UN tackles wildlife trafficking as illegal trade hits $150billion

The United Nations said it is beaming searchight on wildlife trafficking in Nigeria, following recent seizure of more than $8 million worth of elephant tusks and pangolin scales by Hong Kong customs from a shipping container coming from Nigeria, making it the biggest catch of its kind, by value and weight and ever in the city.

Over the past twelve months, a total of 25 tons of ivory and pangolin scales were seized in Asia, which allegedly originated from Nigeria, while 13 tons of its kinds were seized in Nigeria.

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC), which revealed this during activities to mark the 2019 World Wildlife Day in Abuja, noted that similar incident in October 2018 led Vietnamese authorities to intercept more than eight metric tons of pangolin scales and ivory arriving from Nigeria.

According to a statement by Mr. Sylvester Atere, Outreach and Communications Officer, UNODC, pangolins smuggled to Asia are unlikely to originate from Nigeria as the species is near extinction in the country.

“ It appears that Nigeria might risk to evolve rapidly into a transit hub for illicit wildlife products, including pangolins, elephant tusks and other protected species, destined for countries in Asia as well as Europe, the Middle East and North and South America.

“This marks a sharp increase from the almost eight tons of pangolin scales seized by States parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 2016 and 2017”, it added.

Over the past twelve months, a total of 25 tons of ivory and pangolin scales were seized in Asia which allegedly originated from Nigeria, while 13 tons of pangolin scales were seized in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Customs Service has renewed commitment towards tackling illegal wildlife trade estimated to worth over $150 billion per year.

The illegal wildlife trade which is largely driven by high demand from Asia and elsewhere is the 4th largest illegal trade in the world (after drugs, weapons & human trafficking resulting in catastrophic declines of various wildlife species across Africa such as elephants and pangolins scales.

At a workshop organized for the Nigeria Customs Service, the National Contact Point for the World Customs Organization, Regional Intelligence Liaison Office for West Africa, Abimbola Animashawun said that Nigeria has attracted international criticism and sanctions as an important transit country for the illegal wildlife trade from Central Africa to China and Vietnam.

Animashawun stressed that despite the number of arrests and seizures made by Customs, prosecution has been weak.

Also the Country Director, Nigeria Programme of Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Mr. Andrew Dunn said, “the elephant population across Nigeria and the rest of Africa has declined by 90 per cent in the last century due to hunting for ivory.

“Due to its porous borders, Nigeria has become an important transit country for the ivory trade from central Africa to China and Vietnam. There has been some huge seizures of ivory recently, illegally shipped from Nigeria. This includes 3.5 tons of ivory from Nigeria seized in Singapore in March 2018, with a value of N900 million”, he noted.

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:
https://guardian.ng/property/un-tackles-wildlife-trafficking-as-illegal-trade-hits-150billion/

Nine Tonnes of Ivory Seized in Vietnam, World’s Largest Haul

Vietnamese customs has seized over nine tonnes of ivory found in a container shipment from the Republic of Congo, thought to be the largest ivory seizure in recorded history.

Officials in the coastal city of Da Nang discovered the illicit goods during an inspection of a container of timber originating in the Congo, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), a UK-based NGO, said Thursday in a press release.

Nine tonnes of ivory tusks is equivalent to over 1,000 slaughtered elephants.

All African elephants with the exception of a few populations are included in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a multilateral treaty in effect since 1975. Commercial international trade in Appendix I species taken from the wild is prohibited.

“While we welcome today’s ivory seizure in Vietnam, we would emphasise that without follow-up efforts resulting in prosecutions and appropriate penalties, seizures alone are no deterrent to the criminals involved in wildlife trafficking,” Mary Rice, EIA’s Executive Director, said.

EIA has been investigating the illegal wildlife trade in Vietnam for some time now, documenting how the country has fast become a transit hub for ivory and other goods travelling from the continent of Africa to elsewhere in Asia, especially China, where it is used in ornaments, jewelry and traditional medicine.

China announced a ban on all trade in ivory that went into effect at the end of 2017. But while a fall 2018 survey seemed to suggest that demand for ivory was easing up, more recent research suggests that the illegal ivory trade is still going strong in trafficking hotspots, like at the China-Vietnam border.

EIA authored a report last year on the Vietnamese ivory trade, “Exposing the Hydra,” the product of a two-year investigation in which researchers posed as wildlife traders in order to infiltrate the various levels of ivory trafficking syndicates.

The report found that Vietnam has grown to be a powerful figure in the global illegal ivory trade in the past decade, partnering with major organized crime groups operating in Mozambique, South Africa and elsewhere on the continent to traffic goods into and through Vietnam.

The country also has a growing carving industry, and the number of ivory goods for sale has grown sixfold and the number of carvers tenfold between 2008 and 2015.

Between 2009 and 2018, when the report was published, 56 tonnes of ivory were seized in Vietnam and an additional 20 tonnes with links to Vietnam were confiscated in other countries, the equivalent of ivory from some 11,414 elephants. The traffickers EIA followed sold ivory for between US$150 and $400 per kilogram. At those prices, the nine tonnes seized this week would fetch between $1.35 and $4.05 million.

Vietnam may have made some large seizures in the past few years, but enforcement and prosecution remain weak, according to EIA.

This does not bode well for the African elephant.

In the early 20th century there may have been as many as 3 to 5 million African elephants roaming the continent, but conservationists estimate there are now only around 415,000 left.

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:
https://www.occrp.org/en/27-ccwatch/cc-watch-briefs/9485-nine-tonnes-of-ivory-seized-in-vietnam-world-s-largest-haul

‘China committed to supporting conservation of African wildlife’

A senior Chinese official has stated that the government of China is committed to conserving African wildlife that faces serious threats due to poachers hunting for animals parts to be used eventually in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) by cooperating with the continent’s governments and people.

"In recent years, China-Africa cooperation in wildlife conservation has been well developed. The Chinese government and private sector have provided funds, equipment, manpower and technology to support African countries in the conservation of endangered species and habitats, and conducting capacity building trainings,” said Peng Youdong, deputy administrator of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NGFA) of China.

He was speaking in Nairobi during a workshop on addressing wildlife trafficking that was attended by Chinese officials and business executives, Kenyan policymakers and international conservation non-profit representatives.

"The Chinese government has successfully raised the awareness among citizens and enterprises (based in Africa), and also asked them to engage in local wildlife conservation and fundamentally eradicate illegal wildlife trade," said Peng.

A burgeoning Chinese nouveau riche population that also happens to be fixated with the country’s ancient system of medicine, TCM, has meant death for millions of animals across Africa.

Rhinos, elephants, lions and leopards face the greatest threats from Chinese aspirations. Rhino horns, made of keratin (from which human nails and hair are also made) are prized in TCM and demand in China has meant that rhino populations have been diminished in both Africa and Asia.

Tiger bones are also prized in TCM. Since tigers are already very few, TCM manufacturers have looked for and found alternatives in Africa’s lions and leopards. In recent years, there have been increasing reports about African lions and leopards being hunted for their bones.

But the most dangerous result of Chinese aspiration is the fate of African Elephants. Ivory has long been prized in China, throughout its long history. Since Asian elephants with tusks have already been hunted down and newer generations have evolved to bear no tusks at all, Chinese ivory makers have turned to Africa, where the Continent’s Bush or Savannah Elephant has been decimated in the last 20 years to satisfy Chinese demand.

Another animal being hunted is the pangolin, now the 'most trafficked animal in the world'

Speaking to Down To Earth, Kenya-based conservationist and author, Mordecai Ogada said, "This is just Kenyan non-profits trying to make money from the Chinese government, which, on the other hand, is trying to look good at conservation. I would not take it seriousely."

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/wildlife-biodiversity/-china-committed-to-supporting-conservation-of-african-wildlife--63720

Customs urged to step up prosecutions in illegal wildlife trade – with blood of 3,000 elephants, 65,000 pangolins and 51 rhinoceros on Hong Kong’s hands

Hong Kong customs is facing mounting pressure to step up prosecutions in the illegal wildlife trade, with a recent report finding the city has become a hub for such activities as cases occur almost daily on average.

The rising trend has been underestimated but it has contributed to extinction crises of species worldwide, according to ADM Capital Foundation, which co-published the study.

CEO Lisa Genasci said: “Our research indicates Hong Kong has become a hub for organised wildlife smugglers, with consequences for the international reputation of our city as well as international biodiversity.”

Are Hong Kong courts taking illegal wildlife trade seriously, despite tougher laws?

The foundation based its findings on data over five years. Between 2013 and 2017, it found that a total of HK$560 million (US$71.4 million) worth of wildlife products – including live and dead animals – with a weight of 1,456 metric tonnes, was seized.

These included illegal ivory, pangolin scales and rhino horns, potentially equal to the deaths of 3,000 elephants, 65,000 pangolins and 51 rhinoceros.

The study also noted Hong Kong recorded 2,011 seizures of species regulated under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) during this period. This implied a threatened species being seized every 21 hours.

Scales of endangered pangolin on sale as loophole in law allows shops to cash in

The report, compiled by various groups and legal academics, recommended that the government establish a wildlife crime unit or bureau under the Customs and Excise Department, as well as develop a wildlife trade database and expand forensic capacity.

Justin Gosling, a consultant in law enforcement and criminal justice, and who was not involved in the study, said he agreed the city should ramp up its investigative capacity.

“The figures we see in the report are likely to be just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what’s actually going through the region and which is not being detected,” Gosling said.

The figures we see in the report are likely to be just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what’s actually going through the region

Justin Gosling, enforcement consultant

He expressed surprise at the large volumes of seized scales from the endangered pangolin revealed by the report, adding he believed organised smuggling activities were to blame.

“It is essential authorities identify the trafficking networks to call [for action], and close down the activities,” he said. “Otherwise the illegal imports will just keep coming and coming.”

“Seizures alone do not stop wildlife crime,” he added. “They do not prevent future offences.”

Among the 379 seizures from 2013 to 2017 reviewed in the report, most came from shipping containers arriving from at least 45 countries, with about 70 per cent from East Africa. However, only 1 per cent of the cases led to prosecutions.

On the other hand, air passengers accounted for 78 per cent of prosecutions.

Gosling said the numbers indicated a “fundamental lack of investigation”.

Conservationists in Hong Kong have called for wildlife offences to be included under the same laws against organised crime, for greater deterrence and investigative firepower.

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/customs-urged-step-prosecutions-illegal-120538025.html

China fans the threats to wildlife

New York: Many of the creatures that share this planet with us may not be around much longer.

Since 1970, populations of thousands of animal species around the world have declined 60 per cent on average, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Habitat destruction, climate change and pollution are all driving those losses.

But so is the global illegal trade in wildlife. For species like tigers and rhinos, poaching is a primary threat to survival.

"Very few ecosystems are not affected by wildlife trade," said Vincent Nijman, an anthropologist at Oxford Brookes University in Britain. "It directly impacts a very large number of species, and has a knock-on effect on many more species still."

But, as Nijman pointed out, any solutions for tackling illegal wildlife trade are unlikely to work without the involvement of one major player: China.

From ivory to pangolin scales, totoaba bladders to shark fins, the country has a ravenous appetite for wildlife products. As China's economy and population have grown, so, too, has demand for animals and their parts, which are sought worldwide: in South-east Asia, Africa, South America and the world's oceans.

"A lot of the species that are most threatened on Earth right now are threatened because of demand in China," said Chris Shepherd, executive director of Monitor, a non-profit group that works to reduce illegal wildlife trade. "China has to become a leader in fighting illegal wildlife trade, or else it's not going to be a pretty future."

Until recently, China seemed to have signed on to the cause. President Xi Jinping, who has pledged to turn the country into an "ecological civilisation", stepped up seizures of contraband animal products and created a new national park to provide a haven for Siberian tigers. In January, Xi banned the domestic trade in ivory.

But lately China has sent conflicting signals. To the shock of officials and conservationists around the world, China announced in October that it would reopen the trade in rhino horn and tiger bone, reversing a 25-year domestic ban.

"This development came as a surprise to us, because China, at the moment, is leading in so many ways on the environment," said Erik Solheim, executive director of the UN Environment Program. "We should be stepping up protection for tigers and rhinos, not lowering it."

China's State Council directed that rhino horn and tiger bone be limited to use in scientific research and in traditional Chinese medicine, practised by qualified doctors at certain hospitals.

Officials also pledged to strictly control trade, a reassurance that did little to assuage concerns that poaching was about to spiral even further out of control.

Indeed, just three days after China's announcement, Jose Louies, chief of the wildlife crime control division at the Wildlife Trust of India, received a call from an informant who said that tiger traffickers had begun anticipating a price increase.

"Poachers keep their ears to the ground — they feel everything that is happening in the market," Louies said. "It's not a secret for them that all the tiger materials are going to China."

Following a global outcry, the State Council this month reversed course and postponed implementation of the order. But the episode has left conservationists wary — not least because the history here is far from encouraging.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as CITES, banned the international commercial trade of rhinos and most tigers in 1975. But for decades afterward, China permitted domestic sales of products made from these animals.

Rhino horn and tiger bone were smuggled into the country from abroad, and tiger farms were set up in the late 1980s — some with government backing — to breed big cats for bones, skins and parts. (Wild tigers had been mostly poached in China years earlier.)

In 1993, under the Pelly Amendment, then US president Bill Clinton threatened China with sanctions for undermining the CITES treaty. China responded with a ban on rhino horn and tiger bone, and poaching declined significantly.

"By banning those products, the Chinese government made a significant contribution to conservation of rhinos and tigers over the past 20 years," said Zhang Li, a field biologist at Beijing Normal University.

Practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine quickly followed suit, replacing the banned materials with sustainable substitutes and removing tiger bone and rhino horn — which have no scientifically proven benefits — from textbooks and the pharmacopoeia.

"If the government's intention by lifting this ban is to support Chinese medicine, the result is the opposite," said Lixin Huang, executive director of the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in California.

She suspects that the decision was encouraged not by practitioners of traditional medicine, but by "those dealing in the business of profit-making"— tiger farmers.

Rather than shutter after the 1993 ban, tiger farms continued to grow and now house more than 6,000 captive animals. For more than a decade, China has expressed interest in domestic trade of its captive tigers' parts.

In September, CITES identified 36 Chinese tiger farms that seemed to be involved in illegal trade or held tigers in questionably excessive numbers.

But at a CITES meeting in Sochi, Russia, in October, Chinese officials strongly opposed the findings, according to Heather Sohl, a chief adviser at the World Wildlife Fund who attended the meeting.

Officials did not mention the country's impending decision to reopen trade.

"China has quite often restricted progress on tackling tiger trade discussions we have at CITES," Sohl said. The fact that officials questioned proposals to control tiger trade "wasn't unusual and didn't give us any insight that this was coming."

The Chinese focus has always been more on conserving a species as a resource.

Michael Sas-Rolfes, researcher

Michael Sas-Rolfes, a doctoral researcher at the University of Oxford who toured tiger farms at the invitation of the Chinese government in 2007, was not surprised.

"The only part of this that was completely unexpected for me was the timing," he said. "The Chinese focus has always been more on conserving a species as a resource, not on the Western focus of conserving a species in its habitat."

Even as Western countries have pushed for blanket bans on certain wildlife products, he continued, demand for those products in certain quarters of Asia has not fallen. Instead, illegal trade and the profits to be made from it have increased.

"I'm hoping that China's move may serve as a bit of a wake-up call that the 'just say no' approach doesn't work," Sas-Rolfes said.

"The conversation on drugs has evolved into something more sophisticated — smoking pot is not the same as shooting up with heroin. And we need to apply the same nuanced, evidence-based thinking to wildlife trade," he added.

Some are eager to see China's markets reopen.

"Rather than criminals coming here, wantonly killing our animals, we can now supply horn from stockpiles to meet the demand and take pressure away from wild populations," said Pelham Jones, chairman of the Private Rhino Owners Association in South Africa.

China's directive specified that tiger bones and rhino horns must come from farmed animals, but not that they be farmed in China. Conservationists believe the number of rhinos in China to be very small.

By contrast, more than 7000 rhinos live on at least 300 private ranches in South Africa. Nearly 90 per cent of rhino owners are keen to sell their animals' horns, which can be clipped every few years.

The profits, they say, will help cover the steep security costs of keeping poachers at bay.

"There's only one country in the world that can meet China's demand, and that's South Africa," Jones said.

Whether a proposal to reopen international trade of rhino horn could pass at CITES depends on a number of technicalities in the treaty and on whether proponents could rally enough support.

CITES states that countries should not breed tigers for their parts — only for conservation — and that they should reduce their use of rhino horn. But CITES governs only international trade, so provisions in the treaty about domestic trade do not carry the same enforceable legal weight.

The United States has started looking into options of its own for ensuring that China's domestic ban on tiger and rhino trade remains in place, said Christine Dawson, director of the office of conservation and water at the State Department. That includes the possibility of recertifying China under the Pelly Amendment, which would pave the way for sanctions.

"There's a lot at stake for these two major economies, and the leverage may never be better for the US to fold this issue into the broader trade issues going on right now," said David Hayes, executive director of the State Energy & Environmental Impact Centre at New York University.

Sas-Rolfes pointed out, however, that the Pelly Amendment might have lost its potency in a China with rising influence on the world stage. In any event, officials now may simply decide not to follow through with the directive.

"Let us hope that China recognises the stark inconsistency of this decision with its laudable stance on ivory, and takes steps to ban the trade of rhino horn and tiger bones altogether," said Boris Johnson, former foreign secretary of Britain.

Whatever comes of the tiger bone and rhino horn controversy, Nijman emphasised that global collaboration — and perhaps compromise — with China might be key to solving the much bigger challenge of illegal wildlife trade.

"That means trying to better understand the Chinese way of thinking and working directly with them for solutions," he said. "The solutions may not be the ones we initially thought were perhaps best from our Western perspective, but ultimately they may be the only way forward."

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/china-fans-the-threats-to-wildlife-20181120-p50h39.html

3 arrested with elephant tusks worth over Rs 1 crore

Jaipur: The crime branch of Jaipur police claimed a major success after it arrested three persons and seized elephant tusks
worth over Rs one crore from them during a raid.

The crime branch led by ACP Mahavir Singh, arrested Kamlesh Sharma (35), a resident of Bassi in Jaipur; Amit Sharma (23), a
resident of Jamwaramgarh; and Vishnu Prasad Sharma (23), a resident of Andhi area.

The police said that they recovered six kg of elephant tusks from the trio. “They had been planning to sell them off in the illegal
market where there is a high demand for tusks,” an official said.

The police said that there is a thriving industry for illegal ivory in China, which often drives up demand in India.

The police had received a tip-off that three youths would be coming to a park to sell tusks, following which a team, which
included Mannendra Singh, Purshottam Sharma, Dwarka Prasad, Avinash and Bhura Ram, laid a trap and arrested the trio. The
accused were planning to sell these tusks to buyers, “We are now trying to find out who all were in their contact lists and where
did they get supply of so many illegal products from,” an official said.

The Jaipur rural police have not ruled out the possibility of an active, illegal wildlife trade racket operating in the city

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/3-arrested-with-elephant-tusks-worth-over-rs-1-crore/articleshow/66339174.cms

Chinese desire for ‘blood beads’ and (poisonous) skin cream threatening the existence of Myanmar’s elephants

The online trader wants his customers to know the elephant was skinned quickly, with blood still fresh in its veins.

He holds two layers of dried, hardened fat in front of a light to show off the rich blood-red colour, circles marked for where he will cut spheres and turn them into beads for a bracelet.

“That’s why they try to skin the elephant as soon as it falls down,” Aung Myo Chit, country coordinator at the Smithsonian Institution in Myanmar, told 7.30.

“Because after you wait one or two days, it will drop the colour … the concentration of blood will reduce.

“One female elephant was skinned before she died.”

Every elephant now a target

This trade in elephant skin — for beads, bogus cures and skin products — was first detected just a few years ago. It has conservationists worried.

“The new skin trade is so serious that if it’s left unchecked, Myanmar’s elephants could disappear by 2030,” Christy Williams, country director at World Wildlife Fund said.

Hunting for ivory targets the approximately 10 per cent of male elephant with tusks, but this new skin trade puts every single elephant in the poachers’ gun sights.

“So that was the game changer for us,” Mr Williams said. “Basically any living elephant in the wild was fair game.”

The wider threat posed by the skin poachers was brought home powerfully in May last year, when a whole family of elephants was killed in Myanmar’s Ayerawaddy region.

In all 25 males, females and calves were slaughtered, their blood turning the river red.

“I just think that what we do to animals like elephants, dolphins, whales or great apes is genocide,” Mr Williams said.

Poisoned lotion for sale

From the forests of Myanmar, the illicit elephant skin is smuggled towards China, either via Thailand and Laos or through the notorious border town wildlife market of Mong La.

“From our interviews with the shopkeepers, 90 per cent of the consumers are Chinese,” said Mr Williams.

Much of the elephant skin ends up for sale online.

The conservation group Elephant Family found photos of the trader showing off his blood-red products last month and also tracked down the origin of the beads.

While carved bead bracelets known as wenwan have long been traditional items of jewellery in China, the use of elephant skin was virtually unheard of until 2014, when a single online trader known as Jaz developed a new product.

According to an investigation by Elephant Family, Jaz boasted of his exploits.

“I invented the elephant skin beads,” Jaz is reported to have said.

“I even go to Myanmar and source the raw material myself.”

Jaz also pioneered the online trade of powdered elephant skin being sold as a cure for stomach aches and mixed into lotion for skin conditions.

Aung Myo Chit said that these products have no proven medicinal value, and could actually be harmful to the consumer.

Poachers use homemade guns and arrows tipped with strong poison to bring down the elephant in a slow, excruciating death.

“Two or three days later, the poison has spread to the whole body, every inch of the skin has the poison,” Aung Myo Chit said.

That poison is then being consumed or rubbed onto the skin of the customer.

Ranger power

Conservationists say urgent action is needed to protect Myanmar’s estimated 2,000 wild elephants.

This week saw the Illegal Wildlife Trade conference held in London. While safeguarding African elephants was a key topic, the emerging trade in Asian elephant skin was not a major agenda item.

Activists are trying to shift the conversation; they want the world to see elephant skin poaching as the new ivory.

“As a range state we are aware of the multiple threats faced by Asian elephants and are concerned that the skin issue will expand to all range states if not stopped,” Ranjan Marasinghe, head of enforcement of the Department of Wildlife Conservation in Sri Lanka, told 7.30.

There have been some positive signs in Myanmar, with the Government strengthening the law this year, bringing in a mandatory minimum jail terms for poachers.

Fitting GPS collars to small numbers of elephants in poaching hotspots has allowed rangers to focus their patrols where they can be most effective.

But it has also shown the scale of the threat.

In the first year the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) collared elephants, half of them were killed.

However Christy Williams believes Myanmar has a unique opportunity to protect its wildlife and create jobs.

The South-East Asian nation has a huge commercial timber sector, with thousands of staff and thousands of trained elephants working at state-run business logging firms.

But the glory days of Myanmar’s teak trade are dwindling.

Mr Williams would like to see Myanmar take some of its timber workers and retrain them as forest rangers, and WWF is working on a ranger training facility to help make that a reality.

He cites results in Nepal as evidence the idea could work.

“Nepal’s Chitwan National Park has celebrated five years of zero poaching of rhinos, [but] they have 1,600 staff, including 1,000 soldiers protecting the park,” he said.

“[For] the whole of Myanmar’s 40 protected areas there’s 450 staff. We need more boots on the ground.

“If it’s not checked now, it could easily spread to other parts of Asia, where there’s no protection for Asian elephants, then you’re really fighting to save the last few individuals.”

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:
http://www.wealthbuildbuddies.com/2018/10/12/chinese-desire-for-blood-beads-and-poisonous-skin-cream-threatening-the-existence-of-myanmars-elephants/

Vipers: Kenya, China sign pact to restrict illegal trade

By Gitonga Njeru in Kenya

Kenya and China have forged a partnership in restricting the illegal trade of rare vipers. The vipers are illegally trafficked and sold in China to cartels and criminals.

The Kenya-China partnership has been influenced under the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The two countries are among the 182 signatories to the treaty that governs wildlife trade across borders.

Kenya recently restricted trade in two endemic viper species only found in Kenya. Kenya horned viper (Bitis worthingtoni) and the Mt. Kenya Bush Viper (Atheris desaixi).

Conservationists have raised questions on how much Kenya will get considering the recent increase in mega corruption scandals.

“It is very important to save these snakes before it is too late. China is the biggest black market for these snakes. Corruption is an obstacle. Criminals easily bribe their way to traffic the animals across borders, China included”, says Paula Kahumbu, an Ecologist who heads a wildlife organization known as Wildlife Direct headquartered in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi and with offices across the region.

On late January last year, Kenyan authorities placed tight new restrictions on the trade and export of several snake species, including the Kenya horned viper (Bitis worthingtoni) and the Mt. Kenya Bush Viper (Atheris desaixi).


To read the full article, click on the story title

Ivory bill boosts fight against elephant poaching

One of the toughest bans on ivory sales in the world is a step closer to coming into force in the UK as the government has introduced the Ivory Bill.

The introduction of this Bill means that measures set out last month by Environment Secretary Michael Gove are a step closer to becoming law, and helping to protect elephants for future generations.

The Bill covers ivory items of all ages, not only those produced after a certain date, subject to some narrow, carefully-defined exemptions. The maximum penalty for breaching the ban will be an unlimited fine or up to five years in jail.

The Bill follows widespread engagement with environmental groups and the antiques trade sector as well as the general public. More than 70,000 people and organisations responded to Defra’s consultation on an ivory ban late last year, with over 88% of responses in favour of measures to ban ivory sales in the UK.

The number of elephants has declined by almost a third in the last decade and around 20,000 a year are still being slaughtered because of the global demand for ivory.

As profits become ever greater, the illegal wildlife trade has become a transnational organised enterprise, estimated to be worth up to £17billion a year.

Environment Secretary, Michael Gove said: "Elephants are one of the world’s most iconic animals and we must do all we can to protect them for future generations. That’s why we will introduce one of the world’s toughest bans on ivory sales. The overwhelmingly positive response to our consultation shows the strength of public feeling to protect these magnificent animals."

As announced in April’s consultation response, the Bill provides for narrowly-defined and carefully-targeted exemptions for items which do not contribute directly or indirectly to the poaching of elephants:

- Items with only a small amount of ivory. Such items must be comprised of less than 10% ivory by volume and have been made prior to 1947.

- Musical instruments. These must have an ivory content of less than 20% and have been made prior to 1975.


To read the full article, click on the story title.

Leading the charge against illegal wildlife trade

2018 must be the year we mark the beginning of the end of the illegal wildlife trade.

Some might ask why this matters more than other global issues. It does not. There is much still to be done on poverty alleviation, ensuring education for all, promoting gender equality or addressing climate change, for example, and I could write on all of this and more. But the Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) issue deserves attention in its own right, that's why we mark March 3 as World Wildlife Day.

Can you imagine a future where wild pangolins,  and the Malayan tiger are no longer to be found in their natural habitat? In Malaysia, we have already seen the loss of the Sumatran rhino in the wild due to the loss of habitat and illegal poaching. Will they and other species simply become a curiosity at a zoo? What if your grandchild or great grandchild in years to come asks you why, what are you going to say? We did not care and we did nothing? That would be a poor response.

In my view this is a future we must avoid, just as we aspire to a future where every child has access to education, where wealth is more equitably shared, women are equally represented and paid, no one is hungry and where climate change has been arrested and our planet, the only home we have, is stable and peaceful and our people prosper. But in such a world we also value our natural world and the richness of its biodiversity and we see a value in how it enriches us in other ways. In that world IWT would not exist as we would know better.

 To read the full article, click on the story title