Posted on 14 March 2013
| Bangkok, Thailand - A critical wildlife
trade meeting closed Thursday with decisions
from world governments to regulate the international
trade in several species of sharks and timber,
and to start taking action against countries
doing little or nothing to stop the illegal
ivory and rhino horn trades.
Countries, on the final
day of the Convention on the International
Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), capped
the historic two-week meeting by deciding
for the first time to initiate a process
requiring countries most implicated in illicit
ivory trade to clamp down on smuggling.
Governments mandated
China, Kenya, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Thailand, Uganda, Tanzania and Viet Nam
– the countries of highest concern in terms
of their failure to clamp down on large-scale
illegal ivory trade - to submit time-bound
plans to deal with the problem in two months,
and make progress before the next CITES
meeting in summer of 2014.
Under CITES rules, failure
by those countries to take action could
lead to a compliance process potentially
resulting in sanctions being initiated.
The treaty allows CITES to issue a recommendation
that governments taking part in the treaty
stop trading with non-compliant countries
in the 35,000 species covered under the
convention, from orchids to crocodile skins.
“After years of inaction,
governments today put those countries failing
to regulate the ivory trade on watch, a
move that will help stem the unfettered
slaughter of thousands of African elephants,”
said Carlos Drews, WWF’s head of delegation
at CITES. “The gains made to better protect
species here in Bangkok are a major milestone.”
“But the fight to stop
wildlife crime is not over,” Drews said.
“These countries will now be held accountable
to these pledges, and must step up the urgency
in dealing with the global poaching crisis
that is ravaging our wildlife.”
The decisions to better
regulate the ivory trade this week came
after Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra
on the opening day of the meeting announced
she would shut down her country’s ivory
markets. The prime minister’s pledge came
after more than 1.5 million people signed
petitions by WWF, Avaaz, and actor and conservationist
Leonardo DiCaprio asking her to end the
trading of ivory in Thailand.
Governments also extended
better protection to threatened rhinos by
pledging to work against organized crime
syndicates that are smuggling rhino horn
through the black market by increasing penalties.
In addition, countries adopted a plan to
reduce demand for illegal wildlife products
like rhino horn, which is believed wrongly
to be a miracle cure in Viet Nam.
Nearly 700 South African
rhinos were killed by poachers last year,
and nearly 150 have died thus far in 2013.
Up to 30,000 elephants are lost to poaching
every year.
Governments also reaffirmed
the stronger protections for three species
of hammerhead sharks, in addition to porbeagle
sharks, oceanic whitetips, and two species
of manta rays. The sharks and manta rays
were listed on CITES Appendix II, seeking
to regulate their international trade at
sustainable levels.
“This is an historic
moment, where science has prevailed over
politics, as sharks and manta rays are being
obliterated from our oceans,” Drews said.
“This decision will put a major dent in
the uncontrolled trade in shark meat and
fins, which is rapidly destroying populations
of these precious animals to feed the growing
demand for luxury goods.”
“These timely decisions
to have trade in sharks and manta rays regulated
by CITES show that governments can muster
the political will to keep our oceans healthy,
securing food and other benefits for generations
to come – and we hope to see similar action
in the future to protect other commercially
exploited and threatened marine species,
both at the national and international level,”
Drews said.
Negotiators also voted
to ramp up trade regulations for several
species of rosewood and ebony, which have
been subjects of dangerous levels of illegal
logging leading to deforestation, especially
in Madagascar.
+ More
Poachers kill at least
89 elephants in Chad
Posted on 19 March 2013
| Yaoundé, Cameroon - At least 89
elephants were killed by poachers last week
in Chad, according to local officials, in
one of the region’s worst poaching incidents
since the massacre of over 300 elephants
in Cameroon’s Bouba N’Djida National Park
in February 2012.
According to Chadian government authorities,
at least 89 elephants were killed on the
night of March 14 – 15 near the town of
Ganba in southern Chad.
Among those killed were 33 pregnant females
and 15 calves.
The poachers, which rode on horseback, numbered
around 50 and spoke Arabic, the officials
said, adding that the Chadian army had been
dispatched to stop these criminals.
“This tragedy shows once again the existential
threat faced by Central Africa’s elephants,”
according to Bas Huijbregts, Head of the
Central Africa strand of WWF’s campaign
against illegal wildlife trade.
“This incident in Chad highlights the need
for a regional approach to fight poachers,
one that needs to be implemented on the
ground as urgently as possible to stop these
poachers,” Huijbregts said.
The governments of Cameroon, the Central
African Republic and Chad will be meeting
in Yaoundé this week to develop a
regional anti-poaching strategy.
“We urge governments to start putting in
place this plan as early as next week, to
safeguard the region’s last elephants and
rid it of this poaching threat once and
for all,” Huijbregts said.
“At its root, though, it is ending demand
for ivory in countries like Thailand and
China which will ensure the survival of
Central Africa’s elephants,” Huijbregts
added.
This month's Convention on the International
Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), which
closed last week, saw decisions from world
governments to start taking action against
countries doing little or nothing to stop
the illegal ivory and rhino horn trades.
Governments mandated
China, Kenya, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Thailand, Uganda, Tanzania and Viet Nam
– the countries of highest concern in terms
of their failure to clamp down on large-scale
illegal ivory trade - to submit time-bound
plans to deal with the problem in two months,
and make progress before the next CITES
meeting in summer of 2014.
