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Well over half of illegal ivory ends up in China, according to estimates presented at the meeting. China introduced a robust certification system to identify legally sold ivory in 2008, when it was allowed by Cites to receive ivory from a legal sell-off of stockpiles from four African countries. Since then, however, the regulatory system has broken down, with investigators finding illegal ivory on open sale even in remote parts of China

"We would like to see a total ban on ivory sales including domestic trade in China. As long as there is a legal trade, you have a way of laundering illegal ivory," said Mary Rice of the Environmental Investigation Agency which has studied the illegal ivory trade in China.

The M23 rebellion has forced the park authorities to shut down what was a fast-growing tourism trade. In 2009 the park received 550 visitors; last year 3,000 tourists came to Virunga and that figure was projected to rise to 6,000 in 2012.

To De Merode's relief, the rebels and government forces this week agreed to allow a team of 45 rangers to search for and monitor the mountain gorillas. The Virunga park authorities said some of these gorillas have not been seen for over 10 weeks. There was further heavy fighting in the area this week, heightening fears for the gorillas' safety.

"There are around 210 mountain gorillas in the park, which is roughly a quarter of the world's population," he says.