Posted on 25 March 2010
Doha, Qatar – A
United Nations meeting on endangered species
trade adjourned today after two weeks of
negotiations marked by the repeated rejection
of proposals to better protect marine species,
such as the Atlantic bluefin tuna, corals
and several shark species.
Trade issues on marine
species failed to attract the necessary
support at the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora (CITES), which meets once every
three years.
“It is shameful that
many CITES governments ignored science in
favor of political gain when making decisions
on marine species. These issues dominated
this meeting and will come up again in future
meetings,” said Carlos Drews, Head of WWF’s
Species Programme. “If CITES cannot set
aside political considerations and follow
scientific evidence, the implications for
conservation, sustainable use of marine
species and coastal livelihoods are worrying.”
Despite the failure
of high-profile marine species including
corals, sharks, and in particular the critically
endangered Atlantic bluefin tuna, governments
did make progress towards implementing better
protection for rhinos, tigers and Humphead
Wrasse.
Of the marine species,
Porbeagle shark was the only proposal initially
accepted, but it was overturned today, during
the final day of the meeting.
“Though it was disappointing,
the rejection of the proposed Atlantic tuna
international trade ban should be seen as
an opportunity, not as a failure,” said
Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean.
“It is now up to members of regional management
organizations in charge of Atlantic bluefin
tuna fisheries to gather the political courage
for what they have been too timid to do
for years – put in place scientifically
sound recovery plans for this critically
endangered fish.”
Tudela said the Doha
meeting would be seen as a turning point
for the recovery of Atlantic bluefin tuna
populations.
“I hope that someday
this CITES meeting will be seen as the tipping
point where governments decided to come
together to save the Atlantic bluefin tuna
and stop bowing to industry pressures,”
Tudela said. “A new pro-conservation scenario
has opened up in the run-up to the next
meeting of the International Commission
for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT)
in November in Paris.”
“This must include a
ban on industrial, or purse seine, fishing
in the Mediterranean Sea,” Tudela said.
“And the EU – which has the largest tuna
catch quota and the most purse seine fleets
– must step up and push for this ban at
ICCAT, in line with its backing for the
trade ban here at CITES.”
“ICCAT and other regional
fisheries management organizations now must
deliver - the world will be watching,” said
Steven Broad, Executive Director TRAFFIC,
the wildlife trade monitoring network.
Meanwhile, market players
and consumers must do their part by stopping
buying, selling, cooking, serving and eating
Atlantic bluefin tuna.
“This will send a strong
message to decision-makers that business
as usual is simply no longer acceptable,”
Tudela said.
Red and Pink Corals
– species that are heavily exploited for
the jewellery trade, but greatly overharvested
in many parts of their range failed for
the second CITES meeting running to be afforded
greater protection within the Convention.
Ivory issues still unresolved
Separately, requests
by two countries – Tanzania and Zambia –
to relax trade restrictions on their elephant
populations which would have allowed for
a one-time sell-off of government-owned
ivory stockpiles were both voted down at
the meeting.
“African nations now
seem further away from a consensus on how
to deal with the ivory issue than at any
time since 1989,” said Steven Broad, Executive
Director TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring
network.
“The dilemma remains
- each year tonnes of legally sourced ivory
accumulate in government stockpiles in Africa,
yet the continent remains divided on what
to do with this resource.”
Tigers and rhinos get
CITES support
However, there were
some conservation successes at CITES related
to tigers and rhinos, which are facing a
global poaching crisis.
Tiger range countries,
including China, reached a strong consensus
in Qatar on the way forward to address pressing
concerns of illegal trade threatening wild
populations of Tiger and other Asian big
cat species.
CITES governments maintained
their position against farming of tigers
for trade in parts and derivatives.
In addition, countries
with rhino populations agreed to focus on
increasing law enforcement, training of
guards, strengthening border controls, improving
rhino population monitoring, creating awareness
raising campaigns in consumer countries
such as Vietnam, and rooting out organized
crime syndicates that are behind the increase
in poaching and illegal trade.
Enforcement boost
More financial resources
for tackling enforcement were agreed in
the CITES budget discussions and the recently-formed
International Consortium on Combating Wildlife
Crime (ICCWC), made up of the CITES Secretariat,
INTERPOL, the United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime, the World Bank and the World
Customs Organization, the Consortium has
committed to engage on a number of joint
activities to bring wildlife criminals to
justice.
“CITES trade rules can
only deliver conservation and economic benefits
if they are enforced properly and all too
often this is simply not the case” said
Steven Broad, “the new commitments to CITES
compliance and wildlife trade law enforcement
announced at this conference are crucial
steps in the right direction.
+ More
Traffickers suffer as
wildlife crime enforcement begins to bite
in Central African Republic
Posted on 25 March 2010
Bangui, Central African Republic: A scheme
to increase the effectiveness of wildlife
crime law enforcement appears to be paying
dividends, with two traffickers convicted
in recent months.
In the most recent case,
the Tribunal de Grande Instance of Bangui
(Central African Republic, CAR) recently
sentenced a wildlife trafficker to six months
in jail and a CFA50,000 (approx. $ US 100)
fine.
The trafficker had been
arrested last February when he was trying
to sell a panther skin.
The operation was the
result of a close collaboration between
CARs Ministery of Water and Forests and
the Central Police, with technical support
from WWFs RALF project (RALF is the French
acronym for Strengthening of the Wildlife
Law Enforcement).
RALF, was established
in 2009 with the aim of boosting meaningful
wildlife law enforcement activities and
judiciary follow-up of wildlife crimes in
the Central African Republic, targeting
mainly high-level wildlife traffickers.
At the end of last year,
the same court had sentenced another wildlife
trafficker to three months in jail and and
a CFA50,000 fine. He had been found guilty
of smuggling baby crocodiles.
WWF welcomes the fact
that within three months, the Tribunal de
Grande Instance of Bangui has given a clear
warning to wildlife traffickers, said Josias
Sipehouo, legal expert and coordinator of
RALF project.
WWF also praises the
action of the Ministry of Water and Forests,
the Ministry of Public Order and Security
and the Ministry of Justice, whose efforts
are contributing to the wildlife law enforcement.
