01 Sep
2006 - Beijing, China – A new law aimed at combating
the illegal wildlife trade in China goes into
effect today, which according to WWF and other
environmental groups will enhance China’s ability
to combat the import and export of endangered
wildlife species such as tigers.
The new law is aimed at complimenting
an already existing domestic ban in China on the
trade in tiger parts and derivatives. Since the
country’s 1993 ban, tiger bone, for example, has
been removed from the list of ingredients in official
Chinese pharmacopoeia, all legal manufacturing
of medicines containing tiger bone has been stopped,
and all stocks of existing medicines containing
tiger bone have been locked away under government
seal. Reputable traditional Chinese medicine experts
support this ban and use substitute ingredients
that meet the medical needs of their patients.
Environmental groups hope that
as China’s new wildlife law comes into effect,
the tiger trade ban will also remain in place.
“Any resumption in legal domestic
trade of tiger parts could be the final act that
drives the tiger towards extinction,” says Dr
Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF’s Global Species
Programme. “That is why we call upon the Chinese
government to retain and reinforce its important
trade ban.”
A recent study estimates that
tiger numbers may have dipped well below 5,000
in the wild as a result of poaching, habitat loss
and a shrinking prey base. Most of China’s remaining
wild tigers are found in the northeast, bordering
Russia. While these tigers number less than 20,
nearly 500 tigers live nearby on the Russian side.
“If poaching of tigers and their
prey stop, China’s wild tiger population could
bounce back quickly,” added Dr Lieberman.
Many experts believe China’s
trade ban is responsible for ensuring that wild
tigers are not further in jeopardy. According
to records kept by the Secretariat of the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which prohibited
international tiger trade in 1987, the Chinese
ban has curbed a trade that once saw more than
27 million units of tiger bone medicines sold
annually.
“If the ban were lifted, it
would undo all the excellent work the Chinese
government has done over the past 12 years,” Dr
Lieberman said. "China now has the option
to continue to show global leadership in conservation.”
WWF, together with TRAFFIC,
Conservation International, International Fund
for Animal Welfare, Save the Tiger Fund and the
Wildlife Conservation Society, have sent an open
letter to China’s Premier Wen Jiabao to ensure
that the ban remains in place. The letter reads:
“We hope that China, in the
spirit of its new CITES implementing law and the
upcoming 2008 Green Olympics, will reiterate its
commitment to the 1993 ban of trade in all tiger
derivatives from all sources, and thereby continue
to play a responsible leadership role in protecting
the world’s few wild remaining tigers.”
Joanna Benn / Caroline Liou
