12 May 2012 - A recent
preliminary assessment of 63 legally protected
areas in seven tiger range countries shows
that only 22, or 35%, maintain WWF’s minimum
standards of protection. This indicates
that the areas set up to protect tigers
and other threatened species are not necessarily
the refuge they are designed to be, says
WWF.
“Poaching is the most
immediate threat to tigers and protected
areas are the first line of defence against
poaching,” says Mike Baltzer, Leader of
WWF’s Tigers Alive Initiative. “If this
preliminary assessment reflects the full
situation on-the-ground, then protected
areas are not functioning as an effective
safe haven for tigers. Without places tigers
can be safer from poaching, there is no
hope to meet the target of more than 6,000
tigers by 2022.”
In November 2010 at
the “Tiger Summit” in St. Petersburg hosted
by the Government of Russia and the World
Bank, the 13 Tiger Range Governments and
partners committed to doubling the number
of wild tigers by 2022. From 15-17 May 2012,
they will meet again to assess progress
and plan the next steps.
Poaching of tigers,
to meet consumer demand for their body parts
and products, is now the main factor reversing
the gains made by governments, donors and
other partners working towards the 2022
goal. The meeting in New Delhi next week
provides a perfect opportunity for the 13
countries to immediately launch an elevated
operation to improve the protection of sites
critical to tigers and take deliberate action
towards Zero Poaching.
WWF’s internal preliminary
assessment covered 84 locations, 63 of which
are legally protected areas, in seven of
the 12 countries where WWF currently works
on tiger conservation. Scientists, researchers
and managers working in the field, have
determined these sites to be critical for
wild tiger population growth.
Each site was evaluated
on three critical factors for protecting
tigers: the number of protected area staff,
the use of law enforcement monitoring tools,
and whether the park was officially protected
by law. Data for the assessment was collected
from published sources and through a survey
of WWF field staff and managers of the sites
wherever available.
Results from the assessment
showed that staff and WWF field personnel
from 41 of the 63 protected areas, or 65%,
feel there are not enough staff to protect
those areas and achieve Zero Poaching. One
example is Malaysia’s Royal Belum State
Park, critical for the survival of the Malayan
tiger and where considerable poaching activity
has been documented. Although occupying
an area of over 1,000 km2, the park only
has 17 enforcement staff. In contrast, protected
areas such as Kaziranga National Park in
India, with approximately 800 enforcement
staff for about 860 km2, have been able
to stem poaching activity. In Nepal, 2011
was recently celebrated as a Zero Poaching
year for rhinos, which was largely attributed
to the increase of range posts across several
protected areas from 7 to 51.
The assessment also indicated that only
18 of the protected areas surveyed, or 29%,
are currently using computer-based, law
enforcement monitoring systems to help them
manage their sites more effectively; the
majority still rely on manual analysis.
The number using computer technology should
increase as two new systems, MSTrIPES and
SMART, are rolled out in many protected
areas in the next few months.
“Clearly, a large number of areas important
for tigers urgently need increased investment
in protection and enforcement,” said Mr.
Craig Bruce, WWF’s expert on enforcement
and protection of wild tigers. “Tiger range
governments should immediately and dramatically
increase their commitment and investment
in securing these sites. They should ensure
there are sufficient, effective and dedicated
enforcement teams on the ground, working
towards Zero Poaching.”
WWF has identified three actions tiger range
governments can take immediately to launch
an elevated operation towards Zero Poaching.
These include identifying and delineating
the most important sites requiring good
protection from poaching, and ensuring these
sites have sufficient numbers of enforcement
staff who are well trained to monitor and
improve their effectiveness by using monitoring
systems. WWF also suggests that the police
and judiciary need to help to ensure strict
punishment on poaching and to actively engage
local communities living adjacent to important
tiger conservation areas.
+ More
Countdown starts for
presidential veto on Brazil Forest Code
09 May 2012 - Brasilia,
Brazil: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff
has until May 25 to decide whether to veto
a draft rewrite of Brazil’s Forest Code
that will wind back protections against
deforestation in the Amazon and other areas
and offer wide ranging amnesties for illegal
deforestation.
The 15 working day period for a complete
or partial veto on the Forest Code submitted
by the Brazilian Congress commenced last
Monday (May 7), when the bill was officially
handed to the president. In absence of a
veto, the new law would be sanctioned automatically
once the deadline has passed.
“While big landowners
will make a mint through unprecedented natural
destruction, the costs, caused for example
by increasing floods and landslides, will
be delegated to the general public. That’s
a serious attack on all Brazilians”, said
Maria Cecília Wey de Brito, CEO from
WWF-Brazil.
Along with a broad alliance
of more than 200 institutions from the Brazilian
civil society and international NGOs Avaaz
and Greenpeace, WWF is strongly urging President
Rousseff to veto the entire draft, recalling
her promise from last elections not to approve
any bill that includes an amnesty and favours
forest deforestation.
Should Ms Rousseff veto
the law – as a whole or parts of it – the
Congress will have up to 30 days to consider
the veto. The Congress can still overthrow
the president’s decision during a joint
session of the federal Senate and House
of Deputies. This requires the absolute
majority of votes from both houses.
The draft includes an
amnesty for illegal deforestation committed
prior to July 2008. According to a study
by the Brazilian Institute of Applied Research
in Economics (Ipea), that would release
landowners from the obligation of restoring
an area of 135 million hectares with just
one condition: Landowners need to state
that deforestation had occurred before July
2008.
Areas that have (officially)
been cleared after July 2008 still need
to be restored, but under the terms of the
law, up to 50 per cent of this restoration
may comprise commercial plantations of,
for instance, eucalyptus or pine trees.
WWF is also concerned by the largely weakened
protection for fragile habitats like rivers,
slopes and mountain tops.
The need to restore vegetation on the banks
of rivers that are less than 10 meters wide
– which accounts for 90 percent of Brazilian
rivers – will be cut by half. Furthermore
the draft allows agricultural activities
like exotic tree plantations for charcoal
or pulp production on lands having over
45° gradient.
Extensive cattle ranching
will be allowed on slopes, on the edges
of plateaus, on mountain tops as well as
in areas which are above 1,800 meters high.
All those risk areas will be open to exploitation,
which will make them and people living around
them even more vulnerable to landslides
and floods.
