This
week the Environment Secretary Michael Gove made the announcement
that the UK will introduce a ban on ivory sales. The proposed ban will be the
toughest in Europe and amongst the toughest in the world and will help to
protect elephants for future generations. The move follows a consultation which
had more than 70,000 responses with over 88% in favour of the ban. The UK has
long been a global leader in the international fight against the illegal ivory
trade. But over the last decade the number of elephants has declined by almost
a third and around 20,000 a year are still being slaughtered due to the global
demand for ivory- showing there is still more to be done. The UK recently
called for EU member states to ban commercial trade in raw ivory- which is
already banned in the UK- within the EU as soon as possible.
I
welcome this announcement, which confirms the Government’s commitment to
halting the heart-breaking decline in Africa’s elephant population in recent
years. We need to leave our planet in a better state for the next generation,
with stronger protections for animal welfare.
