Ahead of a major global wildlife conference in September in South Africa, where 183 parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora will convene, an open letter from World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has drawn attention to the critical issue of ending commercial ivory markets.   

Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International and Lo Sze Ping, CEO of WWF China, wrote that they hope that China will enact a rapid and effective domestic ivory trade ban. 

"WWF is fully committed to supporting the Chinese government's implementation of a ban on ivory trade … We stand ready to provide assistance to the ban enforcement in China and to international communication whenever necessary taking advantage of our networks worldwide."

At the start of the 20th century, there were around 3-5 million elephants across Africa. Today, the number is fewer than 500,000. Banning the domestic ivory trade is an important factor in stopping poaching and the Chinese government has committed to this goal. 

In September 2015, the leaders of China and the US committed to prohibiting ivory imports and exports and to phase out the domestic ivory trade. Both countries have substantial ivory markets and their commitments set an example for the international community.

In July, the US government issued new rules to prevent the international commercial import and export of ivory and the inter-state trade. In June, the Chinese government committed to releasing a timetable for a domestic ivory trade ban before the end of this year.