Legal ivory harvesting from African elephants would never meet consumer demand and could not resume in a sustainable way.

Keith Bedford/Reuters

Despite an international trade ban in 1989, poaching for ivory remains rampant and is even increasing, triggering heated debates about whether legal trading could help to reduce illegal harvesting (seized illegal ivory charms pictured). David Lusseau at the University of Aberdeen and Phyllis Lee at the University of Stirling, both in the United Kingdom, modelled how much ivory could sustainably be removed from a population of 1,360 elephants. They found that a population of this size could feasibly support an annual take of 100–150 kilograms of ivory. However, roughly 600 kg per year would be needed for such a population to meet its share of global demand, based on the current estimated illegal poaching level.

Conservation efforts should focus on curbing consumer demand for ivory, the authors say.

Curr. Biol. http://doi.org/bqn6 (2016)