The Ivory Markets Of Africa (2002)

Although the international trade in elephant ivory is banned by almost every country, there are significant quantities of tusks and carved items moving illicitly within Africa, especially in Central and West Africa, and from the continent to markets in eastern Asia. Within some African countries there is also a large internal (domestic) trade in ivory objects. ??Unfortunately, prior to this study, there have been few statistics and little information available on the present-day ivory trade markets in Africa. With the CITES approved one-off sales of government ivory stocks in Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe in April 1999, it has become even more important to have reliable data on the prices and quantities of raw and worked ivory in the principal markets of Africa.