 were
shut down on December 31. A similar ban
in the U.S. went into effect in June 2016.

The Chinese decision to stop the ivory

trading business has been welcomed by the World Wildlife Fund and other
organisations as a major effort in protecting the world's elephant population. It is
estimated that over 30,000 African elephants are killed every year.

Chinese citizens regard ivory as a status symbol. People buy jewelry, chopsticks
and other objects made of ivory, leading to the development of one of the world's
largest ivory markets. When trading ivory was officially banned worldwide in
1990, China continued to sell it through shops and factories. The legal trade also
brought illegal ivory into the country.

However, there is a major concern that the new law does not apply to
HongKong, an important ivory trading hub. Authorities in the former British
colony are working on a ban of their own, expected to take effect soon. On the
other side, customers will probably go to Laos, Vietnam or other Asian countries,
where trading laws are not so strict.

In the past year, ivory prices started to go down as more and more Chinese shops
were closing. The ban will have a big impact on African countries, especially
Kenya and Tanzania, where most of the elephant poaching is taking place.

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WORDS

 apply = take effect

 authorities = government organisations that have the power to make
decisions
 ban = to forbid something; not allow
 citizen = a person who lives in a country and has rights there
 concern = feeling of worry about something important
 development = growth
 effort = try
 especially = above all
 estimate = to calculate how big something is by the information that you
have
 former = in the past
 however = but
 into effect = start to work
 illegal = not allowed; against the law
 ivory = hard, smooth yellowish-white material from the long teeth of
elephants
 jewellery = small things that you wear for decoration, like necklaces or
rings
 legal = allowed by the government
 major = important
 official = allowed by the government
 poaching = to shoot or catch animals illegally
 processing = here: when you make an elephant's tusk into jewellery and
other objects
 protect = here to keep animals safe
 remaining = those that were left
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 similar = almost the same

 status symbol = something that you have that you think shows high social
rank or position
 strict = here: law that must be obeyed
 trading hub = here: a place where ivory is bought and sold
 welcome = to be glad that something has happened
 worldwide = around the world
 World Wildlife Fund = organisation that tries to save and protect
endangered animals