TRAFFIC - Wildlife Trade News - How to tell real from fake ivory

Partcipants at the ivory identification workshop in Thailand this week© TRAFFIC

in Thai

Bangkok, Thailand, 27th January 2011—To bolster its fight against the illegal ivory trade, Thailand will equip close to 100 enforcement officials and ivory traders with the skills to identify real from fake ivory.

Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation has teamed-up with TRAFFIC Southeast Asia and the local administrative organizations to carry out a specialized training programme in Surin Province, in north-eastern Thailand, which is home to a significant ivory carving industry.

A key component of the programme will involve the Thai government encouraging ivory traders to inventory and register their ivory stocks—a requirement under Thai law that few traders have responded to so far.

The trade in ivory and elephant products in Thailand is widespread with hundreds of shops openly displaying and selling ivory and elephant products. In the absence of an effective ivory registration system and few measures in place to control the commerce, there is no way of telling if the products on sale have originated from a legal source under current legislation

Coupled with poor measures to control commerce and numerous cases of shipment of illegal ivory through or to Thailand, the country was ranked in 2009 among the top three most notorious hubs for the illegal trade in ivory globally.

However in recent times, Thailand has responded with a series of measures to repair its international image including crucial training for enforcement officers.

“It’s a problem we view seriously and one that we are acting upon by providing enforcement officers all the tools they need to enforce the law and urging ivory traders to respect it,” said the Director General of Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Mr. Sunun Arunnopparat.

The past year also saw some of the country’s largest seizures totaling almost 4.5 tonnes, a campaign at Suvarnabhumi International Airport warning potential consumers not to buy illegal ivory and transport it across international borders and steps towards finalizing a new draft law—the Elephant Act—that would close existing loopholes and better regulate Thailand’s domestic ivory trade.

“These seizures are certainly welcomed”, says Tom Milliken, Director of TRAFFIC East and Southern Africa,“but they also serve to illustrate the scale of Thailand’s ivory trade.  Anything that makes it past Thai Customs is home free and that’s a huge problem.”

The workshop in Surin Province aims to ensure officers will be able to monitor and enforce this new law. It also targets a sound understanding and more effective use of the Elephant Trade and Information System (ETIS), the world’s largest database on ivory and elephant product seizures that TRAFFIC manages on behalf of Parties to CITES (the Convention to International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora)

While acknowledging steps Thailand has taken to address its poorly regulated ivory trade, TRAFFIC stressed the need for these efforts to be sustained, to ensure lasting change.

“TRAFFIC would like to see authorities in Thailand work together to prosecute all ivory smugglers apprehended at Suvarnabhumi International Airport to the full extent of the law,” said TRAFFIC Southeast Asia’s Deputy Regional Director, Chris R. Shepherd.
“We would also like to see enforcement expand to the retail market with arrests of ivory vendors that directly benefit from the smuggling. As profit margins are high, only strong deterrents will have an impact,” he added.

Notes

1. Major ivory seizures at Suvarnabhumi International Airport by Royal Thai Customs in 2010 and 2011:

•   February 2010:   239 tusks weighing two tonnes
•   April 2010:      1.4 tonnes
•   July 2010:      117 tusks weighing 765 kg
•   August 2010:      16 pieces of cut ivory weighing approx 90 kg
•   January 2011:      69 tusks and 4 smaller ivory pieces weighing 435 kg

2. International trade in ivory is banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

3. Currently the Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus) is regarded as Endangered and the African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Both are threatened by a variety of issues including poaching and illegal trade, habitat loss and degradation.

About TRAFFIC
TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, works to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature. TRAFFIC is a joint programme of IUCN and WWF. TRAFFIC works to support government agencies in law enforcement networking across Asia and globally to combat illegal wildlife trade. Technical assistance across the enforcement continuum, including facilitation of inter-governmental dialogues, engaging the judicial sector, and working with WWF to improve linkages from national level agencies to field-based rangers, is provided on demand to member countries of the ASEAN and South Asia Wildlife Enforcement networks, as well as to China and its immediate neighbours.

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TRAFFIC - Wildlife Trade News - Bigger bite of the action for EU sniffer dog programme

A successful wildlife detector dog programme in Germany is to be extended Europe-wideClick photo to enlarge© Andreas Eistert / WWFBrussels, Belgium, 26th January 2011—a 28 month long pilot scheme initiated by WWF Germany/TRAFFIC using sniffer dogs to detect wildlife products smuggled through Frankfurt airport has proved so successful, it is to be extended Europe-wide.

The expanded scheme will see the dogs used to detect smuggled wildlife in all Europe’s major airports, seaports and major postal distribution centres.

During the trial period from September 2008 to date, wildlife detector dogs have uncovered pieces of highly endangered animal species including sturgeon caviar, elephant ivory, marine turtle shells, and reptile skins and leather goods. Even a bear skull and its skin were detected.

“The expanded sniffer dog programme will serve as a powerful deterrent to discourage would-be smugglers at the region’s borders and will also be used to raise public awareness of wildlife trade laws and regulations,” said Birgit Braun, Co-ordinator of the Wildlife Detector Dog Project.

The project will explore the full range of use of wildlife detector dogs within the EU and aims to facilitate the exchange of knowledge between such programmes and interested EU Member States.

WWF Germany will present information on the project, which is funded by the European Commission Directorate-General for Home Affairs (DG Home Affairs), at a three day global forum on the use of detector dogs and handler teams in enforcement operations taking place this week in celebration of World Customs Organization Day on 26th January.

DG Home Affairs also funded a recently concluded, highly successful three-year project on strengthening the capacities of law enforcement officers and judicial authorities in the fight against wildlife crime.

Through this project, WWF in collaboration with TRAFFIC, the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), UK Customs and other governmental partners helped train more than 500 enforcement officials from 26 European countries.

The main aim was on strengthening regional collaboration, in particular amongst EU and neighbouring countries such as Belarus, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and the Ukraine.

Enforcement officers learn how to tell whether reptiles are captive bred as often claimed, or wild-caughtClick photo to enlarge© UK Border AgencyCapacity-building workshops covered issues such as illegal trade in reptiles, timber and traditional Asian medicines (TAM) and included training in species identification, CITES legislation and the use of EU-TWIX—the EU Trade in Wildlife Information eXchange facility run by TRAFFIC.

The enhanced co-operation and improved data exchange helped contribute to the success of a number of seizures, including preventing the illicit import of large quantities of TAMs into Latvia in 2009.

Training modules on implementation and enforcement of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and the EU Wildlife Trade Regulations developed by a team of enforcement experts from six EU-countries, representing bodies such as CITES Management Authorities, Customs and specialist inspectorates and TRAFFIC were also used to train over 230 enforcement officials from seven EU Member States: Belgium, Portugal, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia and Malta during the project. The composition of the participants of the training seminar in Slovakia was of particular note, due the high number of judges and prosecutors present.

“Europe has strong, but complex wildlife trade regulations. With legal wildlife trade into the EU alone worth in the region of 100 billion Euro per year, it does attract criminal elements,” said Rob Parry-Jones, Regional Director of the TRAFFIC Europe Programme.“Investment in training enforcement officers and expanding the use of sniffer dogs are imperative steps to keep on top of illegal wildlife trade.”

For more information, please contact:
Richard Thomas, Communications Co-ordinator, TRAFFIC. Tel: +44 1223 279068, mobile + 44 752 6646 216, email: Richard.thomas@traffic.org

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TRAFFIC - Wildlife Trade News - Shark populations dwindle as top catchers delay on conservation actions

in Japanese

After ten years, International Plan to save sharks still not implemented

Shark processing factory, Kesennuma, Japan: Of the top 20 shark catchers, Japan is the only one known to have reviewed and revised its national plan of action on shark conservation measuresClick image to enlarge© Shawn HeinrichsWashington, D.C., USA, 27th January 2011—A decade after members of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) approved an international plan to conserve sharks, a new analysis finds that it has yet to be fully implemented.

With 30 percent of all shark species now threatened or near threatened with extinction, there is little evidence that the plan has contributed significantly to improved conservation and management of these animals. 
 
The analysis,The Future of Sharks: A Review of Action and Inaction(PDF, 1.1 MB), uses fisheries information provided to the UN FAO to identify the top 20 shark-catching countries and other entities, and then assesses whether they have taken the management and conservation measures they agreed to in 2001.

According to the review, only 13 of the top 20 have developed national plans of action to protect sharks—one of the primary recommendations from 2001—and it remains unclear how those plans have been implemented or if they have been effective. 
 
The top 20 shark catchers account for more than 640,000 tonnes annually, nearly 80 percent of total shark catch reported globally. The top 10, in order, are: Indonesia, India, Spain, Taiwan, Argentina, Mexico, Pakistan, United States, Japan, and Malaysia.

Indonesia, India, Spain and Taiwan account for more than 35 percent of all sharks taken annually, based on their own reported data. 
 
Worldwide, shark populations are in decline due to unregulated fishing, much of it to meet the high demand for fins. Up to 73 million sharks are killed annually primarily for their fins, which are used as an ingredient in shark fin soup, a popular dish in many East Asian countries.
 
The analysis, produced by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, and the Pew Environment Group, was released ahead of a crucial meeting of the UN FAO’s Committee on Fisheries (COFI), taking place between 31st January and 4th February in Rome, Italy. The two organizations recommend that COFI perform“a comprehensive review into the actions being undertaken to manage fisheries in which sharks are taken.”
 
“The fate of the world’s sharks is in the hands of the top 20 shark catchers, most of whom have failed to demonstrate what, if anything, they are doing to save these imperiled species.

"They need to take action to stop the decline in shark populations and help ensure that the list of species threatened by overfishing does not continue to grow,” said Glenn Sant, TRAFFIC’s Global Marine Programme Leader.
 
“Sharks play a critical role in the ocean environment. Where shark populations are healthy, marine life thrives; but where they have been overfished, ecosystems fall out of balance. Shark-catching countries and entities must stand by their commitments and act now to conserve and protect these animals,” said Jill Hepp, Global Shark Conservation manager for the Pew Environment Group.
 
For further information:
Richard Thomas, Global Communications Co-ordinator, TRAFFIC,richard.thomas@traffic.org+44 1223 279068 work +44 (0)752 6646216 mobile.

About Pew
The Pew Environment Group is the conservation arm of The Pew Charitable Trusts, a non-governmental organization that applies a rigorous, analytical approach to improve public policy, inform the public and stimulate civic life.www.PewEnvironment.org

About TRAFFIC
TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, works to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature. TRAFFIC is a joint programme of IUCN and WWF. For more information, visitwww.traffic.org

 

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TRAFFIC - Wildlife Trade News - Log on to keep the tiger roaring

Supporters are being urged to keep wild Tigers roaring in ChinaClick photo to enlarge© Vivek R. Sinha / WWF-CanonBeijing, China, 27th January 2010—As the Chinese Year of the Tiger draws to a close on 2nd February, TRAFFIC and WWF China are urging those concerned over the plight of wild Tigers to register their support at www.listentothetiger.com and make a Tiger roar. 

At the website, visitors can hear natural sounds from around the Tiger’s habitat, including bird song, animals calling, wind rustling tree leaves and a water rippling along a brook.

And after every fiftieth visitor registers their support for wild Tigers, a Tiger’s roar will be played, to complete the aural image.

“With only a handful of wild Tigers left in China, we want people to realize that without their continuing support, the Tiger’s roar could fade away before the next Year of the Tiger in 2022,” said Fan Zhiyong,  Director of Species Program of WWF China.

Register your support online to keep the Tiger roaring at www.listentothetiger.comClick image to visit the websiteVisitors can register their interest and bring on the next roar in a number of ways—either directly throughwww.listentothetiger.com, or through a range of social websites and other media, including Twitter, Sina Weibo, Tencent Weibo, Renren and Kaixin or texting to 123984861234 (China Mobile/China Unicom) or 10659020511101083123 (China Telecom).



“We hope this campaign will inspire people in China to do everything they can to ensure wild Tigers will be roaring for many years to come,” said Xu Hongfa, Director of TRAFFIC China Program.

TRAFFIC and WWF China are grateful for the support ofOgilvyin creating and running this online campaign.

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TRAFFIC - Wildlife Trade News - Year of the Tiger ends with roadmap to save species

High level political commitments need to be implemented to ensure that as Chinese Year of the Tiger closes it isn't the end of the road for wild TigersClick image to enlarge© naturepl.com/Nick Garbutt / WWFKuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 1st February 2011—The Year of the Tiger in the Chinese lunar calendar draws to a close tomorrow, 2nd February, having yielded big results for its namesake—an unprecedented swell of public and government support to save Tigers in the wild, including an historic global recovery programme.

The International Tiger Forum, held in St. Petersburg, Russia, in November 2010 marked the first time an international summit has been convened to focus on a single, non-human species.

A significant output from the Forum was the Global Tiger Recovery Programme (GTRP), a collaboration between the 13 countries that still have wild Tigers and who have set a goal of doubling wild Tigers by the next Year of the Tiger in 2022.

“The recovery programme is a big boost for Tigers,” said Mike Baltzer, Head of WWF’s Tigers Alive Initiative.

“But it is only the beginning. We must now join the Tiger Range Countries and our partners worldwide to ensure the momentum from the Forum and this past year’s Tiger conservation achievements continues. Tigers have already run out of time. The recovery must not lose steam.”

Wild Tiger numbers are down to only 3,200, with scattered populations across 13 countries having lost more than 93 percent of their historic range. Just 100 years ago, an estimated 100,000 Tigers roamed across Asia.

As the recovery programme takes shape, progress has already been made to save Tigers in the wild. This includes:

•   Korean Pine, a critical tree in the Russian Far East wasawarded official protective status, ending its logging in Amur Tiger habitat;
•   A new wildlife conservation bill was passed in Malaysia, providing significantly higher penalties and mandatory jail time for wildlife crime, with poaching of Tigers and trading in their parts now receiving maximum punishment;
•   India announced it’s 39th Tiger reserve (Sahyadri), with another eight new reserves in development;
•   Indonesia’s Ministry of Forest placed a moratorium on conversion of virgin forest and peat swamp forest on the island of Sumatra for the next two years, thus protecting prime Sumatran Tiger habitat;
•   Cambodia formally designated Selma Forest a protected area, creating a new and vital protected area as part of the Eastern Plains Tiger Landscape Protected Area Complex;
•   The South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN) was established, strengthening anti-poaching and wildlife trade law enforcement efforts in the Tiger countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal.

“Although there were some encouraging developments and pledges made during the Year of the Tiger, these need to be followed up by committed conservation action,” said Pauline Verheij, joint TRAFFIC and WWF Tiger Trade Programme Manager.

“Weekly headlines show the pressure on Tigers from illegal killing for trade and loss of habitat and prey is undiminished, increasingly bringing Tigers into conflict with humans. The world cannot sit back and be complacent: it’s now do or die for the wild Tiger.”

To show your support for wild Tigers and watch the countdown to the year's end, please visitwww.listentothetiger.com

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TRAFFIC - Wildlife Trade News - Forests 2011 launched as Nagoya Protocol opens for signature

2011 has been designated International Year of Forests by the UNclick photo to enlarge© Martin Harvey / WWF-CanonNew York, USA, 2nd February 2010—The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization, the“Nagoya ABS Protocol” has been opened for signature by Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) as part of the ceremony to mark the formal launch of the International Year of Forests 2011.

The Nagoya ABS Protocol was a key outcome of the October 2010 CBD meeting in Nagoya, Japan, and aims to ensure countries harbouring great natural diversity of wildlife will receive adequate benefits in return for providing access to these resources.

“It is fitting that the signing of the landmark ABS-protocol, which will help close the gap between biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation and development, marks the International Year of Forests,” said Chen Hin Keong, TRAFFIC's Global Forest Trade Programme Leader.

“The world’s forests are a treasures trove of biological resources, but these must be shared equitably and used wisely, or it will be to the detriment of all.”

The new ABS protocol will provide an internationally binding framework, applying for example to private sector enterprises actively bio-prospecting for pharmaceutical, medicinal, biochemical, aromatic and food resources, but will not apply retrospectively.

Deadlock over the issue of access and benefit sharing had previously defied resolution for the 18 years after the CBD was signed.

Events linked to the International Year of Forests 2011“Forests 2011” include a China tree planting day in March, regional conferences on forests in Central Africa and Europe, and specific Days dedicated to a variety of issues including wetlands, world water, the earth, migratory birds, biological diversity, the environment, combating desertification, indigenous people’s and mountains.

More information onForests 2011

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TRAFFIC - Wildlife Trade News - South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN) formally launched at Paro

(l to r): Mr S.P. Yadav, Joint-Director National Tiger Conservation Authority and Head of the India Delegation; Lyonpo (Dr) Pema Gyamtsho, Honourable Minister for Agriculture and Forests, Bhutan; Mr Samir Sinha, Head of TRAFFIC IndiaClick photo to enlarge© TRAFFICParo, Bhutan, 30th January 2011—The South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network has been formally launched at an inter-governmental meeting hosted by the Royal Government of Bhutan, thereby opening a new chapter in regional cooperation in South Asia for strengthening wildlife law enforcement. It was agreed to base the SAWEN Secretariat in Nepal.

Illegal wildlife trade is a form of trans-national organized crime that threatens many iconic species across the world. South Asia, home to a diverse network of natural ecosystems and varied biodiversity, is especially vulnerable to such threats. Apart from key species such as tigers, elephants and rhinos, there are a variety of medicinal plants, timber, marine species, birds and reptiles are threatened by illegal exploitation and trafficking.

To counter such threats, the eight countries of South Asia have come together to establish an organized and co-ordinated body—the South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN).

“SAWEN will help Bhutan to link up with authorities and officials across the region to share good practices and resources to co-operate and co-ordinate actions to apprehend poachers and traffickers,” said Lyonpo (Dr) Pema Gyamtsho, Honourable Minister for Agriculture and Forests, Bhutan, at the opening of the expert group’s meeting.

In May, 2010, the Government of Nepal hosted the First meeting of the South Asia Experts Group on Illegal Wildlife Trade which prepared an operational roadmap for the establishment of SAWEN. Continuing with the priorities identified during the Nepal meeting, Bhutan in collaboration with the Interim SAWEN Secretariat hosted the‘Second Meeting of the South Asia Experts Group on Illegal Wildlife Trade’ on 29th and 30th Jan 2011 in Paro, Bhutan.

Relevant focal persons and experts from the governments of member countries, inter-governmental organizations including the CITES Secretariat and INTERPOL, and non-governmental organizations including WWF and TRAFFIC participated in the two day meeting. The critical points decided by the Experts Group during the meeting were:-

• An agreed action-oriented work plan for joint activities, some of which will begin immediately and which will continue to develop further as the network gathers strength;
• Establishing a SAWEN Secretariat, which will be hosted by the Government of Nepal; 
• An agreed governance and operational structure for SAWEN;
• The need for strategic collaboration on communications and fundraising.  

“CITES is delighted to see SAWEN come into being and we look forward to supporting the Network,” said John Sellar, Chief of Enforcement, CITES Secretariat.“The member countries have today demonstrated their commitment to bringing to justice those criminals who are robbing this part of the world of its precious natural resources.”

“These criminals should be behind bars, wearing stripes on prison uniforms. This is the only way that these individuals can be reminded of the thousands of Tigers that have been killed in recent years,” Mr Sellar said.

The meeting was organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, Royal Government of Bhutan with technical support from TRAFFIC and WWF Bhutan. TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network has been providing technical support for the SAWEN process since its inception and acknowledges the generous funding support of the US Department of State. 

“With the formal operation of SAWEN beginning henceforth, the countries of the region have now reached a milestone in their efforts to counter the spectre of illegal wildlife trade,” said Samir Sinha, TRAFFIC’s programme head in India.“This is an essential piece of a collective effort to conserve a region of outstanding biological richness and diversity.”

For further information contact:
Vijay Moktan, Conservation Director vmoktan@wwfbhutan.org.bt
P.O Box 210, Thimphu, WWF Bhutan Program Office
Tel: +975 2 323528 Fax: +975 2 323518

Samir Sinha, Head, TRAFFIC– India
ssinha@wwfindia.net

James Compton, Asia-Pacific Senior Programme Director, TRAFFIC
james.compton@traffic.org

Background Notes
SAWEN has its origins in 2008, when the environment ministers of eight countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka met in Jaipur, India. It was here, that the member delegates announced their undying support for the formation of a SAWEN and a South Asia Experts Group on Illegal Wildlife Trade. Regional cooperation on‘wildlife conservation and combating illegal trade in wildlife and bio-resources’ was also included as a focal component in the scope of work under the Convention on Cooperation on Environment in South Asia, proposed by India during the Environment Ministers’ meeting held in India in October 2009. This was endorsed during the 16th South Asian Association for Regional Co‐Operation (SAARC) summit held in Thimphu, Bhutan in April 2010.

On the occasion of the 2nd Meeting of the South Asia Experts Group on Illegal Wildlife trade, the representatives of the countries of South Asia, in the spirit of regional co-operation and collaboration have officially launched the South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN).

TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, works to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature. TRAFFIC is a joint programme of IUCN and WWF. TRAFFIC works to support government agencies in law enforcement networking across Asia and globally to combat illegal wildlife trade. Technical assistance across the enforcement continuum, including facilitation of inter-governmental dialogues, engaging the judicial sector, and working with WWF to improve linkages from national level agencies to field-based rangers, is provided on demand to member countries of the ASEAN and South Asia Wildlife Enforcement networks, as well as to China and its immediate neighbours.

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