African Elephant Summit

World Governments Make a Stand Against Ivory Trading

Have you heard about the African Elephant Summit? 

Read more about it at
https://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/african_elephant_summit_final_urgent_measures_3_dec_2013.pdf

To summarise the summit, there are "14 Urgent Measures" in the African Elephant Summit to halt and reverse the trend in illegal killing of elephants and the illegal ivory trade.

I would like to pick out a few of the Urgent Measures which, in my opinion, are slightly more interesting.

Urgent Measure 9
"Design and carry out national studies and public awareness programs, aimed at all 
sectors, which include information on the ramifications of illegal killing of elephants and 
the illegal ivory trade on the economy, national security, public safety and the ecosystem 
services elephants provide."

Urgent Measure 11
"Develop and implement strategies to eliminate the illegal trade in ivory and use
evidence-based campaigns for supply and demand reduction that use targeted strategies
including, where appropriate, government-led approaches, to influence consumer 
behaviour. "

These two "Urgent Measures" targets the consumer, and they are the measures that I agree the most with! Indeed, education and awareness campaign targetted at the public would definitely help against illicit wildlife trafficking! As the saying goes, "Knowledge is Power". With knowledge, perhaps more people will understand the need for protecting wildlife and their environment. In my opinion, awareness and education are likely to curb the demand for such illegal wildlife products.

Urgent Measure 12
"In African elephant range States, engage communities living with elephants as active 
partners in their conservation by supporting community efforts to advance their rights 
and capacity to manage and benefit from wildlife and wilderness."

Besides targetting the consumers, the next most important player to target will be the people living nearest to the wildlife, since they are the ones could are directly affect the animals. As mentioned in the previous post, many people tend to blame the poor for the overexploitation of natural resources. However, we have to take into account their underlying reasons for the exploitation. Hence, by engaging the communities, we could potentially curb one of the root cause of the illegal hunting of elephants.    

Additional News~

More reasons to rejoice! 
Additional Hope for the Wildlife! 

A reason for Hope (:

Last year, 5 African Nations, Gabon, Botswana, Chad, Tanzania, and Ethiopia, signed up for the Elephant Protection Initiative in London in February! 

Read more about it at Elephant Protection Initiative.

References

Anon, (2014). [online] Available at: https://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/african_elephant_summit_final_urgent_measures_3_dec_2013.pdf [Accessed 2 Nov. 2014].

Killer Looks?

It is not difficult to find videos of cute animals like this online, especially with an increasing use of social media. In my opinion, such videos could potentially exacerbate the current situation of illegal wildlife trafficking. On the other hand, these videos could help with illegal trafficking, by drawing attention and creating awareness for themselves.

For such videos to be helpful against illegal wildlife trafficking, the mindset of the audience must change. Instead of "Oooo this is so cute I wish I had one as a pet!", to "Oooo this is is cute I wish I could do something to help protect this animal!".  This boils down to the need for proper education and awareness of wildlife trading against illegal wildlife trading.

Its not all gloom and doom for these cute endangered wildlife though!

GOOD NEWS!

Traffic, a wildlife trade monitoring network, reported that "Nine of the leading online retail sites in China, including Alibaba, Tencent, Sina, Airmedia, SMG and arton.net agreed earlier this month not to provide opportunities for promotion or trade of illegal wildlife products on their platforms."

One small step for man, a giant leap for Wildlife~

It is exactly 1 month since my first post. Hence, today's blogpost shall be a summary of what I have learnt about illegal wildlife trafficking. 

Drivers of Illegal Wildlife Trade

1. Medicinal Purposes

2. Culture and Tradition

3. Livelihood of Poor

    - High profit, Low Risk

4. Luxurious Items; Indicator of Wealth

    - Creation of demand by the Affluent  

5. Corrupted Personnel

    - Trafficking of animals requires the movement of the organisms across countries. Corrupted personnel increases the ease to move the organisms across.

6. Banning of wildlife trade

   - Illegalisation of wildlife products led to a surge in prices for such products, increasing incentives for poachers.

Explanation for ecological deterioration tends to blame the poor. 

Even though majority of the poaching and hunting of wildlife are done by the poor, I feel that it is not right to blame the poor at all for the rise in illegal wildlife trafficking! In most places where illegal wildlife poaching is very prevelant, jobs are scarce, and even if you have a job, most people are not paid enough. Given this situation, it is hard to blame the people for turning to the environment to supplement their income to provide for their family. 

For example, when a family member falls sick, it is hard for people living in poverty to afford for medical bills. However, by hunting in the forest, say for a rhinoceros horn, the person could easily sell their kill, which would then be used to pay for their medical bills. 

Hence, instead of always blaming the poor for the exploitation of wildlife, one should consider what is the underlying reasons for their exploitations.

Commodification of wildlife could help protect or destroy nature.

A change in perception in human will change what is considered as a resource. Its the resourcefulness of humans that decides what is a resource. When wildlife ceases to be part of our human resources, wildlife trafficking would naturally disappear.

How Beauty killed the Beast

Instead of the normal discussions I have on my blog, the blogpost today will be showing a list of a few animals that are classified as near extinction, as a result of illegal poaching.

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An excellent exmaple of how beauty killed the beast. Famed for their beautiful fur coat, the Amur Leopards were poached extensively. There are now  fewer than 30 of them left in the wild.

Hawksbill turtle are classified as crictically endangered. There is a large amount of illegal trade in their shells and the products derived from it.

There are fewer than 5000 of these black rhinoceros left in the wild. They are poached for their horns as a trophy, or for "remedies" for several illnesses.

There are fewer than 400 Sumatran Tigers left in the wild. According to Traffic, illegal poaching is responsible for over 78% of Tiger deaths!

A common ingredient for Traditional Chinese Medicince. Over the last 10 years, the population of Saiga Antelopes declined by over 90%, mainly due to poaching for the trade of horns.

Sahafary Sportive Lemur

Hunted extensively for wild bush meat and traded illegally as pets.
Wild population of the Lemur numbers no more than 50.


















Beautiful creatures. Is it too late to start saving them?

Could the Legalisation of trade be just a cover for Laundering Wildlife?

South Africa has been pushing hard for the legalisation of wildlife trade, specifically in the sales of rhinoceros’ horns. The idea behind legalisation of wildlife trade is to combat the uncontrollable poaching of the animals. However, I do not agree that legalisation of the trade would be a viable solution to the problem. Instead, legalisation of the trade of wildlife products will only worsen the situation, exacerbating the market for such products.

There are indeed some success examples showcasing how legalisation can help save an animal from extinction, such as the vicuña wool. However, it is unlikely for such results to be replicated in other wildlife products such as horns, ivories and bear bile. How could the shearing of an animal for its wool be compared to the abstraction of an internal biological fluid from another animal?

Besides, legalisation of wildlife trade would work if and only if the legal supply is able to meet the demand. Speaking at a debate organised by environmental research organisation Earthwatch at the Royal Geographical Society on 17 October, Rice said: “Legal trade is not the solution for the long term survival of elephants and rhinos in the wild. “Opening markets without fully understanding the impact of these markets is extremely high risk - and even if it is just slightly off the mark, it is irreversible.”

Stockpile of Rhinoceros' horn

The push for the legalisation of trade could be due to certain underlying reasons. For example, the huge amount of profit that can be made from the country through the sales of confiscated good is enormous. Could legalisation of the trade be just a cover for laundering wildlife? There are huge stockpile of rhinoceros’ horns and elephants’ ivory, either through confiscation or natural death of the animal. Hence, people supporting the legalisation of trade stand to gain a large profit from it. In the end, legalisation of trade is just about the money, and not for the conservation of the animals. 

Is Banning the Bane of wildlife?

1979, that was the year where over a 100 countries agreed to push for the ban in the trading of rhinoceros’ horns. However, over 30 years after the agreement, an estimated 1000 rhinoceros were killed for their horns in 2013, an increase from around 668 in the year 2012. Considering the ban on the trade of rhinoceros’ horns, why then have the slaughtering of rare animals not ceased, but instead, are still prevailing and rising? In this blogpost, I will be discussing about the possibility of reducing illegal wildlife trafficking through the legalisation of such trade.

Could legalisation of trade be the way to go to protect these animals?

“Since the trade ban was imposed in China 14 years ago, prices of tiger parts (such as penises, paws and bones) had surged sky high on the black market[1]”. The ban on wildlife products have raised the values of these products significantly, as it makes it harder to hunt for the products, whereby only the skilful and the professional are capable enough to make use of the loopholes and flaws in the system. As the prices of wildlife products are driven sky high by the ban on the products, removing the ban could potentially increase the supplies of products in the market through a sustainable farming (click to read more about sustainable farming of animal products such as the rhinoceros’ horns), and hence decreasing the price on the market.

 

Dehorning of a rhinoceros to protect it from poachers

As mentioned in the previous post, since animal products are often seen as a luxurious item, perhaps the increase in supply and, hence the decrease in price, would make such products less luxurious. (Assuming that the products are considered luxurious due to their scarcity and price) An example of success, in Peru, where the legalization of the sales of wool from vicuña helped to save the animal from extinction.  

The legalisation of sales of wool from vicuña helped increase its population size from a mere 5000 to more than 200000 today.

Would the legalisation of sustainable wildlife trading stimulate better protection from the suppliers' side? Is the legalisation of the sales a smart choice, or would it further aggravate the situation? In my next few blog posts, I will be further discussing about the pros and cons of legalising wildlife trade.  

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[1] http://www.asiabiotech.com/publication/apbn/11/english/preserved-docs/1117n18/1196_1197.pdf

The Pen is Mightier than the Gun

As discussed before, the main driver of illegal wildlife trading is the demand of products created by the affluent. By definition, trafficking is the trading of products between different places or countries.[1] Therefore, for illegal wildlife trafficking to proceed, the products must be able to be transported away to the market. Again, by definition, poaching is the trespassing of an area to illegally take game.[2] Considering the two definitions I have mentioned, is it right that only the poachers are to be liable for illegal wildlife trafficking?

As the title of this blogpost suggests, I will be discussing about the facilitators of illegal wildlife trafficking, and how it exacerbates the problem of illegal wildlife trafficking.

http://speakupforthevoiceless.org/2013/02/18/environmentalism-chapter-23-understanding-poaching/

As mentioned above, for wildlife trafficking to proceed, it must first be transported out of the country. Hence, one of the main facilitators of illegal wildlife trafficking would be the personnel located at the point of entry or exit. “Corruption is seen as one of the most critical factors enabling illicit wildlife trafficking”[3]. Given that there are many ways that wildlife can be illegally transported out of a place or country, corrupted practices have increase the ease of which illegal products can be transported. A common form of corruption would simply be the receiving of payments from smugglers to officials to turn a blind eye to their act. For instance, as reported in People Newspaper, 17204, August 2002, 66% of customs officials of Tan Thanh, an important illegal wildlife trade exit point from Vietnam to China, accepted bribes and had links to illegal wildlife traders. Imagine the amount of illegal wildlife trade that could be have prevented!

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent David Bonham and others carry confiscated ivory to a crusher to be pulverized.

Since the illegal transaction of wildlife products cannot be complete without the help of some corrupted officials, it is important to ensure that officials are professional, and understand the problem and impact of illegal wildlife trafficking as well. Given the amount of illegal wildlife products officials will be facing with, as well as the high prices that have been placed on such items, it is imminent that some officials will be swayed. This further drives my point that officials have to be selected more strictly and more professionally.

As the saying goes, the pen is mightier than the sword, which is directly translatable into the situation of illegal wildlife trafficking. The fuel for the illegal wildlife trafficking is the ease at which poachers can smuggle and trade illegal products, which is a result of corrupted officials. Hence, should there be more stringent penalties against corruption, perhaps the number of illegal wildlife trafficking cases can be reduced.

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[1] http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/trafficking?s=t

[2] http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/poaching?s=t

[3] http://www.transparency.org/whatwedo/answer/wildlife_crime_and_corruption