Japan Tiger Elephant Organization

May 31, 2019   TOKYO – Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund (JTEF) released its new report: “Compelled to Close: Top 5 Reasons for Closing Japan’s Domestic Ivory Market” before the opening 18th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP18) to Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).   The closure of world’s domestic ivory markets including Japan will be discussed at CITES CoP18 meeting. The government of Japan is planning to end a campaign promoting ivory registration at the end of May and introduce a stricter regulation on ivory registration procedure from the beginning of July, intending to get the recognition of international community on maintaining its ivory market.   The new report…

November 30, 2017 – Tokyo On 17 October, 2017, the IUCN experts arrived in Iriomote Island to conduct an on-the-spot review on the nomination of Iriomote Island for inscription in the World Heritage List. On 19 October, the Government of Japan hosted a meeting between IUCN experts and local stakeholders of Iriomote Island as a part of the on-site review by IUCN. At the meeting, the experts then noted their comments as tentative evaluations, including the outcome of the on-the-spot review. The most important points of their comments are as follows; Firstly, in the context of inscription on the World Heritage List the most outstanding issue for Iriomote Island is the potential for adverse effects from tourism/visitors pressure on the…

November 17, 2017 Tokyo-based Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund published today a report titled: “Why Should the Japanese Domestic Ivory Market Be Closed? -How ivory traders are capitalising on the failures in policy and governance, and corruption within institutions-” (194 pages total). PRESS RELEASE This report illustrates all aspects of Japan’s ivory trade through all information about the market available and comprehensive analysis of the effectiveness of Japan’s ivory trade controls. It is comprised of 8 chapters as follows;  SUMMARY of the REPORT Chapter 1: Application of the CITES Resolution on closure of domestic ivory market to Japan Chapter 2: Online Trade of Ivory in Japan Chapter 3: Import/export of ivory between Japan and the other countries including China, and regulation on Import/export in Japan…

September 30, 2017 – Tokyo The objective of this report is to provide information and comment with regard to the nomination of　Iriomote Island for inscription on the World Heritage List from the aspect of conservation of critically endangered Iriomote cat (Prionailurus bengalensis iriomotensis), which are considered to be taken into account at the verification of the “Nomination of Amami-Oshima Island, Tokunoshima Island, the northern part of Okinawa Island, and Iriomote Island for inscription on the World Heritage List” by International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on behalf of the World Heritage Committee. JTEF has no objection to recognize an Outstanding Universal Value (“OUV” hereinafter) of the entire natural property in Iriomote Island, in particular, the sole wild habitat…