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December 23, 2009 | International wildlife trade threatens Southeast Asia's rare species | London: A Dutch conservation biologist working in Britain has said that the international wildlife trade is a major threat to Southeast Asia's rare species. According to
a report in Nature News, the biologist in question is Vincent Nijman of Oxford
Brookes University, UK. Shepherd reports that more than 35 million rare seahorses,
butterflies, reptiles, mammals, fish and birds were exported legally from Southeast
Asian countries between 1998 and 2007. Some 30 million of these animals were caught
in the wild, with the remainder coming from breeding programmes. Southeast Asia
is a hub of the international wildlife trade, and globalization and the increased
buying power of many countries in the region is increasing the demand for rare
species - as pets and for medicines and food. The Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), created to regulate
the trade in protected species, went into force in 1975. Under the treaty, currently
signed by 175 countries, including all of southeast Asia, certain rare species
can be exported legally only if the authorities can show that their trade is not
adversely affecting animal populations in what is known as a non-detriment finding.
"But many developing countries lack the capacity to make non-detriment findings,"
said Nijman. According to Nijman, the new numbers suggest that the non-detriment
findings are too lenient and the legal trade is a risk to threatened species.
"The only thing we know about many of these species is that they are being harvested
in the millions," Nijman said. "We let this trade happen - supposedly regulated
by CITES. But we must be honest, we have no idea if it is sustainable," he added.
In all, Nijman calculated that of the 35 million animals exported between 1998
and 2007, 16 million were seahorses and more than 17 million were reptiles. With
the exception of birds, exports for all groups of animals increased or remained
stable. According to CITES, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and China are the biggest
exporters of wild-caught animals, and Japan and the European Union are the most
significant importers, through the pet trade. The trade in animal parts for Chinese
traditional medicine is booming, despite bans.Chris R. Shepherd, TRAFFIC Southeast
Asia Nijman obtained his data from more than 53,000 records of imports, exports
and re-exports of CITES-listed species as reported by southeast Asian countries
on the World Conservation Monitoring Center CITES website. |
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