BEIJING—Chinese government officials destroyed more than six tons of ivory that had been illegally smuggled into the country, signaling that Beijing is willing to play a greater role in protecting dwindling elephant populations.
smuggle：走私 dwindling：减少，变小
But the effort faces an uphill battle in a China, where increasingly affluent consumers are demonstrating a growing appetite for ivory and other products that threaten wildlife. China also still allows sales of some ivory domestically, which wildlife groups say helps ivory smuggling.
uphill：上坡地，向上的 affluent：富裕的，流畅的
Monday's move comes as Beijing takes tentative steps toward playing a greater role in protecting wildlife outside its borders. A year ago, Beijing signaled it would ban shark-fin soup—a delicacy that has taken a toll on shark populations—at official banquets. At a global conservation conference in March, it co-sponsored with the U.S. measures to increase the level of protection afforded to more than 40 animal species, most of which are predominantly threatened by Chinese diners.
tentative：试验性的，暂定的 delicacy：美味，佳肴 take a toll：产生负面影响，造成损失 banquet：宴会
predominantly：主要地，显著地
But it has also been reluctant to move against legal markets for the sale and trade of wild animals in China. State-sanctioned ivory engravers each year receive an allocation that China legally bought from a handful of African nations in 2008. According to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, a wildlife group, smugglers can easily launder illegal ivory through that market.
engraver：雕刻师，雕工 launder：洗黑钱
Still, environmental groups welcomed China's decision to, for the first time, crush part of its stockpile of confiscated ivory. "This act should send a message that there is no future for an illegal ivory trade that sponsors poaching, damages African economies and funds terror and insurgent groups," said Peter Knights, executive director of wildlife group WildAid.
stockpile：库存，积蓄 confiscated：充公，没收 poaching：偷猎 insurgent：叛乱的，起义的
On Monday, according to Chinese authorities, a collection of large, unprocessed elephant tusks and hundreds of small ivory statues were chipped and ground into powder in the southern city of Guangzhou. The 6.1 tons of ivory had been collected by China's General Administration of Customs and the State Forestry Administration. The crush represents only a small part of China's stockpile of confiscated ivory, analysts say.
elephant tusk：象牙
It marked the third significant ivory crush globally over the past six months. In June, the Philippine government crushed more than five tons of ivory, and in November the U.S. government crushed almost six tons.
The Central African forest-elephant population shrank to around 100,000 in 2011 from about 322,000 in 2002, according to estimates last year in the PLOS ONE scientific journal.
A study by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or Cites, in 2012 found that China is the only country in East Asia where demand for ivory is expanding in line with household incomes.
According to data compiled by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the price of ivory in China was 15,000 yuan ($2,478) per kilogram in 2011, up from 4,500 yuan in 2006.
"The smuggling situation is very serious…and China is the biggest ivory market," said Zhang Li, a member of the technical advisory group for a Cites program that monitors elephant poaching. "It is time to do something in this area to show that China is a big country which takes responsibility."
In January 2013, China led an international task force of law-enforcement officers from nine countries aimed at cracking down on wildlife crime syndicates. A monthlong campaign resulted in the seizure of 6½ tons of ivory as well as a other animal parts, according to Cites.
Ivory smugglers have been hit with particularly severe penalties. According to Cites, at the end of last year a court in central China's Anhui province sentenced eight people to between three and 15 years in prison for smuggling 3.3 tons of ivory into China over an 18-month period.
The government has cracked down on the sale of ivory online, although sales have migrated to specialty auction sites where is often sold under pseudonyms and is difficult to track, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
crack down on：制裁，镇压 pseudonym：假名