Taiwan Announces Plans to End Domestic Ivory Trade by 2020

​worldanimalnews.com/breaking-news-taiwan-announces-plans-to-end-its-domestic-ivory-market-by-2020/

Taiwan has announced it will end its domestic ivory trade by 2020 in a bid to aid in the conservation of African elephants. Elephants in general are listed as Vulnerable according to the World Wildlife Foundation which means that they are at risk of becoming endangered and eventually extinct if they are not protected. Unsurprisingly, the biggest reason for the decline of the elephants is wholly caused by humans. Whether through illegal poaching, trophy hunting, or the ivory trade, humans are virtually wiping the elephants off of the planet.

While it is fabulous news that Taiwan is officially ending their part in the ivory trade, I still question how important it must truly be to them, or the world for that matter, if it takes years to commit to something. It always alarms me when communities / groups commit to change, but do so with the intention of it taking several years. Am I the only one who thinks that issues of this importance should be addressed in a much more timely manner? 

Let me put it to you this way, there are approximately 400,000 elephants in the wild as of now. At the peak of their being illegally slaughtered, some 100,000 elephants were slaughtered every year. Now, if you think that Taiwan will take two more years to ban ivory knowing that ivory is one of the reasons these animals are being poached, why are we talking in years? Why are the other countries still engaging in the ivory trade not coming forward with their own dedication to elephant conservation? We could legitimately see the end of elephants in our lifetime! Is that not reason to not only immediately address those concerns but also strongly suggest all countries engaging legally AND illegally in the acts pledge to end it? This is what confuses me.

As a planet collectively, we can agree to reducing our carbon footprints by an expected date. (2030 I believe) Now, pledging to reduce emissions by 2030 might SEEM as unreasonable, but I would imagine there would be a lot of change needed within a country to reduce by up to 30%. I won't argue that. But we're talking about the end of a species. Immediately banning ivory all across the board isn't going to disrupt any one country to the point that it faces serious repercussions. This is pretty open and shut, end illegal poaching for ivory, ban trophy hunting, and protect the species. 

Don't you think it's already taken long enough? 

I hate to spoil what is being reported to be good news because it really is, but it also begs the question, what took so long?

HAPPY VEG