Winner
Brent Stirton
Getty Images
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"GOD'S IVORY"
CEBU, PHILIPPINES, JANUARY 2012: A wealthy, devout Filipino man cleans his religious icon collection which is carved out of Ivory, Cebu, Philippines. This collection has both new and old pieces, some carved over a hundred years ago but most carved recently. The main piece in this picture was carved 5 years ago. This man has extensive connections to other collectors and talks openly about the ivory trade and the "environmentalists" who are interfering with his and their collecting habits. Many of the piece in his collection are large, and would have been carved from a single large tusk. There is a collective of wealthy collectors in the Philippines who both search out and commision new work, thus sustaining a trade which facilitates a growing market for new ivory. This has an inevitable effect on threatened elephant populations worldwide, accelerating demand for a commodity which is growing in value. There has never been any legal CITES sanctioned ivory sale to the Philippines, given the amount in the Philippines today, investigators conclude it can only be coming from large illegal smuggled consignments.
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