Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to ensure that closing markets for elephant ivory in the UK and internationally does not lead to increased demand for ivory from other species.

On 3 April the Government confirmed that we will implement a total ban on the sale of elephant ivory in the UK with narrow and limited exemptions. We intend to ban elephant ivory as it is the most commonly-found and traded form of ivory. We are aware of some concern that a ban on the sales of elephant ivory could lead to displacement of poaching to other ivory-bearing specifies. We would want to consider the evidential basis for this as well as the CITES listing for other ivory species prior to further legislative action.