page_title: Destruction of ivory
section_title: Messaging
hierarchical_section_title: Destruction of ivory / Justification, objections, and impact / Messaging
caption_attribution_description: Photo Credit: Kate Miyamoto / USFWS USFWS ivory crush at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge on November 14, 2013
context_page_description: The destruction of ivory is a technique used by governments and conservation groups to deter the poaching of elephants for their tusks and to suppress the illegal ivory trade. As of 2016, more than 263 tonnes of ivory has been destroyed, typically by burning or crushing, in these high-profile events in 21 countries around the world. Kenya held the first event in 1989, as well as the largest event in 2016, when a total of 105 tonnes of ivory were incinerated.
  The conservationists, governments, and non-governmental organizations that endorse the strategy argue that it fosters public support for the protection of elephants and that it sends a message to poachers their work is futile. Critics contend that the technique may increase poaching by creating a perception of scarcity that increases ivory's value on the black market, and that evidence for the technique's effectiveness is insufficient to justify the opportunity cost for countries struggling with poverty.
context_section_description: Destroying ivory is a tactic endorsed by several governments, activists, and NGOs.
  Richard Leakey, who was responsible for the first major ivory destruction in Kenya in 1989, argues that these acts are primarily about sending a message to foster a public that sees the value in wildlife itself, not its byproducts, and thereby influencing the demand side of the market. In explaining the "enormous impact" that he saw after the 1989 event, Leakey said that "up to that time we'd been losing about three and a half thousand to four thousand elephants a year, and a year later we were losing at most sixty." Consumer research in China, the world's largest consumer of ivory, showed that many potential buyers have little understanding of the connection between the ivory trade and steep declines in elephant populations. High-profile government events bring the problem to large numbers of people and affirm a government stance for anyone who had been unclear. The events also aim to signal decreasing acceptance and popularity of ivory goods, making them less desirable by lowering their status and shaming individuals, organizations, and institutions who buy, sell, or own the goods. In China, prices fell by nearly half between 2015 and 2016, following the government announcement that it would begin phasing out its domestic ivory trade. According to Hongxiang Huang in a report by NPR, the decline was not likely due to conservation reasons, but because "[o]ne thing that proud Chinese people don't want to be, these days, is behind the times."
  Advocates also believe that destroying ivory can influence the supply side of the ivory market by sending a strong, highly visible and well-publicized message that the ivory market is dangerous and futile. Similarly, those who would otherwise consider ivory as an investment opportunity may think twice if the market is so consistently disrupted. French Minister of Ecology Philippe Martin called the destruction of ivory "indispensable in the fight against trafficking of threatened species" and said that it sends "a firm message".
  In Botswana, which is home to almost half of the elephants in Africa, officials are opposed to destroying ivory stockpiles as of 2016, and President Ian Khama publicly boycotted the 2016 Kenyan burn. Botswanan officials believe that burning tusks communicates that the animal does not have value. Instead, confiscated goods like ivory and rhinoceros horns are displayed to symbolize the value of wildlife conservation. An example of this was the 2015 unveiling of an elephant statue, made entirely of ivory tusks, at the country's main international airport in Gaborone.
caption: Journalists and other on-lookers at the 2013 ivory crush in the United States
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D80", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.01", "Image DateTime": "2013:11:14 14:04:51", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "216", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "30420", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9714", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "71/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:11:14 14:04:51", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:11:14 14:04:51", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "18/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "18", "EXIF SubSecTime": "60", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "60", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "60", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3872", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1848", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "30280", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 1, 2, 0, 1]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "27", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}