University of Oxford
QUEEN ELIZABETH HOUSE International Development Centre
John Patten Esq MP'
House of Commons
London SW1A OAA
4 January 1990
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Dear Mr Patten,
Hong Kong Ivory
Just before Christmas I spoke to your agent in Oxford about the rumour that the British Government might be wavering in its resolve about the stocks of ivory in Hong Kong. As I am sure you know, the decision to ban the international trade in ivory, taken at the CITES Conference in Lausanne last October, comes into effect on the 18th January. Until that date a party to the convention, in this case the United Kingdom on behalf of Hong Kong, may take out a reservation on the agreement; in other words, not bide by its rules for the cessation of the ivory trade.
On seeing that the Foreign Secretary is about to visit Hong Kong, it seems likely that the issue will be raised once more in the last days before it is too late to modify the decision reached last October. I would like to tell you why I believe the British Government should not waver on this matter.
The Ivory Trade Review Group was an ad hoc group of 25 experts from, all over the world who examined the ivory trade from all aspects, including economic, legal and biological. It was organised from the International Development Centre in Oxford under my direction. On the 1st June last year we issued a preliminary report on our year-long study, as a direct result of which in the subsequent ten days, all the major ivory trade importer nations imposed temporary import bans. At last October's CITES conference, we presented our 800-page final report to the conference, where our recommendations turned out to be gratifyingly influential.
The report contains a detailed chapter on the ivory trade in Hong Kong which shows amongst other facts, that the current stockpile of 670 tonnes is in the ownership of over 100 companies. Most of this is in fact controlled or owned through a network of holding companies, by just three families. All three of these have been major figures over the last decade in the illegal ivory trade around the world. The heads of these three families are more responsible than anybody else in the world for the decline in numbers of the African elephant over the last decade.
Although controls into Hong Kong are better than those operated by most countries, there is no doubt that a very high proportion of the present stockpile is of illegal origin and that it is now in the hands of these three illegal operators.
Environment and Development Group
Queen Elizabeth House, 21 St. Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LA, U.K.
Telephone 0865 273600 Direct Line 0865 273637 Fax 0865 273607 Telex 83147 attn. QEH