!!
University of Oxford
QUEEN ELIZABETH HOUSE
International Development Centre
John Patten Esq MP
House of Commons
London SWIA OAA
4 January 1990
Dear Mr Patter,
Hong Kong Ivory
1 11
an
sure
Just before Christmas 1 spoke to your agent in Oxford about the rumour that the British Government might be savering in its resolve about the stocks of
} Hong hong, AS
know,
th.
bai the { decision Ivory international trad in ivory, taken at the CITES Conference in Lausanne Tast 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 hong, may take out reservation on the agreement; in other words, not bide by its rules for the cessation of the ivory trade.
a
seems
it is
On seeing that the Foreign Secretary is about to visit Hong Kong, it likely that the issue will be raised once more in the last days before
I would like to tell too late to modify the decision reached last October.
on this matter. you why I believe the British Government should not waver
1st June last pea.
*.
The Ivory Trade Review Group was an ad hoc group of 25 exports from t the woria wine evan.hed the
Irom Ai aspects, including ecOHOR, A, legal and biological. i 1 was organised from the International Development centre in Oxford under
On th my direction.
Issued a preliminary report on our year-long study, as a d.rect result vi which in th subsequent ten
ajl 03; S,
the majeI Ivory
trade importe: At last October's CITES conference, temporary import bans. 800-page final report to the confe erence, where our recommendations turned out to be gratifyingly influential.
h
nations
presente our
11 the
The report conta.l & detaped chapter on the ivory traqt in Hom kong wit shows amongst cer facts, that the current stockpile of 670 tonnes is ownership of over 100 companies. Most of this is in fact controlled or ownEU All three of through a network of holding companies, by just three families. 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.
a
Although controls into Hong Kong are better than those operated by most countries, there is no doubt that 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