April 2022

Environmentalists welcomed the recommendations from the designated panel of experts to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) on steps to take to address its ivory trade problem. After international concerns were raised about Tokyo’s ivory trade and illegal exports, in January 2020 Tokyo’s Governor Koike expressed a commitment to taking meaningful action in Tokyo, as leading international city, to address the ivory trade within Tokyo and fulfill a responsibility to the global community. The designated Advisory Council on the Regulation of Ivory Trade’s main tasks were to examine the ivory trade within Tokyo, analyze the existing national regulations on domestic trade, and assess and propose measures to be taken by the TMG. The seventh and final meeting of the Tokyo Advisory…