Your daily dose of bad news about poaching, wildlife and environmental
crimes from around the world …
in the spotlight(again) today ……………………
CHINA & CITES
No 347 Wildlife Trade News 3rd March 2015
China’s Next Challenge: The Depletion of Global Natural Resources. China is cleaning up its act at home, but will leaders be willing to tackle illegal environmental depredations abroad? extract: The recent University of Georgia study reporting that China is responsible for as much as 28 percent of plastic waste in ocean waters— making it the largest contributor to the problem worldwide — underscores the broader challenge of the country’s global environmental footprint.
China is a significant contributor to the depletion of a number of the world’s most precious natural resources. It is, for example, an important — indeed perhaps the largest — source of overfishing and illegal fishing globally. Scientists at the University of British Columbia estimate that of the 4.1 million of tonnes of fish that China catches off the coasts of other countries, only 9 percent is officially reported.
China’s role in illegal logging is also a long-standing concern. Over the past decade and a half, as China has sought to protect its own forests, it has become both the largest importer of timber and the largest importer of stolen wood.
Demand for ivory from China, for example, is a major contributor to the devastating poaching of elephants in Africa. Chinese traffickers acknowledge that 90 percent of the Chinese ivory market is illegally imported.
ALL THE ABOVE AND CITES/UNEP BUREAUCRATS STILL ALLOW CHINA TO REMAIN A MEMBER OF CITES.
WHAT MESSAGE DOES THIS SEND TO OTHER COUNTRIES?
WHAT IS THE POINT OF CITES IF IT IS UNWILLING TO ENFORCE THE CONVENTION?
MORE MEETINGS IS NOT THE ANSWER. ENFORCEMENT IS.
CITES ISN’T WORKING – IS IT?
All three men are very influential over which countries are punished, or not, by CITES. No one, least of all us, is asking these men to do more than enforce the CITES Convention – which is what they are paid very well to do. Do you have confidence in them? OR DO YOU FEEL IT’S TIME FOR CHANGE AT THE TOP?
Achim Steiner UNEP John Scanlon CITES Oystein Storkersen. CITES
Executive Director Secretary General Chairman: Standing Committee
When it comes to CITES and its leadership
isn’t the biggest mistake you can make to judge either by its intentions, or number of meetings it holds, and not by its results?
Tanzania to get lion’s share of UK’s 10m pounds to audit ivory stockpiles. http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=77966
Rhino mother and calf poisoned by poachers in south-eastern Zimbabwe http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/2015/03/03/rhino-mother-and-calf-poisoned-by-poachers-in-south-eastern-zimbabwe
A REMINDER TO CITES, VIETNAM, LAOS AND CHINA – THIS IS A CONSEQUENCE OF YOUR UNWILLINGNESS TO TAKE ACTION.
Kenya to burn 15 tons of ivory on World Wildlife Day. (NA comment: WHY DON’T CHINA AND MALAYSIA DO THE SAME THING?) extract: There are reports from at least 2 official Chinese newspapers that Kenya is to mark World Wildlife Day by burning 15 tons of elephant tusk and ivory. While we’ve not yet been able to get an official source from Kenya to confirm or deny the report, both Xinhua (China’s state run news service) and China.org.cn are reporting that preparations are underway for the destruction. http://wildlifenews.co.uk/2015/03/kenya-to-burn-15-tons-of-ivory-on-world-wildlife-day/ 
BREAKING NEWS: President Kenyatta to set ablaze 15 tonnes of ivory
http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2015/03/president-kenyatta-to-set-ablaze-15-tonnes-of-ivory/
Smugglers stash tusks in local facilities. extract: South Africa is increasingly being used as a country of transit for the illegal ivory trade – and the two most recent ivory smuggling convictions in Cape Town show that commercial storage facilities in the city are being used as places to keep and pack the elephant tusks for export. (NA comment: And to think the CITES secretary general gave South Africa an award recently. What a fiasco. http://www.iol.co.za/scitech/science/environment/smugglers-stash-tusks-in-local-facilities-1.1825823#.VPVahS7JIsc
Battle To Save World’s Most Hunted Animal. As Prince William calls for an end to China’s illegal wildlife trade, Sky News reports on the fight to save the pangolin. EXTRACT: The most hunted animal in the world is a creature so sought after by Chinese and Vietnamese consumers that, as Prince William recently remarked, it could be extinct before most people have ever heard of it.
http://news.sky.com/story/1437343/battle-to-save-worlds-most-hunted-animal
Kenya Wildlife Service detains 2 suspects arrested with 7 kg of ivory
http://www.spyghana.com/kenya-wildlife-service-detains-2-suspects-arrested-with-7-kg-of-ivory/
96 Elephants: The Life and Death of Elephants short film narrated by Glenn Close
Greenpeace halts APP deal after brutal murder . INDONESIA http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/03/03/greenpeace-halts-app-deal-after-brutal-murder.html
Secretive research monkey facilities come under scrutiny in Florida http://www.theguardian.com/vital-signs/2015/feb/28/florida-monkey-reasearch-facilities-government-open-legal?CMP=share_btn_tw&utm_content=buffer37840&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Elephant, rhino poaching in Africa worth US$380m: CITES http://www.todayonline.com/world/africa/elephant-rhino-poaching-africa-worth-us380m-cites
To Save Tigers, Indian State Minister Has a Novel Idea: Let People Keep Them as Pets http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2015/03/03/to-save-tigers-indian-state-minister-has-a-novel-idea-let-people-keep-them-as-pets/
Wildlife crime denies our children their inheritance http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/wildlife-crime-denies-our-children-their-inheritance
Whale meat has been shipped through Port of Vancouver, local MP claims http://www.theprovince.com/business/Whale+meat+been+shipped+through+Port+Vancouver+local+claims/10855051/story.html
U.S. ‘Pet’ Tiger Trade Puts Big Cats at Great Risk (Op-Ed) https://uk.news.yahoo.com/u-pet-tiger-trade-puts-big-cats-great-170858377.html#h6uLdRw
In Cameroon, Elephant Poachers Die, Too http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/index.php/sid/230713243
PMO Move on Cruelty to Animals http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/odisha/PMO-Move-on-Cruelty-to-Animals/2015/03/03/article2695530.ece
Wildlife crime is a reality in Gabon
http://www.spyghana.com/wildlife-crime-is-a-reality-in-gabon/
Study reveals 30% of Indonesia’s wood sources illegal http://www.scidev.net/asia-pacific/forestry/news/study-reveals-30-of-indonesia-s-wood-sources-illegal.html
Areng Valley Activist Denies Illegal Logging Allegations. CAMBODIA https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/areng-valley-activist-denies-illegal-logging-allegations-78939/
Deforestation in Brazil is rising again — after years of decline http://www.vox.com/2015/3/2/8134115/deforestation-brazil-increasing
Mangrove clearance threatens Komodo National Park – See more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/03/03/mangrove-clearance-threatens-komodo-national-park.html#sthash.pS3n5Myv.dpuf
CM: Cut off illegal export route http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2015/03/03/CM-Cut-off-illegal-export-route-Logs-smuggled-out-of-Sarawak-onto-ships-in-South-China-Sea/
Nominations for Rhino Conservation Awards now open http://www.mediaupdate.co.za/News/Article/73511/Nominations-for-Rhino-Conservation-Awards-now-open
How lax legislation is killing the wildlife in Europe
A lesser whitethroat (Sylvia curruca) caught on a lime stick bird trap in Paralimni, Cyprus. Two million birds were killed by poachers on the Mediterranean Island in 2013 according to nature conservationists. Photograph: CABS/AFP/Getty Images
CITES: BEYOND ENFORCEMENT: (NA comment: What enforcement?)
Communities, governance, incentives and sustainable use in combating wildlife crime (NA comment: More talk and yet another symposium.) Don’t the CITES bureaucrats ever learn, or is the lure of all expenses paid travel too great? http://cites.org/eng/sg_beyond_enforcement
Costa Rica Environmentalists Outraged at Permits Allowing Hammerhead Shark Fins to be Exported
World Wildlife Day: Why We Need Wild Animals (NA comment: tell that to China, Vietnam, Mozambique, etc .) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-rosolie/world-wildlife-day-why-we-need-animals_b_6778636.html
Prince William meets Chinese President Xi Jinping http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31683579
Poachers kill strayed dolphin in Sharda canal
JFA demands forensic test of rhino horns in forest custody – See more at: http://www.assamtimes.org/node/13105#sthash.BD9VZMxJ.dpuf
New laws set to intensify punishment for poaching. OMAN http://www.omantribune.com/index.php?page=news&id=185370&heading=Oman
Governor track change on poaching. INDIA http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150303/jsp/northeast/story_6582.jsp#.VPVYAy7JIsc
Zero Poaching of Turtle Since 2012 INDIA. (NA comment: Zero? Really???) http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/Zero-Poaching-of-Turtle-Since-2012/2015/03/03/article2695168.ece
Forest security personnel arrested with four other for rhino killing. INDIA https://www.timesofassam.com/headlines/forest-security-personnel-arrested-rhino-killing/
Philippine Hawk Eagle turned over to DENR http://www.manilatimes.net/philippine-hawk-eagle-turned-over-to-denr/166647/
Speeding driver alerts police to unusual cargo of snakes and crocodiles. Australia http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/speeding-driver-alerts-police-to-unusual-cargo-of-snakes-and-crocodiles-20150303-13ttv1.html
Bulgaria’s Southwest State Company detains 2 trucks transporting 20m3 of illegal wood (ROUNDUP) http://www.focus-fen.net/news/2015/03/03/364862/bulgarias-southwest-state-company-detains-2-trucks-transporting-20m3-of-illegal-wood-roundup.html
Tonga prepares to combat illegal fishing http://matangitonga.to/2015/03/03/tonga-prepares-combat-illegal-fishing
Sabah Parks and Japan’s Kyoto University sign MoU http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=97526
Five Foreigners Arrested, 3.2 Million Rand Of Abalone Seized In Cape Town http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v8/wn/newsworld.php?id=1113077
10 held on suspicion of live-bird sale racket MALTA http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20150302/local/10-held-on-suspicion-of-live-bird-sale-racket.558185
