16
Feb 2009 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Indochina’s
few surviving elephants are under increasing
threat from booming illegal ivory prices
in Viet Nam, according to a new market analysis
released today by TRAFFIC, the wildlife
trade monitoring network.
An assessment of the
illegal ivory trade in Viet Nam said Vietnamese
illegal ivory prices could be the highest
in the world, with reports of tusks selling
for up to USD1500/kg and small, cut pieces
selling for up to USD1863/kg.
Most of the raw ivory
was said to originate from the Lao Peoples’
Democratic Republic, with small amounts
from Viet Nam and Cambodia.
“This is a worrying
trend that indicates even more pressure
is being put on already fragile Asian Elephant
populations,” said Azrina Abdullah. Director
of TRAFFIC Southeast Asia.
According to IUCN figures,
no more than 1,000 elephants are believed
to survive in Lao PDR, while in Viet Nam,
fewer than 150 are believed to exist. In
December 2008, TRAFFIC released a report
that found evidence of widespread smuggling
of live Asian Elephants and their ivory
from Myanmar.
Mammoth ivory from Russia
was also used in small quantities, but no
African raw ivory was found, although it
was still being illegally imported into
Viet Nam up to at least 2004.
Trade in ivory was outlawed
in Viet Nam in 1992, but a major loophole
in the legislation exists because shops
can still sell ivory in stock dating from
the prohibition. This allows some shop owners
to restock illegally with recently-made
carved ivory.
In 2008, TRAFFIC surveyed
669 retail outlets across Viet Nam and found
73 (11%) selling a total of 2,444 ivory
items. Whilst the scale of the ivory market
was smaller than in previous surveys, there
were signs of increasing demand and overall
numbers of craftsmen had increased since
2001. Ho Chi Minh City had the most retail
outlets (49) and ivory items (1,776), but
Ha Noi, with only 10 outlets, had the highest
number of craftsmen.
“Although fewer ivory
items were seen in 2008 than in 2001, worked
ivory is increasingly being sold directly
to buyers through middlemen or on the Internet,
bypassing retail outlets,” said Abdullah,
“Continued demand for
illegal ivory is driving the prices so high,”
explained Abdullah.
Recent seizures in and
outside Viet Nam also suggest that most
raw ivory is being supplied to China.
The main buyers of ivory
were from China (including Hong Kong and
Taiwan) and Thailand, local Vietnamese,
American-Vietnamese and Europeans, in that
order.
“This insidious illegal
trade is further threatening the highly
endangered elephants of Asia and must be
stopped,” said Dr. Susan Lieberman, Director
of the Species Programme for WWF-International.
The report recommends
that Viet Nam should comply with its obligations
under CITES (the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora), particularly regarding the reporting
of ivory seizures, that national regulations
and their enforcement should be tightened
and offenders prosecuted, and that ivory
for sale in retail outlets should be confiscated
by the government and destroyed.
The report also recommends
better training for wildlife law enforcement
officers and continued participation in
the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN)
and similar initiatives that aim to control
the illicit trafficking of ivory and other
wildlife products in the region.
The investigation into
ivory trade in Viet Nam was supported by
WWF-Netherlands, and the publication of
the report, An assessment of the illegal
ivory trade in Viet Nam, was supported by
the Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation.
+ More
Call for international
fishing law grows louder
16 Feb 2009 - Vancouver,
Canada - More than 40 per cent of world
fish production is unsustainable according
to a new study, which finds that the 53
countries that account for 96 per cent of
the global catch are evading the international
fishing code to some degree.
The report, carried
out by WWF in conjunction with the University
of British Columbia, Canada, and the Federal
University of Rio Grande, Brazil, found
that 28 of those countries accounting for
40 per cent of the global catch completely
fail to follow the United Nations Code of
Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.
The code is a non-binding
scheme developed in 1995 to fight the intensive
exploitation of fish resources. Among the
recommendations of the new report is to
transform this voluntary code into a new
international legal regulation covering
all aspects of fisheries management.
The report evaluated
intentions to comply with the code as well
as the effectiveness of day-to-day compliance.
No country achieved a “good” score. The
best compliance of 60 per cent was found
in Norway, followed closely by the United
States, Canada, Australia and Iceland. North
Korea was ranked lowest, complying with
just 10 per cent of the code.
The questions on which
countries scored worst concerned introducing
ecosystem-based management, controlling
illegal fishing, reducing excess fishing
capacity and minimizing by-catch and destructive
fishing practices.
Although Europe had
some of the highest scores, disappointing
scores from some European Union nations
with the undoubted resources and know-how
to implement the code reinforced the impression
of a low priority given to improving fisheries
management.
Compliance scores from
developed nations were on average twice
as high as those from developing nations,
although some developing countries such
as Malaysia and Namibia did score well.
Another of the report’s recommendations
is to provide aid for developing countries
to address specific problems.
