Posted on 06 January
2014 | Guangdong, China — The Chinese government
today destroyed 6.15 tonnes of elephant
ivory seized from illegal trade in a move
signalling that China is firmly behind international
action to address rampant elephant poaching
and illegal ivory trade. The country is
the world’s biggest consumer of trafficked
ivory, most of which comes from elephants
killed in Africa.
“The destruction of
seized ivory makes an important public statement
that, in conjunction with other government-led
efforts to reduce demand, has the potential
to have a significant impact on the illegal
market for ivory,” said Tom Milliken, TRAFFIC’s
ivory trade expert.
China has previously
indicated it is prepared to clamp down hard
against the illegal ivory trade: the ivory
destruction takes place just weeks after
eight Chinese citizens were convicted and
sentenced to 3 to 15 years imprisonment
for smuggling a total of 3.2 tonnes of ivory.
Fan Zhiyong, Head of
WWF-China’s Species Programme said: “WWF
believes that destroying seized ivory is
a signal of the government’s commitment
to enhance law enforcement against illegal
ivory trade that will support international
action against elephant poaching and illegal
wildlife trade.”
“Tens of thousands of
African elephants are being killed by poachers
because of the high demand of ivory. China’s
gesture is a solemn commitment by the government
to cleanse the Chinese ivory market and
to guarantee the survival of Africa’s elephants.”
Although China has a
legal ivory market based on stocks that
pre-date the 1989 international ivory trade
ban and a sanctioned “one-off” ivory sale
with four African countries in 2008, under
rules of the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), seized
ivory cannot be used for commercial purposes.
“China’s actions, more
than those of any other country, have the
potential to reverse the rising trends of
elephant poaching and illegal ivory trafficking,”
said Milliken.
Government officials,
together with observers including representatives
from several embassies in China, CITES,
United Nations Environment Programme China
Office, IUCN China office, and international
non-governmental organizations including
WWF and TRAFFIC, attended the ivory crushing
ceremony earlier today.
Gabon, the Philippines
and the United States have all recently
destroyed ivory stockpiles, while France
has also signalled its intention to do so
too.
WWF and TRAFFIC believe
that best practice and transparency in the
destruction of ivory stockpiles should transpire
in the context of a robust ivory stock management
system. Rigorous documentation of all ivory
stocks should be maintained and a detailed
stock inventory of the ivory to be destroyed
should be produced. Independent audits can
ensure that the quantity slated for destruction
actually corresponds to the amount that
is destroyed, to provide assurances that
ivory does not find its way back into illegal
markets, further feeding illegal trade.
+ More
Hidden soy on supermarket
shelves masks assault on nature
Posted on 14 January
2014 | Gland, Switzerland: The invisibility
of soy on supermarket shelves masks the
major contribution that it makes to environmental
destruction and degradation, a new WWF overview
of soy related issues has found.
“We consume more soy
than we realise, but it is the soy that
goes into pork, chicken and processed foods
not the soy in tofu and sauce that is the
real issue,” said WWF’s global soy lead
Sandra Mulder. “More than half a kilogram
of soy can be going into a kilogram of chicken.”
“Rapid growth in the
demand for soy destined for animal feed
is a key driver for clearing significant
forests, savannah and grasslands, including
the Amazon, Cerrado, Atlantic Forest, Chaco
and Chiquitano Forest that cover most of
Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay
and the North American prairies, and increasing
the vulnerability of species that include
jaguar, giant anteater, armadillo and macaw.
“The Growth of Soy:
Impacts and Solutions” highlights how and
why soy production has risen 10-fold over
the past 50 years and is expected to double
again by 2050. Some 46 million hectares,
an area significantly larger than Germany,
is devoted to soy cultivation in Latin America,
with much of the expansion being directly
carved out of natural areas or displacing
other agricultural or pastoral clearing
into natural areas.
WWF maintains that it
is possible to greatly reduce the negative
impacts of soy, but that firm action from
governments, a concerted push for environmental
and social sustainability along the whole
soy value chain, and support from financiers
and consumers will be required to achieve
it.
Measures highlighted
in the report include vastly improved land
use planning, protection of vulnerable and
valuable areas, certification schemes such
as the Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS),
better agricultural practices and waste
reduction. Consumers in developed countries
could help keep soy demand in check by aligning
their consumption of animal proteins with
government health recommendations and reducing
food waste.
Over recent decades,
soy has undergone the greatest expansion
of any global crop and WWF is calling on
all elements of the soy value chain to take
action to ensure that the soy business does
not harm nature or people. With about three
quarters of the 270 million tonnes produced
in 2012 going into animal feed, this call
is particularly relevant to companies producing
and selling meat and animal feed.
The link between soy
and animal protein consumption is most graphically
illustrated with poultry meat, with a 711
per cent increase in production over the
40 years to 2007. Recent research in the
Netherlands revealed that an average 575
grammes of soy is consumed for each kilo
of poultry product produced.
More than 90 percent
of soy production occurs in just six countries
– Brazil, the United States, Argentina,
China, India and Paraguay – with rapid expansion
underway in Uruguay and Bolivia.
