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Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, after officiating at the Destruction of Confiscated Ivory Launching Ceremony today (May 15):
Secretary for the Environment: Today's launching ceremony sends a loud and clear message to both the local and international community that Hong Kong Government is determined to curb illegal trade in elephant ivory.
We hope curbing illicit trade in ivory would help stop the illegal poaching of elephants. We will continue to work closely with the CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) parties and inter-governmental bodies for the conservation and protection of elephants.
About 28 tonnes of confiscated ivory will be disposed of by incineration. Today, about one tonne will be incinerated. The rest will be incinerated by phases and the whole process would be anticipated for completion by around middle of next year. Thank you.
Reporter: Would the Government consider introducing the total ban of ivory under the CITES? As the environment chief, do you think using incineration would be the best way of destroying the stockpile of ivory, which might have harmful impacts on the environment?
Secretary for the Environment: Firstly, we do care about the conservation of elephants, and this time the incineration of confiscated ivory demonstrates a very clear message to the communities locally and internationally that we have determination to face the challenge. At the same time, we would step up our public education and publicity about this aspect. But the point is we would like to strictly follow the CITES requirement, and the current arrangement is comparable to other overseas practices. About the incineration of the confiscated ivory, it is based on public discussion and also from the advice of our relevant advisory committee (the Endangered Species Advisory Committee) that is based on the latest international practice, that is, the recommendable practice is to incinerate the confiscated ivory. Certainly, our facility is up to the world standard, and so it is up to the best practice in terms of environmental emissions. Our practice is comparable to other advanced cities in the world and we would observe where there are any future changes in the world so that we may consider the next step. Thank you.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Thursday, May 15, 2014
Issued at HKT 17:58
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