Participants in the campaign launch pose for a photo (Photo: VNA)
HCM City (VNA) – A “Say No to Ivory” campaign waslaunched in Ho Chi Minh City on August 30 with a view to raising publicawareness of elephant protection.
The campaign, part of the global wildlifeprogramme “When the buying stops, the killing can too”, was launched by theCentre of Hand-on Actions and Networking for Growth and Environment (CHANGE)and WildAid organisation.
CHANGE Director Hoang Thi Minh Hong said hercentre is carrying out communication activities to improve public awareness ofelephant protection by not buying or using ivory products.
The “Say No to Ivory” campaign is set to lastfor three years, she noted.
John Baker, Managing Director of WildAid, said thepoaching and trading of elephant ivory has been banned in many countries, butthe elephant killing in Africa and ivory trading in Asia still occurs. WildAidhas worked with China and Thailand to prevent illegal ivory trading. InVietnam, it is focusing on measures to change people’s wrong belief in the usesof wildlife products, including ivory, through communication publications.
Do Quang Tung, an official from the Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Development, said the number of elephants in Vietnam hasfallen from more than 1,000 to about 100 which mainly live along the borderwith Laos and Cambodia. Vietnam has become an illegal point of transit forivory over the last decade, he noted.
Elephants are being strictly protected atnational parks and ivory trading is completely prohibited in the country, Tungsaid, admitting that a large volume of ivory has still been illegallytransported into Vietnam.
Le Nguyen Linh, a customs official at the SaigonPort, said up to 6 tonnes of elephant ivory was seized at this port of entry inthe last three months of 2016. Ivory is often hidden in wood blocks or aquaticproducts inside big containers transported through sea ports.-VNA
There are only 60 domestic elephants and around 100 wild ones alive in Vietnam, with most of them living in Dak Lak, Dong Nai and Nghe An provinces, the Vietnam Administration of Forestry reported.
The Hanoi People’s Court on May 4 sentenced Pham Van Luat, a resident in Hai Phong City, to 12 years in prison for illegally transporting ivory, a type of banned goods.
Customs force at Tan Son Nhat International Airport on May 14 said it has detained a Vietnamese national for illegally transporting wildlife products on a flight from Africa to Vietnam.
Police and market management forces in the central province of Thanh Hoa on July 8 detected a truck transporting nearly 2 tonnes of goods suspected to be ivory without proper documents.
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Participants in the campaign launch pose for a photo (Photo: VNA) 
