Elephants are among the top 20 endangered species.

Many of us know how Elephants have been slaughtered for their tusks which are made of ivory also called white-gold. Ivory trade is illegal but the demand of ivory is huge.

China is one of the top buyers of ivory. According to The New York Times, China has decided to join the fight to save the Elephants. The most important question is how strictly China will enforce the ban. Closing the Chinese market, which has accounted for 50 to 70 percent of illegal ivory, will go a long way toward extinguishing the traffic in ivory according to the New York Times.

Trafficking in elephant tusks has made it through decades of bans. Global ivory trade was banned in 1989 under the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species African nations have made considerable efforts to combat poaching. But the ban had many loopholes.

The campaign to halt the death of Elephants was strongly supported by President Obama, who announced several measures on his 2015 visit to Kenya that banned American commercial trade in ivory. Obama’s discussions with Mr. Xi (China’s President) were also aimed to encourage China’s decision to follow through. The world will need to wait and see if the new administration supports the previous president’s stance.

The campaign to save elephants does not stop there. Many governmental and nongovernmental organizations that have worked to protect the magnificent animals must now ensure that neither China or the United States backslides on the bans.

National Geographic has a lot of videos with valuable information about the ivory trade highly suggest watching some.