| International
runners “run wild” across Vietnam to curb wildlife trade
13/12/2005 - Hanoi, Vietnam
– An international team of cross-country runners have
embarked upon a relay along the length of Vietnam in the
2005 Trans-Vietnam Run 2005. Throughout the race runners
will help WWF raise awareness about the illegal trade
and consumption of wildlife in Vietnam by carrying a banner
that reads: “Run wild, run free.”
The six-member relay team — consisting
of runners from England, France, Iraq, Poland, and South
Africa — will run day and night, without interruption,
from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, a distance of approximately
1,1000km. The objective of the Trans-Vietnam race is to
promote a healthy lifestyle through sport and general
physical exercise, as well as to promote the beauty of
Vietnam.
“It's obviously a great sporting challenge
for us, but at the same time we would like to promote
a good cause,” said Rene Croisier, the Trans-Vietnam Run
2005 organizer and one of the runners. “We decided to
choose WWF as a partner as we know that they are doing
a great job building environmental awareness in Vietnam.”
Each year, hundreds of millions of
plants and animals are caught or harvested from the wild
in order to be sold as food, pets, ornamental plants,
leather, tourist curios, or medicine. Throughout the Greater
Mekong subregion — composed of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar,
Thailand, Vietnam, and southern China — overexploitation
of wildlife is widely considered one of the greatest threats
to many species.
“Many Vietnamese people believe that
consuming wildlife products promotes good physical health,
often paying exorbitant prices for products and meats
derived from endangered species,” said Hong Hoang Minh,
Communications Manager with the WWF Greater Mekong Programme
Office. “The illegal trade of endangered species has proven
to be one of the most urgent and devastating environmental
issues facing the country’s biodiversity.”
It is estimated that 3,700–4,500 tonnes
of wildlife products (excluding birds and insects) are
traded and consumed every year in Vietnam.
Earlier this year, TRAFFIC, the wildlife
trade monitoring network, and WWF, jointly launched a
two-year project to battle illegal wildlife trade and
consumption in Hanoi through media and education awareness-raising
activities to change consumer attitudes towards wildlife.
“The help that the runners offer,
in making an appeal against illegal wildlife trade and
consumption in Vietnam, will contribute to the success
of the project,” Hong added.
The Trans-Vietnam Run is scheduled
to finish in Ho Chi Minh City, on 22 December. |
