Panorama
 
 
 
 
 

CITES MEETING TO ADDRESS ILLEGAL IVORY AND RHINO HORN TRADE

Environmental Panorama
International
August of 2011


Posted on 15 August 2011
WWF calls on representatives of world governments and other groups attending the CITES meeting in Geneva this week, to stem the growing global trade in illegal ivory and rhino horn.

The 61st meeting of the Standing Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is taking place during an escalating crisis for rhinos and elephants due to increased poaching and the growing illegal trade in ivory and rhino horn.

“We hope that this reinvigorated Committee – with new members and a new chair – will be prepared to take decisive action to ensure that governments follow through on the commitments they have made under the Convention,” says Dr Colman O Criodain, WWF International’s policy analyst on wildlife trade issues.

No place in traditional medicine for rhino horn

WWF believes that South Africa, home to most of the world’s rhinos, has shown a willingness to respond to the poaching crisis but needs to do more to regulate the issuance of hunting permits and to create a more robust approach to prosecutions. So far in 2011, South Africa has lost at least 250 rhinos to poaching, a rate that could exceed last year’s record of 333 killings if not curbed.

Vietnam is the major destination for illegal horn, yet it appears to be doing little to address the problem. This is despite recent allegations that many horn consumers are, in fact, government officials. In Vietnam, a new use for rhino horn as an alleged cancer treatment has emerged in recent years. WWF is also concerned by reports of illegal trade to Thailand and allegations of rhinos being farmed in China for their horns.

In a letter being presented to the Committee today, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) expert Lixin Huang emphasizes that rhino horn was purged from the Chinese pharmacopeia in 1993 and that it has no proven cancer treating properties.

“There is no evidence that rhino horn is an effective cure for cancer and this is not documented in TCM nor is it approved by the clinical research in traditional Chinese medicine,” Huang writes.

Speaking as president of both the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, Huang says she is committed to protecting endangered species. The misinterpretation about rhino horn “shows little respect for the TCM profession and medical practices, and is harmful to rhino conservation efforts,” Huang writes.

Ivory markets must be controlled

A report on elephant poaching and illegal ivory trade being discussed at this week’s meeting identifies China and Thailand as the two most important raw ivory consuming countries in the world. WWF calls on China to improve its already strong enforcement efforts by strengthening its ivory management regime and by offering more support to the African countries where poaching and illegal trade are most prevalent.

Thailand is a major end destination for poached ivory that is intended for the tourist market. This week, the Committee should establish a deadline by which time Thailand must have finalized and implemented the necessary controls to curtail its domestic ivory markets. Thailand is the host country for the next meeting of the CITES Conference of the Parties.

Finally, African countries that are most remiss in terms of failing to control domestic ivory markets – namely, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria – should also be strongly encouraged to deal decisively with the problem.

“Obviously, elephants and rhinos are at the front of our minds in going to this meeting,” O Criodain says. “However the agenda includes many other important issues, such as improved regulation of trade in mahogany, fisheries issues, and tigers. We wish the new Chairman, Mr Øystein Størkersen of Norway, every success in facing the formidable challenge of bringing the meeting to a successful conclusion.”

The CITES Standing Committee is comprised of 19 countries, selected on a regional basis, and oversees the business of the Convention in between meetings of the Conference of the Parties.

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Turtle crisis looms for Great Barrier Reef

Posted on 10 August 2011
Queensland, Australia: WWF has received numerous reports from aboriginal groups on the north-eastern coast of Australia of large numbers of sick, starving and dead turtles washing up on beaches. The reports come following the loss of sea grasses after Cyclone Yasi and floods hit the area back in February.

The increase in turtle deaths for April may be more than five times higher this year compared to the same time last year.

“If these numbers are accurate, then this is a shocking development for the Great Barrier Reef” said WWF’s Conservation on Country Manager Cliff Cobbo. “We urgently need clarification from the Queensland Government on how many turtles are being found dead along the Great Barrier Reef coast”.

Turtle hospitals in Townsville, Queensland are being overwhelmed with sick and starving animals and do not have the resources to handle the number of turtles expected to need emergency care over the next 18 months.

Some local aboriginal groups have been so concerned by what they are seeing they plan to suspend issuing hunting permits within their saltwater country.

CEO of the Girringun Aboriginal Corporation, Phil Rist, said large numbers of dead turtles and dugongs had been found in recent weeks and that strandings are occurring on a weekly basis.

Numerous threats

WWF believes recent extreme weather events like Cyclone Yasi and the Queensland floods, together with threats such as entanglement in fishing nets, water pollution and large-scale coastal developments have led to this increase in deaths.

“In the past turtles have been healthy enough to deal with extreme weather events, but the combined pressure of more fishing nets, declining water quality and associated disease, on top of the loss of critical habitats as a result of large coastal developments have all undermined their chances of survival,” Cobbo said.

WWF is calling on both sides of Queensland politics to commit to building greater resilience in populations of threatened marine species on the Great Barrier Reef through reforming net fisheries, reducing land-based pollution on the reef, and better managing large coastal developments.

WWF’s Global Marine Turtle Programme

Five of the seven species of marine turtle are classified as endangered or critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).

WWF has been working on marine turtle conservation for nearly 50 years and has provided a Global Marine Turtle Strategy to outline WWF priorities for marine turtle conservation.

The benefits of saving marine turtles go far beyond simply protecting these remarkable species.
Conservation efforts will make fisheries more sustainable and provide benefits to small communities and with marine turtles becoming increasingly important as an ecotourism attraction, a live turtle is worth more than a dead turtle.

 
 

Source: WWF – World Wildlife Foundation International
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