TRAFFIC Bulletin 23(1) December 2010 (PDF, 1.5
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TRAFFIC 1 BULLETIN TRADE IN SOUTH AFRICAN ABALONE THE POACHING OF MALAYAN SUN BEARS REPORT OF 15TH CITES MEETING DECEMBER 2010 VOL. 23 NO. 1 23 NO. VOL. DECEMBER 2010 The journal of the TRAFFIC network disseminates information on the trade in wild animal and plant resources TRAFFIC was established in 1976 to perform what remains a unique role as a global specialist leading and supporting efforts to identify and address conservation challenges and solutions linked to trade in wild animals and plants. K. LOCHEN / TRAFFIC K. LOCHEN / TRAFFIC’s Vision is of a world in which trade in wild plants and animals is managed at sustainable levels without damaging the integrity of ecological systems and in such a manner that it makes a significant contribution to human needs, supports local and national economies and helps to motivate commitments to the conservation of wild species and their habitats. rade in wildlife is vital to meeting TRAFFIC is to seek and activate solutions to the problems the needs of a significant proport- created by illegal and/or unsustainable wildlife trade. Tion of the world’s population. TRAFFIC’s aim is to encourage sustainability by providing Products derived from tens of thousands government, decision-makers, traders, businesses, consu- of species of plants and animals are traded mers and others with an interest in wildlife trade with and used for the purposes of, among other reliable information about trade volumes, trends, pathways things, medicine, food, fuel, building and impacts, along with guidance on how to respond where materials, clothing and ornament ation. trade is illegal or unsustainable. Eight regional TRAFFIC programmes are co-ordinated by the TRAFFIC Most of the trade is legal and much of it International headquarters in Cambridge, UK. sustainable, but a significant proportion is not. As well as threatening these TRAFFIC’s reports and advice provide a technical basis resources, unsustainable trade can also for the establishment of effective conservation policies lead to species declining in the wild to the and programmes to ensure that wildlife is maintained point that they are threatened with within sustainable levels and conducted according to extinction. Illegal trade undermines national and international laws and agreements. The local, national and international efforts to journal of the TRAFFIC network, TRAFFIC Bulletin, is JEFF FOOTT / WWF-CANON JEFF FOOTT manage wild natural resources the only journal devoted exclusively to issues relating to sustainably and causes massive economic international trade in wild plants and animals. Provided losses. free of charge to over 4000 subscribers and freely Much of the content published in the available from the TRAFFIC website (www.traffic.org), it TRAFFIC Bulletin arises from invest - TRAFFIC is a joint programme of WWF is a key tool for disseminating knowledge of wildlife trade igations carried out by TRAFFIC staff, and IUCN, the International Union for and an important source of information for those in a whose wide-ranging expertise allows for Conservation of Nature. The role of position to affect change and improve awareness. a broad coverage of issues. TRAFFIC has also built up a global network of contacts with, for example, law enforcement agents, scientists, and wildlife experts, some of whom are regular contributors to the TRAFFIC Bulletin. TRAFFIC welcomes articles from contri - butors on the subject of wildlife trade that will bring new information to the attention of the wider public, and guide - lines are provided in this issue and online to assist in this process. For more information, please contact the editor: MARTIN HARVEY / WWF-CANON HARVEY MARTIN JÜRGEN FREUND / WWF-CANON TRAFFICTRAFFIC Kim Lochen ([email protected]). The TRAFFIC Bulletin is a publication of TRAFFIC, the wild life trade monitoring net work, which works TRAFFIC to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature. TRAFFIC is a joint programme of WWF and IUCN. B U L L E T I N The TRAFFIC Bulletin publishes information and original papers on the subject of trade in wild animals and plants, and strives to be a source of accurate and VOL. 23 NO. 1 DECEMBER 2010 objective information. The TRAFFIC Bulletin is available free of charge. Quotation of information appearing in the news sections is welcomed without permission, but citation must be given. Reprod uction of all other material CONTENTS appearing in the TRAFFIC Bulletin requires written permission from the publisher. news editorial • rhino poaching • ivory database • CBD outcomes • vicuñas in Peru • ivory controls • MANAGING EDITOR Steven Broad FairWild standard launch • NWFPs • Korean Pine • EDITOR AND COMPILER Kim Lochen 1 EU seal ban • fisheries database • enforcement initiatives SUBSCRIPTIONS Susan Vivian (E-mail: [email protected]) The designations of geographical entities in this Report of the 15th meeting of publication, and the presentation of the material, do feature not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever the Conference of the Parties on the part of TRAFFIC or its supporting to CITES organizations con cern ing the legal status of any J. Gray country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or 13 boundaries. Any opinions expressed are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect those of TRAFFIC, WWF or IUCN. seizures and A selection of recent seizures and prosecutions that have Published by TRAFFIC International, prosecutions taken place around the world 219a Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, Cambs., CB3 0DL, UK. © TRAFFIC International 2010 ISSN 0267-4297 29 UK Registered Charity No. 1076722 Cover illustration: Opuntia microdasys/Sedum treleasei (© K. Lochen / TRAFFIC) feature Evaluation of the CITES Appendix III listing and This page, from top: fruit of Krakoa Amomum ovoideum delisting of South African (© TRAFFIC / Eanghuort Khou); CoP15 (© S. Broad / Abalone Haliotis midae TRAFFIC); ivory seizure in Thailand (© Suvarnabhumi Airport Passenger Control Customs Bureau); Abalone 42 M. Bürgener Haliotis midae (© M. Bürgener / TRAFFIC); Malayan Sun Bear Helarctos malayanus (© Alain Compost / WWF-Canon) Funding for the printing and distribution of this issue of the TRAFFIC Bulletin is generously provided by short The poaching and trade of The Rufford Foundation. communication Malayan Sun Bears in Peninsular Malaysia 49 C.R. Shepherd and L.A. Shepherd i-vi Index Vol. 22 Printed by Portland Print, Kettering, Northants NN16 8UN, UK E D I T O R I A L ommerce trumps conservation at wildlife relating to implementation of the treaty; for example convention”, was the Reuters headline at the procedures for dealing with e-commerce. However there “Cclose of the 15th meeting of the Conference is no escaping the fact that these glimmers of progress of the Parties (CoP15) to the Convention on International struggled to shine a positive light for the future amidst the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora low spirits engendered by the marine debates. (CITES) in Doha, Qatar, in March 2010. A chorus of So, what lies ahead for CITES? Some might argue that similarly gloomy commentary was heard from a wide keeping a narrow focus and avoiding the difficult high-value range of media, organizations and governments reflecting marine and forest trade sectors would provide a workable on the meeting’s outcomes, painting a picture of an ailing comfort zone for CITES to operate in. However, this ignores treaty, where decision-makers were unwilling to look the fact that the Convention has long been applied to these beyond short-term politics and vested interests and face other areas of wildlife commerce. And more importantly, it up to the serious conservation management challenges would be an admission of failure and that a treaty established that CITES had been designed to address. by governments to help prevent negative conservation effects from international wildlife trade be treated as irrelevant to the sectors that account for the vast majority of this commerce in terms of both value and E D I T O R I A L impact. In fact, despite its age, CITES actually provides a rather modern set of flexible and powerful tools that governments can use as a basis for collab- So what actually happened in Doha? Were the meeting orative action to manage sustainable trade and avoid negative outcomes universally bad? And what do they mean for the impacts in any sector of wildlife commerce. At its heart is a future of CITES in its 35th anniversary year? As is often sustainability standard, a chain of custody system for inter - the case, the answers are not straightforward, but they are national trade and a framework for collaborative important to consider both in the context of international enforcement and compliance management that can be efforts to address unsustainable trade in wild animals and applied in a manner fully compatible with existing national plants and in the wider scene of multilateral negotiations and international management agreements for the harvest of on environmental issues in the shadow of the 2009 United marine species, trees and other high-value wildlife species. Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. That said, there is no denying the fact that some The CITES CoP15 results that attracted most of this important things need to change if CITES is to be used to negative commentary were a series of decisions against the its full potential. Within governments, there is an urgent listing of commercially important marine species in the need for more emphasis on longer-term economic, social Convention’s Appendices (the lists of animals and plants and environmental goals. It should not be tenable for subject to trade controls under the treaty). Primary among decisions about natural resource use to ignore scientific these was a proposal to list Atlantic Bluefin Tuna in advice, historical experience and sustainability promises Appendix I (which would ban commercial trade), which made regularly under many international agreements.