Laos is fastest growing market for ivory, says Save the Elephants
Nairobi — Surging demand from Chinese visitors has made Laos the world’s fastest growing market for ivory, conservation group Save the Elephants said on Thursday. China, currently the world’s largest ivory market, has pledged to phase out its sales by the end of the year, but with ivory trinkets still popular among Chinese consumers, demand is shifting across the border. Ivory sales have increased dramatically in Laos, Save the Elephants said in its latest report, blaming lax enforcement of anti-ivory laws and lower prices.Chinese visitors buy 80% of the ivory on sale in the land-locked Southeast Asian country, the report said, while in the two main ivory marketplaces in the capital Vientiane and Luang Prabang, the number of shops increased more than tenfold between 2013 and 2016."Although we’ve had much significant movement on curbing the ivory trade, the Earth is not out of the woods yet," said Save the Elephants’ founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton at the report’s launch in Nairobi.L...
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