Posted
on 05 February 2010 - Geneva, Switzerland
- Countries participating in a major endangered
species trade conference in March must back
better protections for red and pink coral,
which are disappearing because of overfishing
to make jewelry.
Red and pink coral (also
known as Corallium) are a type of deep-sea
precious coral found in the Mediterranean
and Pacific. Between 30 and 50 metric tonnes
of these corals are fished annually to meet
consumer demand for jewelry and decorative
items. The United States alone imported
28 million pieces of red and pink coral
between 2001 and 2008.
The Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Secretariat
today recommended that countries support
increased trade protection for red and pink
corals, based on the available population
data for these species. Science has shown
that trade is having an adverse impact on
red and pink corals’ ability to maintain
healthy populations and to reproduce.
Meanwhile, the United
States and the European Union are co-sponsoring
a proposal to list red and pink coral under
Appendix II of the Convention at the 15th
Conference of Parties (CoP 15) in Doha,
Qatar in March. Such a move would still
allow trade, but only in legally and sustainably
harvested coral and coral products.
SeaWeb and WWF support
the Secretariat’s recommendations and are
urging CITES member countries to support
the EU and US’s proposal.
Kristian Teleki, SeaWeb’s
vice president for science initiatives said,
“Red and pink coral are among the world’s
most valuable wildlife commodities. They
are long-living, slow-growing species and
have been intensively fished for centuries
to meet demand in the jewelry and curio
trade. A CITES Appendix II listing is needed
to ensure these species aren’t fished to
extinction.”
“A CITES Appendix II
listing would be in line with protection
for other coral species,” said Colman O’Criodain,
Wildlife Trade Analyst for the WWF Species
Programme. “An Appendix II listing for red
and pink coral would support local management
measures and also help combat poaching,
which regularly occurs in the Mediterranean.”
Red and pink coral were
proposed for protection at the last Conference
of Parties in 2007. The parties initially
voted in favor of the proposal, but the
vote was overturned in a secret ballot on
the final day of the conference, after intensive
lobbying from industry interests. Parties
will once again take to the floor during
CoP 15, March 13 to 25, to consider the
proposal. Alongside red and pink coral,
several species of sharks, and Atlantic
bluefin tuna will also be considered for
trade protection.
+ More
Preparations for Olympic
games in Russia not meeting environmental
standards – WWF
Posted on 05 February
2010 - Despite a recent visit by the United
Nations Environment Programme, preparations
for the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter
Games in Sochi, Russia are failing to meet
proper environmental standards, according
to WWF.
On Jan. 28-30, a UNEP
mission visited Sochi to assess environmental
impact of preparation for the Games.
UNEP representative Theodore Oben “expressed
his satisfaction with the steps taken by
the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee to fulfill
its environmental commitments in venues
construction,” according to a statement
from the Committee’s Joint Information Center.
"I am happy with
the visit as it left me with the feeling
that the entire team, including those doing
the construction, are conscious of the importance
of fully integrating environmental considerations
in their work,” Oben said in the statement.
“I also note with optimism the expressions
of willingness to listen to and engage all
stakeholders in efforts to make the Sochi
Games green."
However, WWF and other
NGOs, who have been monitoring the environmental
damage in Sochi created by construction
in anticipation of the Games, were expecting
a different outcome from UNEP’s assessment.
“WWF and other NGOs
were looking forward to independent judgment
of UNEP's mission to Sochi and a full report
on environmental damage done and anticipated,”
said Igor Chestin, WWF-Russia CEO. “Unfortunately,
this did not happen and the environmental
destruction continues.”
Just before the visit,
WWF informed UNEP that despite very significant
progress made by Sochi-2014 organizers in
2009 to garner public input, decisions taken
jointly by organizers and NGOs still are
not being implemented.
In addition, Sochi-2014
organizers admitted the poor quality of
environmental impact assessments for Olympic
facilities as early as on 25 Jan. 2009,
but still failed to allocate funding to
carry out a survey of those impacts, which
means that crucial field data is still lacking,
according to WWF.
This could lead to serious
damage to the Caucasus, a region with the
highest level of biological diversity in
Russia.
For example, the environmental
impact assessment for the combined railway
and highway being built for the Games --
by far the largest project related to the
Olympics at an estimated cost USD 8 billion
-- is based on 2 weeks of zoological and
botanical research done by fewer than 10
people. As a result, projects do not have
reasonable mitigation plans, or technological
solutions to minimize their environmental
impact.
During the visit, WWF
and other NGOs also called UNEP’s attention
to regular breach of laws for the sake of
Olympic construction.
In December 2009, they
registered two such breaches: The Russian
registration service – without any official
government decision or a public discussion
- changed the borders of the Caucasian biosphere
reserve, a World Heritage site, to allow
the building of public road to a resort,
and Parliament approved an amendment to
the Forest Code, allowing for the cutting
of endangered species of trees and shrubs
for construction of the Olympic facilities.
Meanwhile, environmental
activists were arrested twice - in August
and October 2009 - near Olympic construction
sites on the pretext they were violating
the border zone regime without a special
permit, although tourists and other visitors
to the area are never asked for the permit
and are not even aware that it is required.
“Summing up, we believe
that for the time being preparation for
the Olympics is out of control, construction
is of poor quality, vast damage to the environment
has already been made, and NGOs are deprived
of the ability to provide independent advice,”
said Igor Chestin, WWF-Russia CEO.
UNEP signed on in 2009
to act as an independent observer during
the Sochi-2014 preperations to assess organizers’
ecological strategy, according to the Committee’s
website.
WWF is aksing UNEP and
other international institutions to publicly
withdraw from the process as further involvement
would be seen as blessing for the environmentally
and socially unacceptable practices.
