2 BULLETIN WILDLIFE DNA FORENSICS REDUCING DEMAND FOR ILLEGAL WILDLIFE PRODUCTS ENHANCING PLANT TRADE REGULATION STRAW-HEADED BULBULS IN SINGAPORE OCTOBER 2016 OCTOBER 2 28 NO. VOL. The journal of the TRAFFIC network disseminates information on the trade in wild animal and plant resources 75$)),&ZDVHVWDEOLVKHG LQWRSHUIRUPZKDW UHPDLQVDXQLTXHUROHDVD JOREDOVSHFLDOLVWOHDGLQJDQG VXSSRUWLQJH൵RUWVWRLGHQWLI\ DQGDGGUHVVFRQVHUYDWLRQ FKDOOHQJHVDQGVROXWLRQV OLQNHGWRWUDGHLQZLOG WILD WONDERS OF EUROPE, MARKUS VARESVUO / WWF WILD WONDERS OF EUROPE, MARKUS VARESVUO animals and plants. TRAFFIC’s Vision is of a world in which trade in wild plants and animals is managed at sustainable levels without damaging the integrity RIHFRORJLFDOV\VWHPVDQGLQVXFKDPDQQHUWKDWLWPDNHVDVLJQLÀFDQWFRQWULEXWLRQWRKXPDQQHHGVVXSSRUWVORFDODQGQDWLRQDO 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 popul ation. 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 mers and others with an interest in wildlife trade with traded and used for the purposes of, reliable information about trade volumes, trends, pathways among other things, medicine, food, and impacts, along with guidance on how to respond where fuel, building materials, clothing and trade is illegal or unsustainable. Five regional TRAFFIC ornament ation. offices are co-ordinated by the TRAFFIC headquarters in Cambridge, UK. Most of the trade is legal and much of it sustainable, but a significant proportion is TRAFFIC’s reports and advice provide a technical basis not. As well as threatening these resources, for the establishment of effective conservation policies unsustainable trade can also lead to and programmes to ensure that wildlife is maintained species declining in the wild to the point within sustainable levels and conducted according to that they are threatened with extinction. national and inter national laws and agreements. The Illegal trade undermines local, national journal of the TRAFFIC network, TRAFFIC Bulletin, is and international efforts to manage wild the only publication devoted exclusively to issues relating natural resources sustainably and causes to international trade in wild plants and animals. Provided massive economic losses. free of charge to over 4000 subscribers and freely available from the TRAFFIC website (www.traffic.org), it is a key JÜRGEN FREUND / WWF TRAFFIC is a strategic alliance of WWF tool for disseminating knowledge of wildlife trade and an and IUCN, the International Union for important source of information for those in a position to Much of the content published in the Conservation of Nature. The role of effect change and improve awareness. TRAFFIC Bulletin arises from invest- igations carried out by TRAFFIC staff, whose wide-ranging expertise allows for 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 on the subject of wildlife trade that will bring new information to the attention of the wider public; guide lines are provided in this issue and online to assist in this process. For more information, please contact the editor: TRAFFICTRAFFIC BRENT STIRTON / GETTY IMAGES / WWF-UK / GETTY STIRTON BRENT HARTMUT JUNGIUS /HARTMUT WWF Kim Lochen ([email protected]). The TRAFFIC Bulletin is a publication of TRAFFIC, the wild life trade monitoring network, which is the leading non-governmental organization working globally on trade in wild animals and plants in the context of both biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. TRAFFIC is a strategic alliance of WWF and IUCN. The TRAFFIC Bulletin publishes information B U L L E T I N and original papers on the subject of trade in wild animals and plants, and strives to be a source of accurate and objective information. VOL. 28 NO. 2 OCTOBER 2016 The TRAFFIC Bulletin is available free of charge. Quotation of information appearing in the news and short reports sections is welcomed without CONTENTS permission, but citation must be given. Reprod uction of all other material appearing in news and Editorial • AFRICA-TWIX • the TRAFFIC Bulletin requires written permission short reports from the publisher. CoP17 proposals results • FOCAC • MANAGING EDITOR Steven Broad Straw-headed Bulbuls, Singapore • EDITOR and COMPILER Kim Lochen E-commerce in wildlife, Viet Nam • SUBSCRIPTIONS and MAILING Wildlife DNA forensics • 6XVDQ9LYLDQ (PDLOEXOOHWLQ#WUD൶FRUJ 41 IUCN 13th Otter Congress • East/southern African timber trade • The designations of geographical entities in this publication, and the presentation of the material, do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of TRAFFIC or its supporting organizations concern ing the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its feature Powers of Persuasion? frontiers or boundaries. Conservation Communications, Behavioural Change and Any opinions expressed are those of the writers Reducing Demand for DQGGRQRWQHFHVVDULO\UHÀHFWWKRVHRI75$)),& Illegal Wildlife Products WWF or IUCN. 65 Gayle Burgess Published by TRAFFIC, David Attenborough Building, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QZ, UK. Copyright of material published in the TRAFFIC Bulletin is vested in TRAFFIC © TRAFFIC 2016. ISSN 0267-4297. UK Registered Charity No. 1076722 seizures and A selection of prosecutions seizures and prosecutions Cover photograph: that have recently Baobabs Adansonia grandidieri taken place around 0DUWLQ+DUYH\::) the world Photographs this page, from top: 74 Eurasian Otter Lutra lutra 1'XSODL[ Demand reduction workshop 75$)),& :LOGOLIHVHL]XUH0DOD\VLD 75$)),& Washing Gynostemma pentaphyllum, Bac Kan province, Viet Nam &XRQJ1JX\HQ75$)),& Funding for the printing and distribution of this short Enhancing regulatory tools to support issue of the TRAFFIC Bulletin is generously report sustainable and legal trade in timber SURYLGHGE\7KH5X൵RUG)RXQGDWLRQ)XQGLQJWR and non-timber plant products print and distribute future issues is being sought. 3OHDVHYLVLWKWWSZZZWUD൶FRUJGRQDWH if you can help. 80 A.Timoshyna, H.K. Chen and B. Morgan Printed by Portland Print, Kettering, Northants NN16 8UN, UK. S H O RE T D IR T E O P R O I RA T L pening to the sound of delegates Nevertheless, there is undoubtedly room for participating in a plenary-wide drum further improvement. CITES is often billed as “the workshop and closing with the equally environmental treaty with teeth”. This may be the case, regular beat of the Chair’s gavel marking but its drawn-out decision making, supported by an agreement on a remarkable array of obviously under-resourced Secretariat, often means Onew decisions, resolutions and listing proposals, the those teeth are employed to chew ponderously over key seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties national compliance issues, rather than credibly threaten &R3 WR&,7(6 &RQYHQWLRQRQ,QWHUQDWLRQDO7UDGHLQ the sort of sharp bite that might prompt faster action. (QGDQJHUHG6SHFLHVRI:LOG)DXQDDQG)ORUD KDVEHHQ At the same time, the basic “rules of the game”, widely heralded a conservation success. the listing criteria that member countries adopted to Held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 24 September help guide their decisions about regulatory treatment to 4 October 2016, and reportedly attended by 3500 for particular species, are in need of some thoughtful participants representing 152 governments, international UHYLHZDQGUHYLVLRQ$VZHUHÀHFWHGLQWKHLQWURGXFWLRQ to TRAFFIC’s published recommendations on proposals to amend the CITES Appendices at CoP17, current criteria do not provide the sort E D I T O R I A L of clear guidance needed to judge whether a proposed change in CITES regulatory treatment would, on balance, be “in the best interest organizations, non-governmental organizations and media, of the conservation of the species concerned, and be a CoP17 was certainly the largest meeting of the Convention proportionate response to anticipated risks” (in the words to date. In closing comments, the CITES Secretary- RI5HVROXWLRQ&RQI 5HY&RQI General, John E. Scanlon stated, “The most critical 6XFK MXGJHPHQW UHTXLUHV D FOHDU LGHQWL¿FDWLRQ RI meeting in the 43-year history of CITES has delivered a trade-related problem; a credible explanation of how for the world’s wildlife. CoP17 is a game changer for the the regulatory change proposed could help, alongside planet’s most vulnerable wild animals and plants.” a balanced assessment of opportunities, risks and It is indeed true that there were some very positive alternative solutions; and a realistic appraisal of the decisions reached at this meeting. CITES Appendix II likelihood of adequate implementation and enforcement. regulation will be introduced for various commercially More guidance is also needed on strategies for dealing important species of sharks, rays and rosewoods. with uncertainty in making such judgements, including Proposals to re-open commercial trade in ivory and on interpretation of often patchy biological and trade rhinoceros horn were not approved, at least in