The daily dose of bad news … starting with a country which lived in a state
of denial for many years over the extend of
their poaching crises, lashing out all all and
sundry and in the end, STANDING EXPOSED
for what they are … perpetrators of an
elephant genocide of hitherto unprecedented
proportions …
in the spotlight today ……………………
The poachers’ bill: at least 65,000 elephants in Tanzania extract: "It is incredible that poaching on such an industrial scale has not been identified and addressed before now," said Steven Broad, the Executive Director of the anti-wildlife trade group, TRAFFIC’s.
In 2013, TRAFFIC warned that the smuggling route used by ivory traders had moved to Tanzania’s port cities, a sign that poachers were also targeting the country with impunity.
Read more: http://news.mongabay.com/2015/0602-hance-tanzania-elephants-poached.html#ixzz3byD4LTnX
Activists: Decline of elephants in Tanzania is catastrophic http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20150602/AP01/306029926/1119/STATE
Tanzania elephant population declined by 60% in five years, census reveals
Government data shows industrial scale of poaching for ivory as number of elephants in Tanzania drops from 109,051 in 2009 to 43,330 in 2014 http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/02/tanzania-epicentre-of-elephant-poaching-census-reveals
“The objective of CITES is to ensure that wild fauna and flora is not unsustainably exploited through international trade.”says John Scanlon, CITES http://cites.org/eng/cites_sg_wto20
In view of the above, how has CHINA managed to escape CITES sanctions over the past few years alone? Does it makes any sense to you, or do you feel CHINA is treated, inexplicably, VERY leniently by CITES and its Secretariat?
Remember this? http://eia-international.org/crime-corruption-behind-tanzanias-elephant-meltdown
WHO CAN WE HOLD ACCOUNTABLE?
OR, IS NO ONE ACCOUNTABLE BECAUSE THAT’S HOW CITES OFFICIALS THE WORLD OVER WANT THINGS TO BE?
REMEMBER THIS – THE SECRETARY GENERAL TOOK IT UPON HIMSELF NOT SO LONG AGO TO GIVE CHINA A CERTIFICATE OF COMMENDATION!!!!
http://cites.org/eng/news/pr/2012/20120509_certificate_cn.php then look at the criteria for giving this award http://cites.org/eng/disc/certificate_commend.php and make up your own mind if China a) fulfilled the criteria b) deserved the award when, and since, so many elephants have been slaughtered mostly to feed the Chinese greed for ivory. When you see in the news, ivory being destroyed, does it amount to the equivalent of say, 100,000 dead elephants, or a few hundred? Do you suspect the crushing of the ivory was just a stunt – and one lapped up by CITES because let’s face it, China is a major financial contributor to this wildlife trade club called CITES?
YOU WILL FIND PRO-CHINA NEWS REPORTS ON THE SECRETARIAT’S WEB SITE.
YOU WON’T FIND NEWS REPORTS CRITICAL OF CHINA. WHY IS THAT Mr. STEINER?
Executive Director of UNEP promoting the all important (to him) issue of buying wonky vegetables. Elephant are being massacred in their tens of thousands and he devotes time to wonky vegetables. Sad, isn’t he?
MR STEINER: “CITES is the dirtiest of conventions when it comes to falsification and fraud.”
Ansoumane Doumbouya, Former head of Guinea CITES MA.
No 422 Wildlife Trade News: 3rd June
Illegal Timber Trade Flourishes in Congo, Report Says. Advocacy group Global Witness says wood is often illegally extracted and exported from Democratic Republic of Congo. extract: The top importer of Congolese timber is China, controlling about 65%, the report found. The EU is second, with about 22% of the trade. France is the biggest EU importer. According to the Global Witness report and the United Nations, the woods harvested include Afrormosia, a valuable species of hard timber protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. http://www.wsj.com/articles/illegal-timber-trade-flourishes-in-congo-report-says-1433289842
WATCH THIS 2- MINUTE FILM AND WONDER – HOW COULD CITES OFFICIALS IN ZIMBABWE, CHINA, UAE and elsewhere, encourage and condone the trade in baby elephants. Look at the family bond that exists between elephants – and wonder what kind of people want to break up elephant families….WHAT DO YOU THNK OF THESE CITES OFFICIALS? http://www.video.amarujala.com/video/play/1444/herd-of-elephants-help-an-elephant-calf-after-collapsing-in-the-road-latest-wildlife-sightings
"The slaughter of thousands of elephants in Ruaha–Rungwa clearly points to the involvement of international organized crime, which is compounded by corruption and weak enforcement capacity in Tanzania—and to the urgent need to scale up efforts to tackle the poaching epidemic before the area’s remaining elephant herds are destroyed." – Elisabeth McLellan
Head of WWF’s Wildlife Crime Initiative
Vietnam urged to take stronger legal action against wildlife smuggling. EXTRACT: “There is no specific guidance for dealing with different levels of violation,” said Duong Ngoc Hai, deputy director of Ho Chi Minh City Prosecutors’ Office.
“Prosecution agencies can only impose relatively small penalties that cannot prevent future violations,” he said at a conference in Ninh Thuan Province during the weekend. http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/vietnam-urged-to-take-stronger-legal-action-against-wildlife-smuggling-45113.html
PRESS RELEASE CITES Trade Database passes 15 million records(NA COMMENT: And how many wild birds and animals does this 15 million represent being sold into slavery or eaten?) http://cites.org/eng/cites_trade_db_passes_15million_records
Tiger fatally mauls caretaker at Malaysian resort (NA COMMENT: Those of us who know this resort and the useless zoo-friendly wildlife officials who fail to enforce the law can be surprised at such a fatality.) http://news.asiaone.com/news/malaysia/tiger-fatally-mauls-caretaker-malaysian-resort
Japan, RI collaboration brings change to conservation approach – See more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/06/02/japan-ri-collaboration-brings-change-conservation-approach.html#sthash.wgz6x04i.dpuf
CYPRUS: Environment chairman calls for bird hunting plan to be tabled at parliament. (It’s 2015 and the Cypriot government still permits hunters to massacre tiny birds. Shameful, isn’t it? Even worse, perhaps, is that so many people do nothing about it.)
Nearly 100 hectares of natural forests destroyed in Ha Tinh
VietNamNet Bridge – The natural forests in Huong Lam and Huong Xuan Communes of Huong Khe District in the central province of Ha Tinh have been seriously devastated, turned into bare hills just within one month.
From Indonesia’s elephant to Philippine eagle, wildlife matters. A richer Asia and Southeast Asia would be a poorer place without them http://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/95067-indonesian-elephant-philippine-eagle-wildlife
Tanzania begins to face its elephant disaster http://www.traffic.org/home/2015/6/2/tanzania-begins-to-face-its-elephant-disaster.html
Africa: Small Arms Proliferation a Trigger for Rising Wildlife Crimes http://allafrica.com/stories/201506020968.html
Bangkok Pet Expo 2015: Cute & exotic pets (photos, video)
Palm oil regulator asked to investigate illegal land grabs by Wilmar Group supplier in Borneo http://www.businessghana.com/portal/news/index.php?op=getNews&news_cat_id=&id=204579
Brazil could expand oil-palm plantations sustainably http://environmentalresearchweb.org/cws/article/news/61419
2 poachers held for hunting black buck in MP http://news.webindia123.com/news/Articles/India/20150602/2607074.html
GRP cops seize 100 tortoises from New Delhi-Pondicherry Express
http://www.nagpurtoday.in/grp-cops-seize-100-tortoises-from-new-delhi-pondicherry-express/06020900
EIA: The Spring 2015 issue of Investigator is now available!
http://eia-international.org/the-spring-2015-issue-of-investigator-is-now-available
Angola: Environment Ministry Drafts Action Plan to Fight Against Ivory Trafficking (NA COMMENT: In our experience an Action Plan is only ever prepared when you want nothing to happen. Can you recall such a plan ever being implemented and producing the desired outcome?) http://allafrica.com/stories/201505261608.html
Anti-Poaching Groups In Africa Becoming “Militarized” To Protect Elephants, Rhinos, Small Arms Survey Shows http://www.ibtimes.com/anti-poaching-groups-africa-becoming-militarized-protect-elephants-rhinos-small-arms-1948783
Rhino poaching trial popstponed http://citizen.co.za/395754/rhino-poaching-trial-popstponed/
It’s time to shout stop on this war on the living world Our consumption is trashing a natural world infinitely more fascinating and intricate than the stuff we produce EXTRACT If the news that in the past 40 years the world has lost over 50% of its vertebrate wildlife (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish) fails to tell us that there is something wrong with the way we live, it’s hard to imagine what could. Who believes that a social and economic system which has this effect is a healthy one? Who, contemplating this loss, could call it progress? http://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2014/oct/01/george-monbiot-war-on-the-living-world-wildlife?CMP=share_btn_tw
Turtle smugglers in custody till June 15. INDIA http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Turtle-smugglers-in-custody-till-June-15/articleshow/47520602.cms
Mozambican authority confirms detention of police officers in rhino horn case http://www.spyghana.com/mozambican-authority-confirms-detention-of-police-officers-in-rhino-horn-case/
Atiwa forest under threat of illegal mining. GHANA
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/business/artikel.php?ID=360667
Director-generals inaugurated as merger of Indonesian Environment, Forestry Ministries continues. EXTRACT: Greenpeace forest campaigner Bustar Mitar noted that most of the appointees were old faces from the Forestry Ministry, and he urged them not to operate in the "old style." In 2012, Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) named the Forestry Ministry one of the country’s most corrupt institutions.
Read more: http://news.mongabay.com/2015/0602-jacobson-environment-forestry-ministry-director-generals-inaugurated.html#ixzz3byOQPCfG
PHILIPPINES, RUSSIA AND UAE
extract: “….there are far more Orangutans in Dubai than I previously thought. This is very disturbing considering that officially there are none. There also appears to be a connection to the Orangutans being sold in Russia. Do these people really believe that they are legal, captive bred imports? Would they really care to know that their mothers were butchered just so they can take the babies and dress them up like funny little people?”
Ark Avilon Zoo in the Philippines http://zoonewsdigest.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/zoo-news-digest-11th-25th-january-2015.html
WILL THE CITES SECRETARIAT AND STANDING COMMITTEE DO ANYTHING ABOUT THIS EVIL, CONVENTION-BUSTING TRADE? ALL THREE COUNTRIES ARE WELL KNOWN FOR THEIR COMPLICITY.
