The international demand for ivory threatens to wipe out elephants within little more than a decade, since every 15 minutes or so poachers slaughter an elephant for its ivory.

An estimated two-thirds of the demand comes from China, where members of a growing middle class associate carved ivory products with luck and prosperity. The trade in ivory trinkets, chopsticks and figurines has remained legal even though the government enacted a ban on ivory imports and related products in March last year.

China has now taken a historic step to phase out the commercial ivory trade by the end of this year, a decision that has been greeted as the single biggest hope for the survival of elephants since the modern poaching crisis began.