Online selling and weak controls on domestic ivory sales in Japan are spurring illegal international trade in elephant tusks and contributing to a steep rise in poaching, activists said on Tuesday.

 

A lack of rules regulating the registration of raw ivory and the licensing of importers, wholesalers, manufacturers and retailers has allowed illicit stocks into Japan's domestic market, according to the report by the independent London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).

 

Under current rules, only whole elephant tusks must be registered with Japan's Environmental Agency.

 

"Japan's ivory controls are flawed and there is evidence that large amounts of illegal ivory ... have been laundered into the domestic market," said the report, which was co-authored by animal welfare group Humane Society International.

 

"The current African elephant poaching crisis requires an urgent and swift response before populations are wiped out. The flourishing domestic ivory markets of Japan and China are now the key driving force behind Africa's poaching epidemic and global illegal ivory trade."

 

Much of the ivory imported into Japan goes into making traditional name stamps, called hankos, that are used in lieu of signatures on documents.

 

The EIA said between 2005 and 2010, illegal ivory accounted for up to 87 percent of ivory hankos produced in Japan.

 

It named Japanese website Rakuten Ichiba as the world's top marketplace for elephant ivory, citing more than 28,000 advertisements for products. Rakuten Ichiba is Japan's biggest online shopping site with more than 87 million members.

 

Rakuten Group did not respond to several requests for comment.

 

"Amazon and Google have stopped all sales or advertisements of whale, dolphin and ivory through their Japanese e-commerce sites, and Rakuten must do the same," the EIA said.