The move follows a resolution at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) in South Africa in October 2016.

According to some estimates, more than 100,000 elephants have been wiped out in Africa over the past 10 years in a ruthless scramble for ivory driven by Chinese demand. Some Chinese investors call ivory “white gold,” while carvers and collectors call it the “organic gemstone.”

Wildlife advocates have said for years that the most important step in putting poachers out of business would be shutting down the ivory industry in China.
The advocates have promoted long-running public campaigns to shame China and raise questions about its global responsibilities, at a time when China has been assuming a higher profile on the world stage. But the success of the new policy depends on how strictly it is enforced.
Wildlife researchers estimate that 50 percent to 70 percent of all smuggled elephant ivory — maybe even more — ends up in China, where there are countless ivory workshops and showrooms.
In the announcement, the State Council, China’s cabinet, said the shutdown of the market, which includes all processing and sales, would occur in phases throughout 2017.
In the first step, a designated group of legal ivory processing factories and businesses will be forced to close by March 31. The Ministry of Culture will assist in the transition of legal ivory into use in museums and other cultural sites, as well as help workers in the industry, including master carvers, find related jobs.

Corruption and chaos in many parts of Central Africa, where the last great elephant herds roam, are fueling the trafficking. Poachers and rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Chad and South Sudan have exploited conflicts and a breakdown in order to massacre thousands of elephants, often using the proceeds from ivory to buy more weapons. Like blood diamonds in West Africa in the late 1990s, ivory has become Africa’s new conflict resource.

Scientists say that for the first time in years, more elephants are being killed than born, with the population steadily decreasing.
Tusks are often sold to African middlemen who pay off corrupt government officials either to look the other way or to take part in the smuggling themselves. Mombasa, Kenya, is one of the most notorious ivory ports.
Once the Chinese market shuts down, the main international market for ivory may shift to Southeast Asia, but the demand in that region is not expected to be nearly as large as in China, which, with 1.4 billion people, is the world’s most populous nation.