The shocking truth about illegal ivory in Europe

The evidence is out, and it’s shocking. A groundbreaking new study has proven beyond doubt that illegal ivory from recently slaughtered elephants is being sold across Europe.

109 pieces of ivory from ten countries in Europe were tested by Oxford University’s Radiocarbon Unit to determine their age — and we now know that illegal modern ivory is being traded openly both online and in shops across the continent, fuelling a poaching crisis in Africa that sees 55 elephants killed every day.

Three quarters of all European ivory tested turned out to be fake antique ivory being sold illegally. One in five pieces of ivory tested was from elephants that were alive in the 1990s and 2000s and killed after the global trade in new elephant ivory was outlawed. The most recent ivory tested in the study was dated from after 2010. What's more, because the testing tells us when the ivory was grown and not when the elephant died, the ivory is likely to have come from elephants alive much later than these dates suggest.

This study shows this is is a EU-wide problem that needs an EU-wide solution — high levels of illegal ivory were found in almost every country tested. In Bulgaria, Spain and Italy, all the ivory we tested was illegal. And in France, the Netherlands, and Portugal, it was the large majority. Illegal items were found everywhere - from antique shops to private sellers.

It is now clear that the legal regime governing ivory trade in Europe is falling woefully short in its duty of protecting elephants. The laws around European ivory are supposed to restrict the trade to antiques and stop new ivory getting into the market. In fact allowing unrestricted trade of pre-1947 ivory is providing a massive loophole for modern illegal ivory to be sold, and it’s impossible for law enforcers to uphold — you’d need a radio-carbon testing unit in every police station across the continent.

There can no longer be any doubt about what needs to happen next. Europe’s ivory trade must be shut down. There can be no half-measures, no partial bans, no loopholes left for the poachers and smugglers to exploit again. Ivory in Europe must become a thing of the past.

When Europe ends its ivory trade, as it now surely must, it will find itself in good company. Hong Kong, the world’s largest ivory market, voted this year to phase out the legal trade in ivory. China shut down its deadly trade at the end of last year. The US has shut down large portions of its ivory trade, and the UK has announced a near-total ban. In March, at the Giants Club Summit in Botswana, 32 African elephant range states, including three African Presidents, joined Avaaz’s global call for Europe to ban the trade.

There are signs of hope amid the horror. Karmenu Vella, the EU Environment Commissioner is in the middle of a review of Europe’s ivory laws, and has welcomed the new study as ‘important’ and ‘valuable’. EU member states like France, Germany, Luxembourg and the UK are shifting their positions, recognising that the fight against ivory poaching must start at home. And all over the world people are standing against the ivory trade.

Over a million people have joined the Avaaz call to shut down Europe’s ivory markets. Over 100,000 responded to the EU’s public consultation on ivory. And this shocking Avaaz study, which should put the nail in the coffin for Europe’s ivory trade, happened only because thousands of Avaaz members around the world contributed to a global crowdfunding campaign. If elephants are to be saved from extinction, it will be because people worldwide cared enough to fight for them.