Five years of the ivory ban in China: Developments, limitations, and potential for improvement

Ivory bans are among the critical policy instruments used to strengthen regulation, reduce ivory trade, and ultimately aim to benefit elephant conservation. China imposed a comprehensive ban in 2018 to prohibit ivory importation for commercial purposes and domestic ivory sales with narrow exemptions. The ban has significantly changed China's ivory policy direction and substantially restricted the international and domestic trade of ivory in China. In this paper, we identify the development and limitations and potential for improvement. The ivory ban closed domestic sales and banned trophy ivory and pre-convention ivory imports. However, the sentencing exemptions, the exemptions for returning and auctioning ivory cultural relics, gifting ivory gifts and the unrestricted mammoth ivory trade, weaken the ivory policy and its conservation potential. Based on our analysis, we suggest that prosecution or penalties exemptions in ivory crimes may require further review to ensure regulatory deterrence effectiveness; ambiguous regulations for exempted ivory cultural relics need clear criteria for policy implementation; ivory gifting as allowed in the law requires explicit measures to prevent illegal exchange; the rising mammoth ivory markets may need regulatory management prevent ‘laundering’ elephant ivory. In conclusion, China's ivory control is promoted by the trade ban, yet the effectiveness of ivory policy still faces challenges in prosecution and penalty exemptions, import and auction trade exemptions, monitoring of gift giving and open mammoth ivory trade.