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Our News
Public Sentiment Sways for Ivory Ban 78 per cent of Hong Kongers support legislation for a total ivory trade ban
A total ban on ivory sales in Hong Kong is supported by 78 per cent of locals, according to survey results released today by WWF-Hong Kong.
“The results are overwhelming,” said Gavin Edwards, Conservation Director, WWF-Hong Kong. Not only do they demonstrate the ivory ban proposed by the government is widely supported but that 70.7 per cent of Hong Kongers do not agree with the traders’ claim to compensate their unsold stock using public money. The traders have already enjoyed a 27-year grace period to liquidate their ivory stocks since the global ban in 1989. It is time to shut down this awful trade.”
“The illegal ivory trade in markets across Asia fuels poaching, kills elephants and puts rangers’ lives in danger in Africa. These crimes are a security issue that needs to be tackled by transnational law enforcement working together. We need to tackle the markets trafficking in ivory by introducing higher penalties.” said Crispian Barlow, in his Legco testimony in support of the ban. Crispian is a 17 year veteran who served on the frontlines against poachers on South African nature reserves. He was wounded in the leg in a shooting incident with poachers and in another narrowly dodged a bullet that went through his windshield.
A former Hong Kong police officer in the 1980’s, Crispian said, “I witnessed the bustling trade of the ivory shops in Central and Wan Chai in the 1980s, which drove me to become a ranger in Africa. In the frontline war against poachers, every day the rangers are risking their lives for the betterment of our children’s future.”
Hong Kong is the largest ivory market in the world, with more items for sale than any other city surveyed. The Hong Kong government has proposed to ban the ivory trade by 2021 and the bills committee on the ivory trade ban is now examining the legislation in detail.
It is time to tell your legislators to pass the bill and stop the ivory trade.
Biography - Crispian Barlow
Ex-Ranger and Warden on South African Nature Reserves and Ex-Chief Inspector of the Royal Hong Kong Police
With 17 years of experience as both a Chief Ranger and Warden on South African nature reserves and over 40 years in law enforcement, Crispian Barlow is perfectly positioned to understand the day-to-day challenges of the frontline war against poachers.
Crispian was Warden at the Balule (North) Nature Reserve, part of the massive Kruger National Park, in South Africa’s northernmost province of Limpopo from 1998-2007. There he faced high rates of crime and violence with heavily armed poachers regularly breaching the reserve’s perimeter to track and kill elephants and other wildlife at any cost.
Among the more daring attempts Crispian remembers was a poacher using a helicopter to herd elephants out of the protected area to kill them. During his time at the reserve, Crispian was involved in several shooting incidents with poachers, receiving a bullet wound to his leg on one occasion and narrowly missing a bullet that went through his windshield on another.
Before that, Crispian worked in South Africa as a Chief Ranger for the Ibhubesi Wildlife Services from 1990-1998, providing advice on reserve management, training rangers, and going undercover to help journalists film illegal lion hunting for British current affairs programme “The Cook Report”.
It was while serving in the Royal Hong Kong Police from 1978-1990 that Crispian first witnessed the bustling trade of the ivory shops in districts like Wan Chai, leading him to study nature conservation and sowing the seeds for his future work. During his 13 years with the Force, he worked in a variety of units, including Marine Police, the Tactical Unit and the Bomb Disposal Unit.
It is Crispian’s unique perspective that led him to focus on weak law enforcement as the crux of the poaching problem. Since 2008, he has been a technical advisor for WWF, designing ranger training courses, and introducing wildlife law enforcement strategies and standards around the network, particularly in Southeast Asian countries. He also sits on board of the Ranger Federation of Asia and on the training committee of the International Crime Scene Investigators Association.
Aged 59, Crispian was born in Canada.
[1] WWF commissioned the Public Opinion Programme at the University of Hong Kong to conduct an opinion poll regarding the ivory ban in Hong Kong and interviewed 1,008 Hongkongers by phone from August to September 2017.
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