Posted on August, 28 2019

WWF welcomes the announcement today by Yahoo! Japan of a complete ban on ivory trade on all its e-commerce platforms. It is no doubt a positive move in the right direction and it sends the right message that we urgently need to end the demand in Asia that is driving drastic elephant population declines in Africa. 

WWF hopes Yahoo! Japan’s proactive step will encourage the Japanese government to look critically at the country’s domestic market and its influence on international illegal trade. Elephants have taken the spotlight at the 18th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES with countries like Vietnam being singled out for their role in the illegal wildlife trade.

At the same time this is only the first step and companies like Yahoo! Japan need to be more vigilant in closely monitoring online activity on their platforms and quickly taking down any elephant ivory adverts. Everyday unscrupulous traders are devising clever ways to outwit detection and these companies must counter them with smarter systems. We encourage companies from all regions to join global initiatives such as the Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online to combine their forces in helping curtail online wildlife crime.

For media enquiries please contact
Marsden Momanyi
mmomanyi@wwfint.org
+254719784872
Communications Manager
WWF Wildlife Practice