Dubai,
United Arab Emirates, 30 June, 2008: Emirates
Wildlife Society-WWF (EWS-WWF) in partnership
with the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi
(EAD), has completed the final phase of
their three-year CITES project (Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species
of Wild Fauna and Flora), with the production
of CITES identification manuals in Arabic.
These manuals help Arabic-speaking government
officials and custom agents identify species
in order to tackle the illegal trade of
wildlife in the UAE.
The manuals are comprehensive,
devoid of technical jargon and easy to understand.
By being produced in Arabic, the manuals
will help ease the implementation of an
often complex convention. Authorities in
the UAE firmly believe that awareness plays
a key role in wildlife conservation and
therefore places great importance on producing
tools such as these manuals.
The UAE CITES project,
which began in 2002, has helped UAE customs
authorities succeed in capturing a wide
variety of illegal specimens, such as shahtoosh
shawls, ivory, live primates and wild cats
to name a few. Worldwide, wildlife trade
is estimated to be worth billions of dollars
annually and includes hundreds of millions
of plant and animal specimen from tens of
thousands of species. It has recently been
suggested that the global trade is estimated
at more than $10 billion annually.
“In order to effectively
combat the illegal trade of wildlife it
is essential that government and customs
officials are able to identify these species,
hence the development of the CITES manuals,”
stated Razan Al Mubarak, Managing Director
of EWS-WWF. “Through our partnership with
EAD, we have successfully produced Arabic
language manuals that will ensure we are
able to tackle this issue in a much more
efficient manner.”
In addition to the development
of the CITES manuals, EWS-WWF and the CITES
Secretariat organized a series of ‘Train-the
Trainer’ workshops for key government officials
from the Ministry of Environment & Water,
Municipalities, Customs and environmental
agencies. Participants were trained on how
to use the manuals.
His Excellency Majid
Ali Al Mansouri, Secretary General of EAD
stated; “The UAE CITES project has, and
will continue to help us protect the earth's
natural heritage. We recognize that the
threat to endangered species is of critical
importance today. Together with our partners,
we will do everything within our power to
ensure that the relevant UAE authorities
and customs agents are fully aware and equipped
to help us in the fight against illegal
trade. Translating these identification
manuals is a step in the right direction.”
CITES is an international
agreement between governments with the aim
of ensuring international trade in wild
animals and plants does not threaten their
survival. Illegally traded species are often
already highly threatened and in danger
of extinction, therefore contributing to
loss of biodiversity.
