23 May 2009 -
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — Marine turtles
are vanishing from Viet Nam’s waters and
illegal trade is largely to blame says a
new study by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade
monitoring network.
An assessment of the
marine turtle trade in Viet Nam, launched
to mark World Turtle Day found that large
marine turtles are now virtually absent
from Viet Nam’s waters except for Green
Turtles around the Con Dao Islands National
Park.
A government-owned souvenir
shop found selling illegal turtle products
was a potent symbol of how a national ban
on turtle products enacted in 2002 has been
undermined by a lack of enforcement.
Traders in all Viet
Nam’s coastal localities reported that catches
of local marine turtles, especially Hawksbill
Turtles, were becoming rare, and even the
few caught were smaller than in previous
years.
“Without effective enforcement
of the laws, the future for marine turtles
in Vietnamese waters looks very bleak.”
says Tom Osborn, Acting Director of TRAFFIC’s
Greater Mekong Programme.
A 2002 TRAFFIC study
found that trade in marine turtles had extended
into a large-scale wholesale export market
and a Ministry of Fisheries report estimated
the combined take across the entire Vietnamese
coastline at 4,000 marine turtles annually.
Shortly after these
surveys, the Viet Nam Government prohibited
the exploitation of marine turtles but the
current TRAFFIC survey finds the trade has
continued, though at a reduced rate.
Government enforcement
of illegal marine turtle catching, processing
and trade has been uneven at best—evidenced
by a great decrease in the number of outlets
and marine turtle products on display in
some areas and an increase in others, particularly
in some newly developing tourist areas.
In Ha Tien and Ho Chi
Minh City, traders cited Indonesia and Malaysia
as their main sources of turtles and raw
scutes (the large scales on the turtle’s
carapace or shell).
All international trade
in marine turtles is banned under CITES
(the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).
Already threatened by
habitat degradation, accidental or opportunistic
capture by fishermen and the direct take
of nesting females and their eggs, whole
turtles are also stuffed and, in the case
of Hawksbill Turtles, their shells turned
into jewellery, fans and handbags, known
as bekko.
According to the report,
a lack of product more than law enforcement
explains the steady downturn in the number
of outlets selling marine turtle products.
Green Turtle meat was
rarer than in 2002, and its price had increased
significantly compared with those recorded
during a 2002 TRAFFIC survey. In a Ha Tien
market, after allowing for inflation, its
price had more than doubled by 2008, pushing
it into the luxury meat category.
However, in some towns,
the study found bekko workshops and stores,
including a government-owned souvenir shop,
selling hundreds of marine turtle products
operating in plain view of authorities.
The study found that
businessmen in some areas were aware that
it was illegal to capture, process and sell
marine turtle products but there had been
no action taken to confiscate or destroy
the illegal items on sale.
The study said that
most indicators pointed towards a falling
demand, but vendors continued to report
good sales for most marine turtle products
indicating that the trade still posed a
serious threat.
The study recommends
that authorities look into finding alternative
sources of income for communities dependent
on the sale of marine turtle products, expand
existing awareness programmes and confiscate
and destroy all marine turtle products that
remain on sale.
+ More
Shipping would profit
cutting emissions by one fifth
18 May 2009 - London,
UK - Shipping – responsible for almost three
percent of global emissions but not so far
covered by any emissions reduction agreements
– could reduce its climate impact by at
least one fifth at a negative cost to the
industry, a new International Maritime Organisation
(IMO) report has shown.
“The shipping industry,
currently responsible for more greenhouse
emissions than the UK or Canada, now has
no excuses for remaining outside international
emissions reductions frameworks,” said Peter
Lockley, Head of Transport Policy at WWF-UK.
WWF has welcomed The
Second IMO GHG Study (2009) which was prepared
for a meeting in London today where shipping
industry representatives are to consider
ways of incorporating shipping emissions
into the new global climate deal due to
be settled at the UN Climate Change Conference
in Copenhagen in December.
“Until now the shipping
industry has managed to avoid the high levels
of public scrutiny that the aviation sector
has faced,” said Lockley. “This report confirms
that shipping is a substantial source of
emissions, but also demonstrates that the
industry has nothing to fear from joining
the global climate regime, and could actually
make financial gains if it gets serious
about addressing its carbon emissions.”
Shipping emissions could
double or even triple by 2050 under Business
as Usual scenarios according to the new
IMO analysis. “Mid-range emissions scenarios
show that, by 2050, in the absence of policies,
ship emissions may grow by 150% to 250%
(compared to the emissions in 2007) as a
result of the growth in shipping,” the report
said.
On the other hand, there
is major potential for shipping to cut its
emissions through fuel saving technologies
and practices.
“A significant potential
for reduction of GHG through technical and
operational measures has been identified,”
the report says. “Together, if implemented,
these measures could increase efficiency
and reduce the emissions rate by 25% to
75%.”
Most immediately promising
are “a range of measures whose cost efficiency
is negative. That means that these measures
are profitable even when CO2 emissions have
no price”.
“The range of the maximum
abatement potential of these measures is
135 to 365 Mt (Million tonnes) of CO2 and
lies, for the central estimate, at about
255 Mt,” the report said.
The report, which considered
a whole range of measures, including towing
kites, speed reductions, and upgrades to
hulls, engines and propellers, also found
that Emissions Trading or a Bunker Fuel
Levy are efficient and cost-effective policies
to tackle shipping emissions
At this week’s conference the industry will
aim to decide its position on whether shipping
should be included in the global climate
deal through emissions trading or a levy.
Many national shipping associations support
one or other of these measures, but some
still think they can escape regulation.
Shipping schemes will
be discussed further at an IMO meeting in
July, which will report what progress IMO
has made before the UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change conference at Copenhagen.
Consensus support within the shipping industry
for a global scheme that sets an overall
cap on their sector would give a major boost
to the IMO meeting in July.
“WWF believes it is
vital that shipping emissions come within
an overall cap under the post-2012 climate
regime, as they are projected to rise even
if gains in efficiency are taken into consideration,”
Lockley said.
