Posted on 30 October
2009 - KATHMANDU, Nepal – More than 250
experts, scientists and government delegates
from 13 tiger range countries
this week called for immediate action to
save tigers before the species disappears
from the wild, citing the urgent need for
increased protection against tiger poaching
and trafficking in tiger parts.
WWF welcomes the recommendations
from the Kathmandu Global Tiger Workshop
2009, where organizers on Thursday stated
in closing remarks that “without immediate,
urgent, and transformative actions, wild
tigers will disappear forever.”
The recommendations
from the workshop include support for implementing
a resolution related to tigers in the Convention
on the International Trade of Endangered
Species (CITES), and to avoid financing
development projects that adversely affect
critical tiger habitats.
“These are a good start
but the momentum from Kathmandu needs to
be carried forward all the way to the Tiger
Summit during the Year of the Tiger 2010
and beyond,” said Mike Baltzer, head of
WWF’s Tiger Initiative. “The tiger range
countries are clearly committed to saving
their wild tigers and the world needs to
extend unstinting support to this mission
because once tigers are gone, they’re gone
forever.”
There are only about
3,200 tigers left in the wild and WWF’s
goal is to double that number by 2022, the
next Year of the Tiger. Tiger populations
are declining in face of massive poaching
for illegal wildlife trade, habitat loss
and fragmentation, and conflict with humans.
“I am convinced we are
on the right road to saving tigers,” said
Dr. Eric Dinerstein, WWF’s Chief Scientist,
in his closing remarks to delegates from
20 countries at the conclusion of the meeting.
“We will look back on this meeting as the
dramatic turning point for conserving this
magnificent species, its habitats, Asian
biodiversity, and the billions of people
who depend upon healthy natural landscapes
for which tigers are the talisman.”
The Kathmandu Global
Tiger Workshop is the first in a series
of political negotiation meetings occurring
throughout the year and leading up to a
final Heads of State Tiger Summit in September
2010, which is the Year of the Tiger.
The workshop was hosted
by Nepal’s Ministry of Forests and Soil
Conservation, Government of Nepal, and co-organized
and co-sponsored by the CITES Secretariat,
Global Tiger Forum, Global Tiger Initiative,
Save The Tiger Fund, and the World Bank.
+ More
Southern Bluefin quota
cuts could be “too little, too late”
Posted on 23 October
2009 - Jeju Island, South Korea, 23 October
- A 20 percent cut in the Southern Bluefin
Tuna take could still be too little, too
late for the species which is on the brink
of collapse, WWF and the wildlife trade
monitoring network TRAFFIC warned today.
Speaking at the conclusion
of the Commission for the Conservation of
Southern Bluefin (CCSBT) Tuna meeting in
Jeju Island, South Korea, TRAFFIC’s Global
Marine Programme Leader Glenn Sant said
that even under a best case scenario, the
Southern Bluefin Tuna populations would
not recover for many years.
“The members agree it
is a crisis with the breeding stock being
somewhere between three and eight per cent
of its original level,” said Sant.
“A 20 per cent cut is
a step towards resolving the terribly low
level of Southern Bluefin Tuna Stock, with
the scientific assessment of the scenario
saying there could be recovery, but only
after many years.”
WWF and TRAFFIC had
asked for a temporary closure of the fishery,
while Australia had requested a 50 per cent
cut in catches.
On the other side of
the world, the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna has
been proposed for an international trade
ban under CITES (the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora), with WWF also to press a forthcoming
meeting of the International Commission
for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas for
a moratorium on the fishery.
Both fisheries are plagued
with illegal and over-fishing.
“Our biggest concern
is the need to reduce illegal catches and
ensure that members stick to their quotas
so that we don’t have some members withdrawing
from the bank while others bank recovery
for the future,” said Sant.
“Some members have been
burnt by this situation in the past when
a member in effect overcaught its quota
by some 200,000 tonnes over 20 years, in
effect withdrawing all the stock recovery
banked by others.”
At the end of two years
the members will agree a management procedure
that will more effectively advise them on
what changes need to be made.
If this cannot be agreed
in 2011 the catch will be further reduced
to 50% of its current catch and an emergency
rule has been agreed that if there are signs
recruitment of juvenile fish to the population
falls below historical lows the fishery
will be shut.
“In theory this is all
positive, but with the tuna stock at the
lowest level it has ever been fished to,
there is concern it may not recover,” said
Sant.
