Posted on 15 August
2011
WWF calls on representatives
of world governments and other groups attending
the CITES meeting in Geneva this week, to
stem the growing global trade in illegal
ivory and rhino horn.
The 61st meeting of the Standing Committee
of the Convention on International Trade
in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and
Flora (CITES) is taking place during an
escalating crisis for rhinos and elephants
due to increased poaching and the growing
illegal trade in ivory and rhino horn.
“We hope that this reinvigorated
Committee – with new members and a new chair
– will be prepared to take decisive action
to ensure that governments follow through
on the commitments they have made under
the Convention,” says Dr Colman O Criodain,
WWF International’s policy analyst on wildlife
trade issues.
No place in traditional medicine for rhino
horn
WWF believes that South
Africa, home to most of the world’s rhinos,
has shown a willingness to respond to the
poaching crisis but needs to do more to
regulate the issuance of hunting permits
and to create a more robust approach to
prosecutions. So far in 2011, South Africa
has lost at least 250 rhinos to poaching,
a rate that could exceed last year’s record
of 333 killings if not curbed.
Vietnam is the major destination for illegal
horn, yet it appears to be doing little
to address the problem. This is despite
recent allegations that many horn consumers
are, in fact, government officials. In Vietnam,
a new use for rhino horn as an alleged cancer
treatment has emerged in recent years. WWF
is also concerned by reports of illegal
trade to Thailand and allegations of rhinos
being farmed in China for their horns.
In a letter being presented
to the Committee today, Traditional Chinese
Medicine (TCM) expert Lixin Huang emphasizes
that rhino horn was purged from the Chinese
pharmacopeia in 1993 and that it has no
proven cancer treating properties.
“There is no evidence
that rhino horn is an effective cure for
cancer and this is not documented in TCM
nor is it approved by the clinical research
in traditional Chinese medicine,” Huang
writes.
Speaking as president
of both the American College of Traditional
Chinese Medicine and the Council of Colleges
of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, Huang
says she is committed to protecting endangered
species. The misinterpretation about rhino
horn “shows little respect for the TCM profession
and medical practices, and is harmful to
rhino conservation efforts,” Huang writes.
Ivory markets must be
controlled
A report on elephant poaching and illegal
ivory trade being discussed at this week’s
meeting identifies China and Thailand as
the two most important raw ivory consuming
countries in the world. WWF calls on China
to improve its already strong enforcement
efforts by strengthening its ivory management
regime and by offering more support to the
African countries where poaching and illegal
trade are most prevalent.
Thailand is a major
end destination for poached ivory that is
intended for the tourist market. This week,
the Committee should establish a deadline
by which time Thailand must have finalized
and implemented the necessary controls to
curtail its domestic ivory markets. Thailand
is the host country for the next meeting
of the CITES Conference of the Parties.
Finally, African countries
that are most remiss in terms of failing
to control domestic ivory markets – namely,
Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria
– should also be strongly encouraged to
deal decisively with the problem.
“Obviously, elephants
and rhinos are at the front of our minds
in going to this meeting,” O Criodain says.
“However the agenda includes many other
important issues, such as improved regulation
of trade in mahogany, fisheries issues,
and tigers. We wish the new Chairman, Mr
Øystein Størkersen of Norway,
every success in facing the formidable challenge
of bringing the meeting to a successful
conclusion.”
The CITES Standing Committee is comprised
of 19 countries, selected on a regional
basis, and oversees the business of the
Convention in between meetings of the Conference
of the Parties.
+ More
Turtle crisis looms
for Great Barrier Reef
Posted on 10 August
2011
Queensland, Australia: WWF has received
numerous reports from aboriginal groups
on the north-eastern coast of Australia
of large numbers of sick, starving and dead
turtles washing up on beaches. The reports
come following the loss of sea grasses after
Cyclone Yasi and floods hit the area back
in February.
The increase in turtle
deaths for April may be more than five times
higher this year compared to the same time
last year.
“If these numbers are
accurate, then this is a shocking development
for the Great Barrier Reef” said WWF’s Conservation
on Country Manager Cliff Cobbo. “We urgently
need clarification from the Queensland Government
on how many turtles are being found dead
along the Great Barrier Reef coast”.
Turtle hospitals in
Townsville, Queensland are being overwhelmed
with sick and starving animals and do not
have the resources to handle the number
of turtles expected to need emergency care
over the next 18 months.
Some local aboriginal
groups have been so concerned by what they
are seeing they plan to suspend issuing
hunting permits within their saltwater country.
CEO of the Girringun
Aboriginal Corporation, Phil Rist, said
large numbers of dead turtles and dugongs
had been found in recent weeks and that
strandings are occurring on a weekly basis.
Numerous threats
WWF believes recent extreme weather events
like Cyclone Yasi and the Queensland floods,
together with threats such as entanglement
in fishing nets, water pollution and large-scale
coastal developments have led to this increase
in deaths.
“In the past turtles have been healthy enough
to deal with extreme weather events, but
the combined pressure of more fishing nets,
declining water quality and associated disease,
on top of the loss of critical habitats
as a result of large coastal developments
have all undermined their chances of survival,”
Cobbo said.
WWF is calling on both
sides of Queensland politics to commit to
building greater resilience in populations
of threatened marine species on the Great
Barrier Reef through reforming net fisheries,
reducing land-based pollution on the reef,
and better managing large coastal developments.
WWF’s Global Marine
Turtle Programme
Five of the seven species of marine turtle
are classified as endangered or critically
endangered by the International Union for
Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources
(IUCN).
WWF has been working on marine turtle conservation
for nearly 50 years and has provided a Global
Marine Turtle Strategy to outline WWF priorities
for marine turtle conservation.
The benefits of saving marine turtles go
far beyond simply protecting these remarkable
species.
Conservation efforts will make fisheries
more sustainable and provide benefits to
small communities and with marine turtles
becoming increasingly important as an ecotourism
attraction, a live turtle is worth more
than a dead turtle.
