Environment Forum
Global environmental challenges
eBay bans ivory sales; should the world follow?
eBay says it is going to ban all sales of ivory by Jan. 1 in good news for elephants after a conservation group found more than 4,000 ivory listings on the online auction site.
It’s a rare example of a company imposing tougher rules than permitted by international trade rules. Should the world follow suit?
Ivory trade has been banned since 1989 but some stockpile exports from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe have been legal under the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
eBay obviously reckons it’s better to ban sales — with a few exemptions for “antique” ivory from before 1900 — rather than try to make exemptions for “legal” ivory when telling the difference is all but impossible.
