Singapore bans ivory trade from 2021
Singapore intends to completely ban the domestic trade in ivory and ivory products from September 2021.
Violations of the domestic ban on ivory and ivory products will then carry penalties of up to one year in prison and fines. This was announced by Singapore's government on Monday.
The international ivory trade had already been banned by the government in 1990. Traders were, however, able to sell their products domestically if they could prove that these had been imported before 1990.
Major customs seizure
In July, the largest quantity of smuggled ivory ever discovered in the Southeast Asian city-state was confiscated. Customs officials found a total of 8.8 tonnes of tusks in a single container. The ivory came from around 300 African elephants. The container originated from the Democratic Republic of Congo and was destined to be shipped via Singapore to Vietnam.
As BBC reported, the discovered tusks are estimated to be worth 12.9 million US dollars. Also seized were 11.9 tonnes of pangolin scales, believed to belong to 2’000 mammals.
The global trade in ivory has been banned, with limited exceptions, since 1989. The number of African elephants had declined from several million in the mid-20th century to around 600’000 by the late 1980s.
