14
Apr 2009 - Malaysia's Muslim preachers have
been enlisted in the fight for wildlife
conservation, using passages from the Koran
to raise awareness and help protect some
of the world's most endangered species.
After a successful campaign
last year, when more than 400 mosques in
the state of Terengganu held sermons focusing
on turtle conservation issues, WWF decided
to extend the project to support efforts
to tackle poaching.
The conservation group
is running workshops for local imams, explaining
the importance of wildlife protection.
“There are several passages
within the Koran which talk about the responsibility
of humans in protecting our environment
and wildlife,” said Umi A’ Zuhrah from the
Tiger Conservation Programme at WWF-Malaysia.
“Religious leaders are
very influential and greatly respected in
this community, so they are the best people
to carry this message across.”
The Malaysian peninsula
is home to some of the world's most amazing
and threatened wildlife including the Sumatran
rhinos, Malayan tigers and Asian elephants.
But these, and many other species in the
region, are under increasing threat due
to poaching and the demand for their body
parts in the illegal wildlife trade.
All created by God
Poaching is arguably
the biggest threat to tigers in Malaysia,
with the current population estimated at
about 500, down from 3,000 almost 50 years
ago. Tigers are poached for their parts,
which often end up in traditional chinese
medicine shops and exotic meat restaurants
in Malaysia and other neighbouring countries.
The newly modified sermons
will be read at 21 mosques in the district
of Jeli, Kelantan, in June this year and
will talk about the need to stop illegal
hunting and reduce human-wildlife conflict
using specific passages from the Koran
“We hope that religious-based
initiatives such as these will complement
our monitoring and anti-poaching efforts
to conserve Malaysia’s endangered wildlife,”
Umi A’Zuhrah said.
Questionnaire surveys
developed by WWF-Malaysia for those who
heard the previous sermons indicated an
increase in their levels of concern for
turtle conservation.
“In Islam, the conservation
of the environment is based on the principle
that all individual components of the environment
were created by God, and that all living
things were created by the Almighty Creator,”
Mawil Y. Izzi Deen says in an essay called
‘Islamic Environmental Ethics, Law and Society’.
“In fact, we are encouraged
not to exploit the non-human world (natural
environment and animals).”
+ More
WWF-Rating in Switzerland:
Bad Grades for Retailers
15 Apr 2009 - Switzerland
- With a per capita usage of 21 kg of tissue
paper Switzerland is leading European consumption
on tissues. Offering an adequate amount
of recycled fibre tissue products to consumers
would therefore be really important as forests
around the world are cut for toilet tissues,
napkins or baby diapers. Retailers have
not yet recognized this fact however as
a WWF rating of Swiss Retailers shows: 9
out of 12 retail chains receive the grade
"not sufficient"
21 kg of tissue and
hygienic papers were used by an average
Swiss in 2007, this is a quarter more than
10 years ago. With this level of consumption
Swiss are the leading tissue users in Europe
- only North Americans use more with 24kg
per person.
The high paper usage
pattern was a reason for WWF Switzerland
to conduct a survey with the independent
Rating Agency Inrate about the tissue products
offered by 12 Swiss Retailers. The following
product categories are part of the rating:
toilet tissue, kitchen rolls, napkins and
cosmetic tissue as well as baby diapers.
"The paper industry plays a key role
for the future of the worlds forests. Globally
almost half of the commercial timber cut
is used for paper production" explains
WWFs forest expert Simone Stammbach.
The result of the WWF
Rating of Swiss Retailers
Migros and Coop came out best, followed
by Lidl who is new in Switzerlands market.
Migros offers the biggest number of tissue
products made of recycled and FSC certified
fibres.Coop comes second. Lidl achieved
third place - the discounter offers only
toilet paper and kitchen rolls made out
of recycled or FSC fibres. 9 other retailers
received lower marks. (see graph)
All retailers offer
at least one ecological alternative to virgin
fibre and uncertified toilet tissue. Only
half of the retailers have ecological kitchen
rolls on offer. For the product range on
napkins and cosmetic tissue barely any products
made out of recycled or FSC fibres are available.
Totally insufficient is the situation for
baby diapers: No diapers are available on
the Swiss market made from recycled fibres
or FSC certified fibres.
WWF Tips:
Preferentially buy tissue products made
out of recycled fibre
Be efficient and economical in your use
of tissue and hygienic paper
If it has to be virgin fibre for some reason
then opt for products carrying the FSC label.
FSC stands for environmentally and socially
responsible forest management.
+ More
New Episode of Extinction
Sucks – “Dare for a bear”
17 Apr 2009 - The third
episode of WWF's unique wildlife series
Extinction Sucks goes online today (Friday
17.04.09) with Australians Aleisha Caruso
and Ashleigh Young travelling to Vietnam
on a mission to rehabilitate Asiatic Black
Bears which have been freed from horrific
captivity.
Throughout South East
Asia bears are kept in cramped cages and
“milked” for their bile which is in high
demand for its supposed medicinal powers.
The practice has recently been made illegal,
which means the authorities have been able
to free some bears – but they have have
to be looked after since they cannot be
released back into the wild.
Ash and Aleisha raise
money for a new enclosure in Cat Tien National
Park in Vietnam in their own unique way
– by entering an Afro-Caribbean dance contest
as a ‘dare-for-a-bear’ fundraiser. The pair
then travel to Cat Tien to hand over equipment
and see for themselves the project to allow
freed bile bears to live the rest of their
lives as normally as possible.
Extinction Sucks is
a unique co-production between WWF and Babelgum
to bring high-quality conservation programming
to web audiences. It's thought to be the
first time that an online video channel
has commissioned original, full-length wildlife
shows specifically for the internet. The
series is being broadcast over a six week
run on www.panda.org and www.babelgum.com.
Other programmes see Ash and Aleisha raise
funds for WWF programmes protecting elephants
in India and rhinos in Nepal threatened
by poachers, and marine turtles in Queensland.
