Expert opinion versus radiocarbon dating in the ivory trade

IF 3.5 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

Global Ecology and Conservation Pub Date : 2025-05-29 DOI:10.1016/j.gecco.2025.e03659

Jitka Kufnerová , Jaroslava Frouzová , Ivo Světlík , Kateřina Weissová , Kateřina Pachnerová Brabcová

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

All extant elephant species have been protected from excessive international commercial trade by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) since at least 1989. However, legal protection often includes exemptions, such as for antiques, which may create critical loopholes that enable the laundering of modern ivory into legal markets, undermining conservation efforts. This study presents, for the first time, a robust forensic dataset comparing antique expert evaluations of 46 seized ivory artefacts with radiocarbon dating results, demonstrating that the inaccuracy of expert opinions can reach up to 58.7 %. These inaccuracies may challenge the enforcement of CITES regulations. In addition, the study compares the legal frameworks of selected countries, revealing that the definition of antique ivory varies significantly across regions. To address this vulnerability, we argue that integrating forensic methods such as radiocarbon dating—combined with other verification techniques—into regulatory practices could drastically improve detection accuracy, closing gaps that currently facilitate illegal trade.

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专家意见与象牙贸易中的放射性碳定年法

至少从1989年开始，所有现存的大象物种都受到《濒危野生动植物种国际贸易公约》（CITES）的保护，免于过度的国际商业贸易。然而，法律保护通常包括豁免，例如古董，这可能会造成严重的漏洞，使现代象牙洗钱进入合法市场，破坏保护工作。这项研究首次提出了一个强大的法医数据集，将46件查获的象牙文物的古董专家评估与放射性碳定年结果进行比较，表明专家意见的不准确性高达58.7% %。这些不准确之处可能会对CITES法规的执行构成挑战。此外，该研究还比较了选定国家的法律框架，揭示了不同地区对古董象牙的定义差异很大。为了解决这一漏洞，我们认为，将放射性碳定年等法医方法与其他验证技术相结合，纳入监管实践，可以大大提高检测准确性，缩小目前助长非法贸易的差距。

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来源期刊

Global Ecology and Conservation Agricultural and Biological Sciences-Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

CiteScore

8.10

自引率

5.00%

发文量

346

审稿时长

83 days

期刊介绍： Global Ecology and Conservation is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal covering all sub-disciplines of ecological and conservation science: from theory to practice, from molecules to ecosystems, from regional to global. The fields covered include: organismal, population, community, and ecosystem ecology; physiological, evolutionary, and behavioral ecology; and conservation science.