The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), one of the largest animal welfare and conservation groups in the world, on Friday lauded Chinese government's move to crush 662 kg of confiscated ivory.

IFAW said the destruction will enable the Chinese government to step up wildlife conservation in future with no hideout for illegal wildlife trade.

"IFAW strongly supports the Chinese government to publicly destroy ivory. This crushing, the second in as many years, demonstrates China's commitment to end illegal ivory trade," Grace Ge Gabriel, IFAW's Asia Regional Director said in a statement received in Nairobi.

The statement came after the China State Forestry Administration (SFA) and General Administration of Customs (GAC) jointly crushed 662 kg of confiscated ivory early on Friday. The ivory was from concluded cases since 2014.

Gabriel said the 662 kg of confiscated ivory from the closed cases is the result of vigorous enforcement actions by Chinese authorities and other enforcement agencies.

"Public destruction of confiscated ivory, together with vigorous enforcement, raises the cost for engaging in wildlife crime and warns the public about the criminal nature of ivory trade. Such measures help stigmatize ivory consumption and reduce demand," said Gabriel.

The Chinese government has announced increasing commitments to curtailing the market, with the most recent in March, when the State Forestry Administration imposed an immediate ban on African ivory carving imports.

More countries have publicly destroyed seized ivory this year to help combat global illegal ivory trade. Kenya, Ethiopia, United Arab Emirates and the Republic of Congo together torched more than 36 tonnes of ivory.

According to IFAW, the ivory trade is pushing endangered elephants towards extinction. Every year, 25,000-30,000 African Elephants are poached to supply the ivory trade.

Research shows that for slow-growing, long-living species like the elephant, when mortality rate reaches 6 percent, the population risks crashing. However, in many regions of Africa, elephant populations are declining at a rate of 11 to 12 percent because of ivory trade.

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