Posted
on 18 June 2010
Gland, Switzerland, June 18 (WWF) – Preventing
whaling in the Southern Ocean (the seas
around Antarctica) is critical to ensuring
the recovery of whale populations in the
entire southern hemisphere, a new WWF report
states.
The report comes ahead
of the upcoming 62nd International Whaling
Commission (IWC) meeting, where governments
will debate a possible resumption of commercial
whaling in Antarctic waters.
Save the Whale, Save
the Southern Ocean reveals how seriously
depleted several Southern Hemisphere great
whale populations are, many of which are
completely reliant on the Southern Ocean
as the only place they feed. If whale populations
were again decimated in the Southern Ocean,
they may also disappear from the seas around
many other countries in Africa, Oceania,
the Pacific Islands and Latin America.
Whaling in the Southern
Ocean has been banned for decades as a result
of rampant commercial hunting in the last
Century which brought several great whale
species to the brink of extinction. In 1994,
the IWC established the Southern Ocean Whale
Sanctuary. However since the global ban
on commercial whaling came into effect,
Japan has killed 9,409 whales in the Southern
Ocean in the name of ‘scientific research’.
Today most great whale
species in the Southern Ocean remain severely
depleted when compared with pre-whaling
levels. More than 200,000 Antarctic blue
whales used to live in the Southern Ocean
– but 20th Century whaling decimated this
population and latest estimates put this
population at just around 2,300 animals.
725,000 fin whales were killed in previous
commercial whaling operations – with fin
whales now listed as endangered. Yet the
IWC is proposing to open a commercial hunt
for this species in the Southern Ocean.
“If there is one place
in the world where whales should be protected,
it is the Southern Ocean,” said Wendy Elliot,
Species Manager at WWF International. “It
should be a fundamental and unquestionable
responsibility of IWC governments to eliminate
immediately all whaling in these waters,”
she said.
Whales in the Southern
Ocean still haven’t recovered from industrial
hunting in the 20th century but they already
face new threats to their existence. Climate
change, ship-strikes, the potential for
unsustainable commercial fishing that could
deplete valuable food sources, entanglement
in fishing gear and acoustic and chemical
pollution are all emerging dangers to the
slow-reproducing group of species.
“We know with all certainty
rampant killing of more than a million whales
in the Southern Ocean had dramatic repercussions
on whale populations in the whole southern
hemisphere,” said Rob Nicoll, WWF’s Antarctic
and Southern Ocean Initiative Manager. “And
new studies are showing that the direct
effect on whale populations could have had
significant impacts on ecosystem productivity
that is intrinsically linked to the carbon
cycle and global climate regulation,” he
added
Recovering whale populations
have significant economic benefits. Whales
bring critical tourism revenue to the southern
hemisphere. In Latin America alone, whale
watching generates an annual $278.1 million,
often in remote coastal areas.
As a slow reproducing
species whales need a long time to recover
from overexploitation. Blue whales, for
example, reach sexual maturity between the
age of five and 15 years, giving birth every
two or three years.
“This meeting provides
a crucial opportunity to break the decades
of disagreement that have characterised
the IWC, and an opportunity to put whale
conservation before politics. However giving
a green light to whaling in this special
place would be a step backwards, not forwards
for the IWC,” Wendy Elliott said.
+ More
Listing of precious
woods a glimmer of hope for ravaged Madagascar
Posted on 18 June 2010
Antananarivo, Madagascar: More than two
years of lobbying by WWF and Malagasy scientists,
are expected to see the island’s rosewoods,
ebony and other precious woods listed for
international trade restrictions, giving
some hope for a slowing of the organized
illegal logging assault on the threatened
species and the forests and protected areas
where they are found.
WWF and the Department
for Plant Ecology and Biology at the University
of Antananarivo (DBEV) were informed this
week that a proposal had been submitted
to list all Malagasy precious wood species
under the Convention on Trade in Endangered
Species(CITES) appendix lll. On taking effect
in 90 days, it will oblige trees to be certified
as legally logged and give the Malagasy
government leverage for seeking the support
of timber importing nations in the enforcement
of its laws.
Around 79 containers
of rosewood are believed to have been exported
from Madagascar in early June despite the
promulgation in March of a decree to eradicate
all exploitation and trade in precious wood.
The listing also supports
a bid for more stringent CITES Appendix
ll listing in 2013, which would support
trade bans on Malagasy precious woods if
necessary.
“The fact that the Malagasy
CITES delegation has submitted this proposal
is a first step into the right direction.
It shows a will to deal with the uncontrolled
export of those much sought-after wood species,”
said Tiana Ramahaleo, Conservation Science
and Species Programme Coordinator at WWF’s
Madagascar and Western Indian Ocean Programme
Office.
Illegal logging of precious
hardwoods has rapidly and tremendously increased
in Madagascar after a political coup in
March 2009. The UNESCO world heritage site
including Masoala and Marojejy National
Parks and the Mananara Biosphere Reserve
in the island’s northeast are the main hotspots
for illegal logging activities.
The Malagasy precious
wood species consists of Dalbergia spp and
Diospyros spp and includes varieties of
Palissander, Rosewood and Ebony; 43 of the
50 Malagasy rose wood and palissander (Dalbergia)
species are listed in the red list of the
International Union for the Conservation
of Nature (IUCN) with 87% of them being
threatened.
Brazilian rosewood,
also listed as vulnerable, has benefited
from CITES protection since 1992. Indeed,
the listing of Brazilian rosewood may have
been a actor in shifting illegal logging
pressure to Madagascar, although it has
escalated dramatically in the political
turmoil following the coup.
No Malagasy rose wood,
ebony and palissander species are listed
in a CITES appendix so far. The newly submitted
proposal is a success for WWF’s continuous
lobbying in the Malagasy government for
over two years and gives hope for an inclusion
of precious timber species in Appendix II
in 2013.
A listing in CITES Appendix
III will allow the government to effectively
work with other countries to enforce the
existing laws in Madagascar. It will also
cover a hole in the Malagasy law concerning
the protection of palissander. Certified
Permits from the CITES authority will be
necessary in the future certifying that
each tree was cut legally and is not detrimental
to species survival.
“We will benefit from
more transparency in the timber trade as
we will have more information about wood
operators, their operation sites, the amount
of wood being shipped and, last but not
least, the buyers” says Ramahaleo.
“ This is also a necessary
stepping stone for us to push the Malagasy
CITES authorities to list precious hard
wood species in Appendix II during the next
CITES Conference of the Parties in Thailand
in 2013.”
WWF Madagascar programme
representatives have been doing intensive
lobbying within the Malagasy government
for almost two years. They have supported
a group of 30 plant experts and foresters
to provide government officials with a solid
scientific base that made a CITES proposal
possible.
“WWF MWIOPO will continue
doing research on hard woods species to
be able to support our partners in the Malagasy
CITES delegation” says Ramahaleo.
Malagasy precious hard
wood species suffer from selective logging
because of their high value in international
markets. But with a high number of loggers
within Malagasy forest, pressure on other
species rise too.
With as much as 90%
of the country’s primary forest already
lost, continued logging will mean species
extinctions beyond rosewood in Madagascar’s
unique ecosystems.
Listing under CITES
appendix III would not only increase the
conservation of rosewood, palissander and
ebony species but also help protect threatened
ecosystems in general.
“This is a good step
forward, however a listing in CITES Annex
III does not prevent trade, it only makes
it more difficult,” said Conservation Director
Nanie Ratsifandrihamanana.
“We call on the Malagasy
government to walk the talk and enforce
the recent decree to stop illegal logging
in and outside protected areas, sanction
the delinquent operators and implement the
necessary actions to responsibly and sustainably
manage the timber chain of custody.
“We call on Chinese
consumers to stop buying illegally cut wood
from Madagascar and on Chinese authorities
to set higher standards on their wood sourcing.“
About WWF
WWF is one of the world's largest and most
respected independent conservation organizations,
with more than 5 million supporters and
a global network active in over 100 countries.
WWF's mission is to stop the degradation
of the earth's natural environment and to
build a future in which humans live in harmony
with nature, by conserving the world's biological
diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable
natural resources is sustainable, and promoting
the reduction of pollution and wasteful
consumption.
www.panda.org/media for latest news and
media resources
