THE Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has called on environment
ministers to support the war against illegal wildlife trade, NaijaAgronet gathered.
The call was made in a statement issued by
the secretariat of the ongoing UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya, and
made available to NaijaAgroNet.
According to the statement, the ministers
should be at the fore front of addressing the ecosystem which is under threat
from illegal wildlife trade.
The statement stressed that illegal
wildlife trade had been an issue of priority in international conferences for
the past three years.
``From the UN Security Council to the World
Heritage Committee, there is recognition at the highest political levels of the
economic, social, environmental and security impacts of this highly destructive
criminal activity. The focus now has to be on the front line. This means even stronger
law enforcement and demand-reduction efforts across multiple countries, to
reverse the current dangerous trends. CITES decisions and compliance processes
underpin the global effort.”
Secretary-General of CITES, John Scanlon
was quoted as saying that, ``Ultimately, this fight will be won or lost on the
front lines, whether in the field, the courtroom, or the market place but not
in a conference room. We have had a lot of important high-level events over the
past three years and we must now better focus our collective efforts on local,
national and regional actions.
``The effects of illegal wildlife trade on
natural assets were highlighted earlier this month when the World Heritage
Committee added Selous Reserve in Tanzania to the `in danger’ list under the
World Heritage Convention due to the impacts of poaching for illegal trade.
Illegal logging, poaching and wildlife crimes have an impact on over 50 per
cent of the Natural World Heritage Sites”.
According the statement, the effects of
illegal wildlife trade on natural assets were highlighted earlier this month at
the 38th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, held in Doha.
The statement further quoted Scanlon, as
saying: ``We cannot allow poaching for the illegal trade in wildlife and the
global crime syndicates behind it to destroy entire species.
``The world is losing the building blocks
of our ecosystems that we all rely upon. ‘Africa’s elephants are also known as
the ‘ecological engineers’ they disperse the seeds of the food they eat and are
an essential part of healthy and diverse ecosystems.
``Healthy ecosystems also provide essential
services for people from the provision of fresh water to wildlife-based
tourism.’’
The statement, noted that both UNESCO and
CITES had expressed concern over World Heritage sites across Africa that were
suffering from a surge in poaching.
It said the organisations had expressed
concern for poaching, especially for elephants, which is diminishing their
natural heritage value and appeal as wildlife tourism destinations, which can
have severe economic consequences.
``Half of the 14 African World Heritage
sites monitored under the CITES Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants
(MIKE) programme are now on the `in danger’ list.
``The CITES Secretariat is working with the
UNESCO World Heritage Centre to better protect these iconic sites.
``The degradation of World Heritage sites
through poaching for illegal trade is destroying these beautiful wildlife-based
tourism assets impoverishing local people and national economies as well as the
world’s natural heritage,” the statement added.
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