topic: Cites

topic: Cites

Social media activity version | Lean version

Impunity for Cambodia’s exotic pet owners as trade outpaces legislation
- High-profile interventions by Cambodia’s former leader and weak legislation have allowed the illegal wildlife trade to persist largely in the open.
- The case of a gas station menagerie in western Cambodia is emblematic of the ease with which even endangered species can be bought and sold.
- The collection, owned by a police officer, includes cockatoos from Indonesia, marmosets and parakeets from South America, and a native gibbon.
- Authorities said they were aware of the collection, but were “following the format” set in the wake of their 2023 seizure of peacocks from a breeder, which culminated in them having to return the birds after then-prime minister Hun Sen criticized their actions.

EU’s legal loophole feeds gray market for world’s rarest parrot
- Loopholes in the 1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) have allowed near-extinct animals to be moved across borders for breeding; in principle, CITES allows species trading for research, zoos or conservation.
- It was in this context that dozens of Spix’s macaws, a blue parrot from Brazil that’s considered extinct in the wild, were introduced into the EU, despite an international ban on the species’ commercial trade.
- In 2005, German bird breeder Martin Guth acquired three of the parrots for breeding purposes, with CITES approval, before going on to amass nearly all the world’s captive Spix’s macaws and transferring several dozen of them to facilities throughout Europe and India under an EU permit not covered by CITES.
- At a CITES meeting last November, representatives from Brazil and other tropical countries affected by the illegal wildlife trade expressed frustration that the EU had allowed unregistered commercial breeders to flourish, despite CITES having created a dedicated registration program for legitimate captive breeders 20 years earlier.

Study: More than 900 at-risk species lack international trade protections
- A recent study reveals concerning gaps in trade protections for the most at-risk animal and plant species.
- To identify potential gaps, researchers compared species on the IUCN Red List with those covered by the CITES, the global wildlife trade convention.
- Two-fifths of the species considered at risk due to international wildlife trade, 904 species, aren’t covered by CITES, the study found.
- The researchers suggest steps that the CITES committees can take to incorporate these findings, including both strengthening protections for overlooked species and relaxing trade controls for species that have shown improvement in their conservation status.

New protections for sharks, songbirds, frogs and more at CITES trade summit
- The 19th meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, known as CoP19, ended Nov. 25 in Panama, after two weeks of negotiations.
- Member states agreed on new trade regulations for more than 600 animal and plant species, including the protection of sharks, glass frogs, turtles, songbirds and tropical timber species.
- Experts say that while these new regulations are essential, implementing and enforcing the rules will have the most significant conservation impact.

Will CITES finally act to protect rosewood this month? (commentary)
- CITES COP-19 starts in mid-November 2022 and is likely going to be a decisive meeting for the protection of species such as rosewood.
- Both CITES and Madagascar have banned the export of rosewood and ebony, but there appears to be no end to the illegal trade, and the fate of nearly 40,000 illegally-exported rosewood logs seized in Singapore, Kenya and Sri Lanka in 2014 is still uncertain.
- Action is needed at COP-19 to protect such stockpiles of seized rosewood from being sold, and for the remaining Malagasy rosewood and ebony trees to be protected before they are all gone, a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Experts fear end of vaquitas after green light for export of captive-bred totoaba fish
- After a 40-year prohibition, international wildlife trade regulator CITES has authorized the export of captive-bred totoaba fish from Mexico.
- Conservationists say they fear this decision will stimulate the illegal fishing of wild totoabas and that this will intensify the threats facing the critically endangered vaquita porpoise.
- Only around eight individual vaquitas remain alive; they regularly drown in nets set illegally for totoabas in the Upper Gulf of California, where the two species overlap.
- The swim bladders of totoabas are sold in Asian markets at exorbitant prices because of their value as status symbols and their supposed medicinal properties.

Study shines light, and raises alarm, over online trade of West African birds
- Researchers conducted a study on the online trade of West African wild birds in an effort to fill knowledge gaps about the trafficking of species from this part of the world.
- The study found that 83 species of wild birds from West Africa were being traded online, including three species protected under the highly prohibitive CITES Appendix I, and that many potential buyers originated from South Asia and the Middle East.
- In general, very little is known about wild birds in West Africa, so it’s difficult to assess whether the trade in certain species is sustainable, the researchers say.
- The authors have also raised concerns about the spread of disease upon viewing images of multiple species of birds confined together in small enclosures.

Mahogany, a pillar of the rainforest, needs support (commentary)
- Mahogany has been the wood of choice for furniture and cabinetry for centuries, and is highly sought by guitar makers for its strength and resistance to changes in humidity and temperature.
- But when it was last assessed in 1998, biologists categorized the tree as “vulnerable to extinction” — the same category as cheetahs and polar bears, iconic species that are well known to be threatened.
- Economics must play a leading role in protecting mahogany, and all the species that depend on it, if we are to turn the tide on its decline and slow tropical deforestation, a new op-ed argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Year of the Tiger: Illegal trade thrives amid efforts to save wild tigers
- As the world celebrates the Year of the Tiger in 2022, humans continue to threaten the cat’s long-term survival in the wild: killing, buying and selling tigers and their prey, and encroaching into their last shreds of habitat. That’s why they are Earth’s most endangered big cat.
- Undercover video footage has revealed an enlarged tiger farm run by an organized criminal organization in Laos. It’s one of many captive-breeding facilities implicated in the black market trade — blatantly violating an international treaty on trade in endangered species.
- Under a 2007 CITES decision, tigers should be bred only for conservation purposes. Evidence shows that this decision is being disregarded by some Asian nations, including China, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. But CITES has done little to enforce it, which could be done through sanctions, say critics.
- With the world’s second Global Tiger Summit and important international meetings on biodiversity and endangered species looming, it’s a crucial year for tigers. In the wild, some populations are increasing, some stable, and others shrinking: Bengal tigers in India are faring best, while Malayan tigers hover on extinction’s edge.

Madagascar’s insistence on using seized rosewood rattles conservationists
- Since CITES banned the global trade of Malagasy rosewood in 2013, the country has faced a dilemma: what to do with the illegally harvested timber in government custody?
- This month Madagascar proposed using seized rosewood, which it claims is secure, domestically, effectively removing it from CITES oversight.
- Though the plan concerns a small fraction of the stockpile, it could set a dangerous precedent, opening the door for the remaining timber to be unlawfully funneled into the global market and drive illegal logging, anti-trafficking campaigners said.
- The proposal came up for discussion at the CITES standing committee meeting this March, but CITES parties are expected to reach a decision at the next summit in November.

Record seizures mark Sri Lanka’s rise as a smuggling hub for star tortoises
- The Indian star tortoise is the most smuggled tortoise species in the world, with thousands trafficked annually smuggled out from India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan despite a 2019 total ban on the international trade in the species.
- While India continues to be the main country of origin for wild-caught star tortoises, Sri Lanka has in recent years become both a prominent source country and transit hub for trafficking networks that move the animals to East and Southeast Asia.
- Experts have called for better collaboration between law enforcement authorities in the source countries, particularly India and Sri Lanka, to curb the smuggling, which studies say has thrived due to weak enforcement and corruption.
- Herpetologists also say releasing seized star tortoises from both India and Sri Lanka inside Sri Lankan national parks threatens to wipe out the unique characteristics of the latter population, making them genetically indistinct from their subcontinental cousins.

New study highlights hidden scale of U.S. illegal tiger trade
- A new study highlights the previously underestimated role of the U.S. in the illegal tiger trade: According to newly compiled seizure data, tiger trafficking in the U.S. from 2003 to 2012 corresponded to almost half of the global tiger trade reported for that period in prior studies.
- By analyzing hundreds of U.S. tiger trafficking incidents, the researchers uncovered noteworthy routes from China and Vietnam into the country, with the vast majority of seizures involving traditional medicines.
- They also found significant legal trade in captive-bred tigers into the country, mainly for use in roadside zoos and circuses; experts say the patchwork of U.S. federal, state and local laws that govern the roughly 5,000 captive tigers in the country is insufficient to safeguard them from the illegal trade.
- Experts are calling on U.S. legislators to pass the Big Cat Public Safety Act, a bill that would improve the welfare and protection of tigers in captivity and therefore strengthen the country’s integrity on international tiger conservation matters.

Greater Mekong primates struggle to cling on amid persistent threats: Report
- The Greater Mekong region is home to 44 species of non-human primates, including gibbons, lorises, langurs, macaques and snub-nosed monkeys, several of which were first described within the last few years.
- Habitat loss and hunting driven by the wildlife trade and consumption have driven many of the region’s primates to the brink of extinction, with many species now only existing as tiny populations in isolated, fragmented pockets of habitat.
- Experts say controlling the illegal wildlife trade is complicated by the presence of legal markets for primates, often for use in biomedical research.
- Despite the challenges, conservation action at local levels is achieving results for some primate species in the region while also enhancing livelihoods and ecosystem services for local communities.

Tiger farms doing little to end wild poaching, Vietnam consumer study shows
- More than 8,000 tigers are kept in captivity in China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam in commercial facilities ranging from residential basements to licensed venues operating under the guise of tourism, and battery-farm operations holding hundreds of tigers.
- Evidence shows that captive tigers and their body parts enter the legal and illegal trade, where they perpetuate the demand for tiger-based traditional medicines and decorative curios, primarily in China and Vietnam.
- A new study that investigates the motivations of consumers of “tiger bone glue” in Vietnam reveals that consumers prefer products from wild tigers and would carry on purchasing illegal wild products even if a legal farmed trade existed.
- The findings back up calls from conservationists and wildlife trade experts to phase out tiger farming entirely since it doesn’t alleviate pressure on wild tigers, and only encourages the consumption of tiger parts.

Kenya court orders return of $13m in seized rosewood to suspected traffickers
- In November, a Kenyan court ordered the release of 646 metric tons of Malagasy rosewood (Dalbergia spp.), worth up to $13 million, to a Hong Kong-based company from which it had been seized in 2014 by Kenyan authorities.
- Lawyers for the Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS), which filed a case against the consignment owners, argued that trade in rosewood was banned under CITES, the international wildlife trade convention; however, the judge in the case disagreed.
- Juan Carlos Vasquez, who heads the legal affairs unit of CITES, confirmed to Mongabay that Malagasy rosewood was listed in Appendix II of the international convention on June 12, 2013.
- Since trade in Malagasy rosewood is banned under CITES today, legally moving the wood out of Mombasa will be tricky for the defendants; conservationist Chris Morris says the company is using false documentation to ship the rosewood from Kenya to Taiwan.

Want a wild bird on the hush-hush in Singapore? There’s a Facebook group for that
- Singapore’s live bird trade is thriving on Facebook, where it is largely unlicensed, according to a new report from wildlife watchdog group TRAFFIC, which tracked 44 Singapore-based Facebook groups over five months.
- Researchers found hundreds of online sellers, most of them unlicensed and therefore acting illegally, and thousands of birds offered for sale, some of them smuggled from abroad or poached locally.
- Singapore’s efforts to target the illicit wildlife pet trade have so far focused on monitoring and enforcement actions at the trader level instead of imposing licensing requirements at the consumer level, the researchers said.
- They recommend implementing a compulsory wildlife-pet registration system, under which owners must prove they obtained their wildlife pets from licensed sources.

For Mekong officials fighting timber traffickers, a chance to level up
- Global wildlife trade authority CITES held a virtual workshop for customs agents and inspections officials in the Lower Mekong region of Southeast Asia on the physical inspection of timber shipments in October.
- The region’s forests are home to around 100 species of trees for which CITES restricts trade to protect their survival.
- But attendees also note that the ability to accurately identify tree species, as well as the knowledge to spot suspicious shipments, is low in the region.
- Improving that capacity will help to address illegal logging in the region, advocates say.

Wildlife trade hub Vietnam is also hub of impunity for traffickers, report says
- Only one in every seven wildlife seizures made in Vietnam in the past decade has resulted in convictions, a new report by the U.K.-based Environmental Investigation Agency has found.
- Low numbers of arrests and prosecutions highlight problems of weak enforcement and a lack of coordination between law enforcement agencies, the researchers said.
- Three-quarters of the shipments originated from African countries, they found, with numerous large-scale seizures indicating transnational organized crime.
- With pandemic-related restrictions easing, the worry is that the cross-border wildlife trade will come roaring back even as Vietnam struggles to follow up on investigations into past and current seizures.

Chinese special economic zones hotspots for wildlife trafficking, surveys say
- From 2019 to 2020, market surveys from wildlife trade watchdog TRAFFIC found close to 78,000 illegal wildlife parts and products on sale in more than 1,000 outlets across Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia.
- A significant part of this trade activity came from special economic zones established between local firms and Chinese companies, TRAFFIC revealed.
- Chinese tourist demand had been an important driver of illegal wildlife trade in the Lower Mekong region before the COVID-19 travel restrictions.
- While the pandemic has reduced trade activity, experts call for increased monitoring and investigations to dampen wildlife crime in the long term.

Wealth inequality fuels flow of wildlife from poor countries to rich: Study
- Wealthier countries are the biggest importers of wildlife, which, more often than not, originates from poorer countries, a new analysis of legal trade data from a global wildlife treaty found.
- The U.S., France, and Italy are the largest importers, while Indonesia, Jamaica and Honduras are the biggest wildlife exporters.
- More than 4 million wild-caught individuals from 12 animal groups were legally traded across international borders between 1998 and 2018.
- The current system places greater responsibility on exporting nations to ensure the legal trade is sustainable, the study authors say, arguing that importing countries should share this burden and also contribute more toward reducing the trade.

Nigeria emerges as Africa’s primary export hub for ivory, pangolin scales
- Increased political buy-in for law enforcement and interdiction efforts at ports in East Africa have pushed wildlife smuggling westward to Nigeria.
- Between 1998 and 2014, the top two countries associated with ivory seizures were Tanzania and Kenya. Since 2014, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo have overtaken them.
- Corruption at the ports, the involvement of influential politicians, and rural poverty make Nigeria an attractive waypoint for smugglers.

Pet trade relies on ‘disposable’ wild chameleons from Madagascar
- Despite being difficult to keep alive and healthy, chameleons are among the most popular reptiles in the exotic pet trade.
- Each year hundreds of thousands of these slow-moving reptiles are taken from the wild, both legally and illegally, many of them from threatened species living in the forests of Madagascar.
- Observers say the international trade in chameleons must be changed to avoid harming wild populations and improve the well-being of animals during transit and captivity.
- They also point to the need to make the trade fairer and more transparent, so local people can benefit from it.

Madagascar moves to reopen domestic trade in non-precious timber
- Madagascar eased a two-year-old restriction on the domestic sale of stockpiles of so-called ordinary wood — non-precious timber logged from natural forests. The government will not issue any new permits for commercial logging of ordinary wood and its export remains prohibited.
- The move in no way applies to precious timber such as rosewood and ebony, whose stocks remain illegal to log, sell or export. Nor does it apply to exotic species such as pine and eucalyptus.
- The government is currently developing a plan to use stockpiles of confiscated precious timber domestically, for example in the construction of public buildings and the production of handicrafts.
- Law enforcement weakness remains one of the biggest challenges for Malagasy forest management.

Tradable by default: Reptile trafficking flourishes amid lack of protection
- A new study found that only 9% of traded reptile species have some level of protection under CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, which could allow for the overexploitation of wild populations.
- It also found that about 90% of traded reptile species had at least some individuals originating from the wild rather than captivity, and that newly described species often appeared in the trade within a year of studies identifying these species were published.
- The authors of the study are advocating for a reversal in the CITES process to only allow the trade of certain species and ban the trade of all other species.

China still making pangolin-based treatments despite banning use of scales, report says
- A new report has found that medicines containing pangolin scales are still being produced and sold throughout China, despite a recent ban on pangolin scales from the official list of approved ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine.
- According to the report, 56 companies are actively producing and selling 64 medicines containing pangolin scales, and that an additional 165 companies and 713 hospitals have the authority to produce such medicines.
- The only legal way for pharmaceutical companies and hospitals to obtain pangolin scales is through government-registered stockpiles, but conservationists say these stockpiles are poorly regulated and allow for the possibility of illegal trade.

Stolen from the wild, rare reptiles and amphibians are freely traded in EU
- A new report illustrates that protected reptiles and amphibians are being illegally caught in their countries of origin, but then legally traded within the European Union due to a lack of internal trade barriers and controls.
- This is the third report in a series highlighting the trade of exotic pets within Europe; it shows that the trade is continuing, and has even become more extensive.
- Traders are particularly interested in rare, endemic reptiles and amphibians, and will refer to scientific papers to locate newly identified species, the report says.
- The report authors recommend that the EU adopt new legislation similar to the Lacey Act in the U.S., which prohibits the trade of species that are protected in foreign countries.

Mercury with that? Shark fins served with illegal doses of heavy metals
- A new study has found that most processed shark fins have mercury and methyl-mercury levels five to 10 times higher than the legal maximum amount of 0.5 parts per million, as specified by the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) in Hong Kong.
- The research team tested shark fins from nine of the most common species used in shark fin soup, including blue sharks, silky sharks and great hammerheads.
- While little is known about the impacts of mercury on sharks themselves, humans can suffer serious health problems when they consume mercury-rich foods over a long period of time.
- The research team say they hope the Hong Kong government will begin its own testing processes and generate accurate warnings about the mercury levels in shark fins.

Less than a thousand remain: New list of animals on the brink of extinction
- More than 500 vertebrate species are on the brink of extinction, with populations of fewer than a thousand individuals, a new study says.
- According to the authors, the Earth is experiencing its sixth mass extinction, extinction rates accelerating, and human activity is to blame.
- The authors call the ongoing extinction perhaps “the most serious environmental threat to the persistence of civilization, because it is irreversible.”
- “The conservation of endangered species should be elevated to a national and global emergency for governments and institutions, equal to climate disruption to which it is linked,” they say.

Prized as pets, are ball pythons being traded out of wild existence?
- The ball python is the most commonly traded African species under CITES, with more than 3 million of these reptiles exported since 1975, mainly from Togo, Ghana and Benin.
- Listed under CITES Appendix II, ball pythons can be legally traded, but exporters require special permits and need to meet certain welfare requirements.
- Some experts say that wild ball python populations are in rapid decline, and that the trade needs to be better regulated or completely stopped; others say that ball pythons are not currently threatened, and that the trade can be maintained with the proper management and captive breeding programs.
- There is a growing body of evidence purporting that reptiles are sentient beings capable of emotions, and animal welfare advocates believe this is more reason to stop the trade.

As COVID-19 pandemic deepens, global wildlife treaty faces an identity crisis
- The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is a global environmental agreement of great consequence: it regulates the global trade in some of the most threatened species on Earth.
- While many conservation groups jumped at the chance the COVID-19 pandemic offered to highlight the link between pandemics and wildlife exploitation, the CITES Secretariat appeared to distance itself from the crisis, drawing criticism and scrutiny.
- The treaty, one of the few binding environmental conventions, should be part of the solution, many believe, but it would need to expanded and strengthened to respond to new challenges like COVID-19.
- Doing this and tackling larger issues of biodiversity and habitat loss would require leadership from the countries that are party to this and similar conventions, experts say.

Chinese boat that dumped Indonesian crews at sea was also shark-finning: Reports
- A Chinese fishing company under scrutiny for the deadly labor abuses of its Indonesian boat crews was likely also engaged in illegal fishing, conservationists say.
- Jakarta has demanded answers for the slavery-like conditions under which the crew members worked on board a tuna boat belonging to the Dalian Ocean Fishing Co. Ltd.
- Four of the crew members died of illness, with three of them dumped at sea; photos provided by the surviving crew indicate the boat was engaged in the illegal finning of threatened shark species.
- “[Illegal] fishing and modern slavery practices at sea are two sides of the same coin,” said Greenpeace Indonesia oceans campaigner Arifsyah Nasution.

Authorities seize record 26 tons of illegal shark fins in Hong Kong
- Hong Kong customs officials have discovered a shipment of 26 tons of shark fins from CITES-protected species, the largest of its kind ever to be seized in the region.
- Officials identified the fins as belonging to 31,000 thresher sharks and 7,500 silky sharks, which are both listed as vulnerable species by the IUCN.
- Conservationists are concerned by the large volume of thresher and silky sharks in this consignment, especially as these species are slow to reproduce in the wild.
- More than 73 million sharks enter the global shark fin trade each year, primarily to make a luxury food item called shark fin soup, although conservationists believe the demand for this soup is waning in China and Hong Kong.

Can a national management plan halt Madagascar’s shark decline?
- Sharks once were plentiful in Madagascar’s waters, but a spike in demand for shark fins dating to the 1980s has led to heavy exploitation and a reduction in the fishes’ abundance and size.
- Madagascar has no national laws that specifically protect sharks. In June, though, the country released a new national plan for the sustainable management of sharks and rays.
- The plan calls for a shark trade surveillance program, a crackdown on illegal industrial fishing, more “no-take” zones, and a concerted effort to collect better data.
- Conservationists welcomed the plan as an important step — provided the country can enforce its provisions.

EU market a factor as Sri Lanka pulls its punches on protection for lizards
- Conservationists say they suspect Sri Lanka came under pressure from the European Union to water down its proposals for increased protection for several rare and endemic lizards from the international pet trade.
- Sri Lanka had proposed the measures to protect 10 lizard species ahead of the CITES wildlife trade summit in August, but at the last moment amended some of the proposals and withdrew one.
- Europe is already a major marketplace for exotic lizards smuggled out of Sri Lanka, where specimens identified as having been bred in captivity are more likely to have been caught in the wild, experts say.
- They warn that the protections afforded to the Sri Lankan lizards following the CITES summit could leave them susceptible to this trafficking mechanism.

Cheetahs, CITES, and illegal trade: Are consumer countries doing enough? (commentary)
- The capacity of CITES to fairly balance the voices of countries that harbor source populations of endangered species subject to international trafficking with the voices of consumer countries is vital.
- Cheetahs are a case in point: Confined to less than 10 percent of their former distributional range with only 7,000 individuals left, the species is facing a significant threat from illegal trade in parts of its range. A demand for live animals as pets, primarily as cubs, is fueled by social media that glamorizes the keeping of these animals, with the Gulf States identified as a key market for this trade. All international trade in wild-caught cheetah cubs violates CITES and is illegal, and the trade in cubs is thought to be a key driver of decline in the cheetah population in the Horn of Africa.
- Yet at the recent CITES CoP, countries chose to ignore these threats and downgraded efforts to combat illegal trade in cheetahs despite concerns raised by many African range states and conservation organizations.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Asian otters gain protection from the pet trade
- The smooth-coated otter and the Asian small-clawed otter are now on the CITES list of animals with the highest level of protection from the wildlife trade.
- Asian small-clawed otters are particularly sought after as domestic pets and for ‘otter cafés,’ where wild otters are forced to interact with paying customers.
- Conservationists say that a trade ban was vital for the survival of the two species, whose numbers in the wild have fallen by at least 30% in the past 30 years.

Sri Lanka scales up its domestic campaign to protect sharks with a global push
- With the killing of sharks and rays on the rise, Sri Lanka played a lead role in pushing three proposals to extend global protection to 18 species at the recently concluded CITES wildlife trade summit in Geneva.
- Sixty-three sharks and 42 ray species are found in Sri Lankan waters, and are threatened by overexploitation driven by an ever-increasing demand for sharks fins, meat, and liver oil.
- While five species of sharks currently enjoy legal protection against the species trade in Sri Lanka, conservationists see an urgent need to extend protection to all reef sharks and other endangered shark and ray species.

Madagascar no longer insisting on selling its seized rosewood, for now
- Madagascar has withdrawn its demand to be allowed to sell illegally harvested rosewood timber that it had previously seized.
- The move aligns Madagascar’s position more closely with that of the international community, which wants the country to crack down on the illegal logging and timber trade before a relaxation or lifting of the ban is even considered.
- However, the government hasn’t ruled out seeking permission for a sale in the future, raising concern among observers about the message this could send to illegal traders and to other countries also seeking to offload stockpiles of trafficked contraband.

With record support, rhino rays and world’s fastest sharks get new trade protections
- Governments from around the world have voted to strictly regulate the international trade in two species of mako sharks, six giant guitarfish species, and 10 species of wedgefish — sharks and rays that have been declining rapidly in recent years.
- All 18 species have now been formally approved for listing on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which mandates that countries track their exports of the listed sharks and rays, and show that fishing them will not threaten their long-term survival in the wild.
- With majority of the global trade in sharks and rays and their products, especially shark fins and meat, being unregulated, conservation groups and researchers have welcomed this decision.
- The three shark and ray proposals received the highest number of co-sponsors in the history of CITES convention with 61 countries supporting at least one of the three proposals.

Giraffe trade to be monitored, strictly regulated
- Until recently, there weren’t any international regulations governing the trade in giraffes and their body parts.
- On Aug. 22, countries voted to list the giraffe under Appendix II of CITES, which would tighten the monitoring and regulation of the giraffe trade.
- Giraffe numbers have fallen by 40 percent over the past 30 years.

Discovery of a metallic-blue tarantula bolsters case for trade protection
- A shiny, metallic-blue tarantula is Sri Lanka’s latest addition to the Indian Ocean island’s list of spiders, a new study reveals.
- The discovery comes as a global summit on wildlife trade takes place in Geneva, where Sri Lanka is calling for enhanced protection of tarantulas from the exotic pet trade.
- Researchers identify habitat loss and the pet trade as the biggest threats to tarantulas in the wild, and call for strict enforcement of laws against smuggling of species.

CITES 2019: What’s Conservation Got To Do With It? (commentary)
- From August 17-28, the global community convenes in Geneva for the meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
- Species whose very future on this planet will be debated include the African elephant, Southern white rhino, giraffe, tiger, jaguar, cheetah, and mako shark.
- Susan Lieberman, Vice President for International Policy at WCS, argues governments must not let their decisions be swayed by the pressures of those more interested in trade than conservation.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Bid for greater protection of star tortoise, a trafficking mainstay
- The illegal trafficking of the Indian star tortoise, an IUCN-listed vulnerable species, is thriving despite its trade being restricted under CITES Appendix II and domestic legislation in all three range states.
- To fight this, range states Sri Lanka and India, along with other countries, have submitted a proposal for the upcoming CITES summit to move the star tortoise from Appendix II to Appendix I.
- The CITES Secretariat has recommended rejecting the proposal, saying that adding the star tortoise to Appendix I provides no clear benefit for its protection, but proponents say the alarming scale of the trade should be reason enough, and hope to convince the CITES parties of the value of uplisting the tortoise.

Campaigners push for reform of outdated CITES wildlife trade system
- CITES, the international treaty that regulates the trade in wildlife products, dates back to 1975, but some of the systems it uses have not changed in that time.
- Campaigners say this lack of modernization has allowed the illegal wildlife trade to proliferate to the tune of more than $250 billion a year.
- Better regulation would reduce the scale of the illegal wildlife trade and ensure legal commerce is truly sustainable, they say.

Sri Lanka pushes for protection of sea cucumbers amid overexploitation
- With fewer species of sea cucumbers being recorded in catches, Sri Lanka stands to benefit from a proposal that is calling for increased protection of threatened species under CITES Appendix II.
- Experts say there’s good precedent for believing that the listing will raise awareness and spur action to protect the sea cucumbers, citing the example of various shark species that received greater attention after being listed.

We are planting trees everywhere: Q&A with Madagascar’s environment minister
- Alexandre Georget, a founder of Madagascar’s first green party in 2008, is the country’s new environment minister.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Georget discussed the government’s reforestation plans and outlined how he expected to approach its 2019 goal of reforesting 40,000 hectares.
- He also described the government’s new position on the sale of confiscated illegally harvested precious timber, in advance of the upcoming CITES meeting in August.

Sri Lanka, in bid for species protection, is stymied by lack of data (commentary)
- Sri Lanka was supposed to host the 18th Conference of the Parties to CITES in May 2019, but the event has been rescheduled for Geneva in August due to security concerns after the Easter Sunday bombings.
- Sri Lanka is involved in nine proposals concerning 43 species, the most for a single party at the upcoming CoP. Six of the proposals concern species of reptiles and spiders endemic to Sri Lanka or South Asia, and the other three concern species of saltwater fish.
- The CITES Secretariat has recommended rejecting four of Sri Lanka’s proposals and adopting five, highlighting how lack of data is hampering conservation efforts in the country.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

CITES to move wildlife trade summit from Colombo to Geneva this August
- An international summit on the global wildlife trade will be moved from Sri Lanka to Switzerland, following a lengthy delay sparked by terrorist bombings in the South Asian country during Easter services in April.
- The 18th Meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP18) of CITES was originally scheduled to run May 23 to June 3 in Colombo, but will now take place in Geneva from Aug. 17 to 28.
- The CITES announcement follows a comprehensive U.N. security assessment that concluded on May 31.
- There was pressure to get the summit going with minimal delay, given the number of conservation programs and activities dependent on the outcome of the meeting, for which delegates had proposed increased trade protections for a host of plant and animal species.

Conservationists call for lasting ban on trade in Malagasy precious timber
- Precious rosewood and ebony has been plundered from Madagascar’s forests for decades, threatening the survival of these hardwood tree species.
- Recent regulations have led to the Madagascar government accumulating a stockpile of the illegal precious wood, whose fate remains undecided.
- A new paper calls for species in two genera, Dalbergia and Diospyros, to be placed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an international treaty regulating trade in threatened species.
- The move would ban all trade in the precious wood and thwart an attempt by the government to legalize and sell off the existing stockpile.

Singapore acquits trader in world’s biggest rosewood bust, worth $50m
- On April 8, Singapore’s highest court acquitted a businessman who brought Malagasy rosewood valued at $50 million into the city-state in 2014, one of the largest wildlife seizures in the history of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES).
- The move reversed the ruling of a lower court that had sentenced the businessman to jail time and imposed $1 million in fines for importing protected wildlife.
- The court ordered Singapore authorities to return the rosewood to the businessman and his firm “as soon as practicable.”
- Environmental groups have been looking on anxiously as the case wound its way through Singapore’s courts for nearly five years, only to be disappointed by the final verdict.

Sri Lanka to put its biodiversity in the spotlight at global trade summit
- Sri Lanka hosts the latest CITES conference this May, where member states will consider proposals for protections for a wide range of species.
- The host country has proposed several endemic lizard species for inclusion in CITES Appendix I, including the Knuckles pygmy lizard (Cophotis dumbara), a critically endangered species.
- Organizers also hope to use the conference to highlight wildlife tourism in Sri Lanka, a key contributor to the island’s economy.

Corruption-riddled caviar trade pushes fish closer to extinction
- TRAFFIC, WWF and several other organizations and institutions have published a report demonstrating that corruption drives the illegal trade of caviar around the world.
- Many of the species of fish, including those that produce the highest-priced caviar, are critically endangered.
- The report’s authors surfaced evidence of bribery, conflicts of interest, poaching and improper labeling in the industry, all of which are putting further pressure on the resource.

CITES rejects another Madagascar plan to sell illegal rosewood stockpiles
- At a meeting in Sochi, Russia, earlier this month, CITES’s standing committee rejected Madagascar’s latest plan to sell off its stockpiles of illegally harvested rosewood, largely because the plan called for local timber barons to be paid for their troves of wood.
- Environmental groups argued that operators who logged illegally should not be rewarded for it, and delegations from several African countries reportedly opposed the plan because they feared their own timber barons would learn the wrong lesson from the deal.
- Madagascar’s environment ministry released a statement after the meeting indicating that it would take the recommendations made by the CITES committee into account in revising the plan for submission again in 2019.

Int’l protections not stopping pangolin overexploitation in Cameroon
- A recent report indicates that the 2016 listing of pangolins under CITES Appendix I, outlawing their international trade, is not translating into protections for the anteater-like animal at the local level in Central Africa.
- The study used data gathered from an investigation in Cameroon.
- Pangolins are considered the world’s “most illegally traded wild mammal” by the IUCN, and scientific research in 2017 found that between 420,000 and 2.71 million pangolins are hunted from Central African forests each year.

Madagascar proposes paying illegal loggers to audit or buy their rosewood
- In June, the World Bank facilitated a workshop to discuss what Madagascar should do with its stockpiles of illegally logged rosewood.
- Madagascar has been grappling with the question for years, but has been unable to make a proper inventory of the stockpiled wood or control illegal exports.
- The rosewood could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars on the international market, but the country cannot sell it until it shows progress in enforcing its own environmental laws.
- At the workshop, Madagascar’s government proposed a radical solution: paying loggers for access to their illicit stockpiles in order to keep tabs on the wood, or even buying the wood back from them directly.

Madagascar: Yet another anti-trafficking activist convicted
- Christopher Magnenjika, an activist working to stem corruption and wildlife trafficking in northeastern Madagascar, was tried, convicted, fined $9 and released earlier this month.
- The charges against Magnenjika include “rebellion” and insulting local officials.
- Magnenjika’s supporters say his arrest and conviction were a pretext for keeping him quiet about the illicit trade in rosewood, a valuable tropical hardwood.
- Magnenjika is one of at least ten Malagasy activists who have faced imprisonment in recent years.

Jaguar numbers rising at field sites, WCS says
- WCS reports that jaguar numbers have risen by almost 8 percent a year between 2002 and 2016 at study sites in Central and South America.
- The sites cover around 400,000 square kilometers (154,440 square miles) of jaguar habitat.
- Despite the promising findings, WCS scientists caution that habitat destruction, hunting in response to livestock killings, and poaching for their body parts remain critical threats to jaguars.

Films celebrate big cats on World Wildlife Day
- Big cats is the theme of the global celebration of this year’s World Wildlife Day on March 3.
- A big cats film festival hosted by CITES and Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival at the UN headquarters in New York City will screen 16 films selected as finalists.
- Big cats are key apex predators that keep ecosystems healthy, and eight species are being celebrated for the event: the clouded leopard, jaguar, cheetah, leopard, lion, snow leopard, tiger and puma.

Robbery or retribution? Police investigate death of prominent conservationist in Kenya
- Esmond Bradley Martin, a 76-year-old American, was found stabbed to death in the home he shared with his wife in a suburb of Nairobi, Kenya, on Sunday.
- Martin had been working in Africa and around the world since the 1970s to stop the slaughter of rhinos and elephants for their horns and tusks.
- Colleagues credit Martin with increasing the conservation community’s understanding of the trade of wildlife parts through his often-undercover investigations.

CITES rejects Madagascar’s bid to sell rosewood and ebony stockpiles
- The standing committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) had its annual meeting in Geneva November 27 through December 1.
- The committee rejected Madagascar’s petition to sell its stockpiles of seized rosewood and ebony that had been illegally cut from the country’s rainforests.
- CITES delegates agreed that while a future sale of the stockpiles might be possible, Madagascar was not yet ready for such a risky undertaking, which could allow newly chopped logs to be laundered and traded overseas.
- Other notable outcomes of the CITES meeting dealt with the sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis), pangolins, and the critically endangered vaquita porpoise (Phocoena sinus).

The curious case of the phantom hippo teeth
- Hippo ivory is an affordable alternative to elephant ivory, whose international trade is prohibited by many countries.
- The reported export and import numbers of legal wildlife trade in the CITES database are dramatically mismatched for some species, including the numbers for hippo teeth.
- An updated population estimate for hippos could indicate how much illegal poaching for their ivory is threatening them.

Audio: Dr. Jane Goodall on being proven right about animals having personalities, plus updates direct from COP23
- On today’s episode, we speak with the legendary Jane Goodall, who truly needs no introduction, and will have a direct report from the United Nations’ climate talks happening now in Bonn, Germany.
- Just before Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Butler was scheduled to speak with Goodall recently, research came out that vindicated her contention, which she’s held for nearly 60 years, that animals have personalities just like people. So we decided to record her thoughts about that for the Mongabay Newscast.
- Our second guest today is Mongabay contributor and Wake Forest University journalism professor Justin Catanoso, who appears on the podcast direct from COP23 to tell us how the UN climate talks are going in Bonn, Germany, what the mood is like amongst delegates, and how the US delegation is factoring into the talks as the Trump Administration continues to pursue a pullout from the Paris Climate Agreement.

Madagascar petitions CITES to sell millions in stolen rosewood
- The Madagascar government has petitioned wildlife regulators under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) for permission to sell its stockpiles of seized rainforest wood.
- Some campaigners warn that traffickers stand to benefit from any such sale and fear it could herald a “logging boom” in the country’s remaining rainforests.
- The CITES committee will consider the proposal at the end of this month.

Logjam: Inside Madagascar’s illegal-rosewood stockpiles
- Over the past six years, Madagascar has spent millions of dollars and devoted countless person hours to figuring out how to dispose of vast stockpiles of highly valuable, illegally logged rosewood, much of it cut from the country’s rainforests following a 2009 coup.
- To do so, the government must conduct a comprehensive inventory of the stockpiles, among other requirements issued by CITES. The World Bank has supported the effort with at least $3 million to $4 million in murky ad hoc loans.
- The current state of affairs, with untold thousands of rosewood logs still unaccounted for, and tens of thousands more stacked outside government offices, is widely seen as facilitating continued corruption and illicit activity.
- This is the sixth story in Mongabay’s multi-part series “Conservation in Madagascar.”

Another Madagascar environmental activist imprisoned
- Malagasy authorities have held Raleva, a 61-year-old farmer, in custody since September 27 after he asked to see a mining company’s permits to operate near his village.
- His arrest is at least the sixth such case of authorities targeting those opposed to wildlife trafficking or land grabs.
- Environmental activists say they face bribes and threats from traffickers on one side, and jail time and fines from the government on the other.

U.K. is the world’s biggest exporter of legal ivory, data analysis shows
- The United Kingdom legally exported more than 36,000 pieces of ivory between 2010 and 2015, 370 percent more than the United States, the next biggest exporter.
- Over the same time period, the U.K. has been the major supplier for markets in China and Hong Kong.
- EIA and other environmental groups fear that the trade of legal ivory encourages the continued poaching of elephants by perpetuating demand and masking the trade of illegally harvested ivory.

Pangolin hunting skyrockets in Central Africa, driven by international trade
- The study pulled together information on markets, prices and hunting methods for pangolins from research in 14 countries in Africa.
- Pangolins are hunted for their meat in some African countries, and their scales are used in traditional medicine, both locally and in several Asian countries, including China.
- The researchers found that as many as 2.71 million pangolins from three species are killed every year across six Central African countries – at least a 145 percent increase since before 2000.
- They recommend better enforcement of the 2016 CITES ban across the entire supply chain, from Africa to Asia.

Vaquita survival hinges on stopping international swim bladder trade
- Recent investigations by the Elephant Action League and WWF have uncovered the complicated trade in fish swim bladders from the Gulf of California that is pushing a porpoise known as the vaquita toward extinction.
- A two-year-old gillnet ban so far has not yet stemmed the declining numbers of vaquita, which are down 50 percent since 2015 and 90 percent since 2011.
- Not more than 30 vaquita remain in the wild, making it the most endangered cetacean on the planet.
- The swim bladders can sell for as much as $20,000 per kilogram.

Kenya cracks down on illegal trade in rare and venomous vipers
- Early this year Kenyan authorities placed tight new restrictions on the trade and export of several snake species, including the Kenya horned viper (Bitis worthingtoni) and the Mt. Kenya Bush Viper (Atheris desaixi).
- The two snake species are regularly trafficked abroad for the pet trade as well as for luxury food and medical reseach.
- Authorities say criminal networks regularly bribe officials and are investigating whether politicians may be involved in the trade.
- Nevertheless, the Kenyan government appears to be taking a hard line against viper traffic, cracking down on smugglers and ramping up international cooperation to fight viper traffic.

Anti-trafficking activist held without trial in Madagascar
- Clovis Razafimalala has been working to end rosewood trafficking in Madagascar since 2009.
- He has been imprisoned since September on charges of unauthorized rebellion and burning state files and property during a protest he maintains he did not participate in.
- No trial date has been announced, although one is supposed to be set by May 26.
- Activists say his case raises concern for the civil rights of Malagasy environmental activists.

Singapore convicts rosewood trader in historic CITES seizure
- Late last month a high court in Singapore found Wong Wee Keong guilty of importing rosewood from Madagascar in 2014 in violation of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES).
- Environmental groups are heralding the ruling, which reversed the decision of a lower court and sidestepped conflicting claims about the legality of the shipment by Malagasy authorities.
- The outsized shipment to Singapore was larger than all of the other seizures of rosewood in the world, combined, over the past decade.

Missing data puts thousands of illegally traded wild animals at risk
- Between 2010 and 2014, more than 64,000 live wild animals belonging to 359 species were seized by authorities.
- But only 54 countries party to the CITES reported seizures, researchers found, while 128 countries did not report any illegal wildlife trade, suggesting that the records represent only a fraction of the actual animals being illegally traded.
- Moreover, it is not obligatory for CITES parties to formally record information regarding the disposal of confiscated live wild animals, so the fate of most confiscated animals remains unknown.

Amid rhinoceros poaching frenzy, dark days for South African society

A white rhinoceros rests in Kruger National Park, South Africa, the epicenter of a spate of rhino poaching. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler. Two adult rhinos and a calf lie under a tree 50 meters off the road. It’s a nice sighting for me in the midday heat of Kruger National Park in South Africa […]
Fracas over Costa Rican shark-fin exports leads American Airlines to stop shipping fins

Shipments of hammerhead shark fins were approved by the Costa Rican government in violation of an international treaty, conservation groups allege. A school of hammerhead sharks swim near the Galapagos Islands. Costa Rica has been exporting two species of hammerheads whose trade is limited under Appendix II of CITES. Photo: Alex Hearn. On December 24, […]
Why are great apes treated like second-class species by CITES?

CITES has responded to this commentary, refuting certain points: Information on CITES and great apes, including on the outcomes of Standing Committee 65, can be found on the CITES website. The author found baby chimpanzees offered for sale on Facebook as pets for children. The seller, a woman in Cameroon, promised to provide all necessary […]
Sold into extinction: great apes betrayed by protectors

In what appears to be corruption in high places, the international body charged with protecting endangered species has turned a blind eye to massive illegal trade of endangered Great Apes. This was my distinct impression on reading the Great Apes report prepared by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Secretariat for the […]
Hong Kong begins destroying 131,000 pounds of elephant ivory

Elephant in South Africa. Hong Kong has begun destroying its 29.6-metric-ton stockpile of confiscated ivory. On Thursday authorities in the semi-autonomous Chinese city crushed and incinerated a ton of seized ivory in an action they hope will send a message to poachers and traffickers. “Today is not a celebration, but a solemn reminder of the […]
Top 10 HAPPY environmental stories of 2013

Also see our Top 10 Environmental Stories of 2013. The discovery of a new tapir species is number seven in our first ever Top 10 List of Happy Environmental Stories. Pictured here is a pair of Kobomani tapirs caught on camera trap. The individual on the left is a female and on the right a […]
Manta ray tourism worth 28 times more than killing them for Traditional Chinese Medicine

A new study in the open access journal PLoS ONE estimates that manta rays are worth $140 million a year in tourism across 23 countries, significantly outweighing the worth of manta ray gill plates, which have become the newest craze in Traditional Chinese Medicine. “As an example in Indonesia, revenue to fishermen from manta gill […]
Infamous elephant poacher turns cannibal in the Congo

Early on a Sunday morning last summer, the villagers of Epulu awoke to the sounds of shots and screaming. In the eastern reaches of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, that can often mean another round of violence and ethnic murder is under way. In this case, however, something even more horrific was afoot. The […]
Elephant woes: conservationists mixed on elephant actions at CITES

Eleventh century horn made of ivory in Louvre. Today ivory is often used to make religious items for Catholics and Buddhists, among other decorative luxury-goods. To get ivory, poachers shoot elephants and then cut off their tusks, sometimes with chainsaws and sometimes while still alive. Conservationists couldn’t agree if the glass was half-full or half-empty […]
Dozens of tropical trees awarded new protections at CITES

Numerous species of rosewood and ebony from Madagascar, Latin America, and Southeast Asia were granted protection today at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Bangkok, Thailand. The ruling comes one day after CITES granted the first protections ever to sharks and manta rays. “Yesterday sharks, today timber: we appear to be […]
Prayers for dying elephants: Buddhists hold prayer ceremony for elephants decimated by poachers

A monk at Wat That Thong temple in Bangkok During a Buddhist merit-making ceremony to pray for the tens of thousands of elephants poached annually. Photo by: © WWF Thailand. Buddhist leaders prayed for slaughtered African elephants in Bangkok, Thailand last week, reports WWF. During a special merit-making ceremony, often reserved for the recently deceased, […]
Sharks and rays win protections at CITES

The scalloped hammerhead shark is one of five sharks and two manta rays that won protection today at CITES, so long as it isn’t overturned. Photo by: Stacy Jupiter/WCS. Today, for the first time, sharks and rays have won the vote for better protection under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), the […]
Seeing the forest through the elephants: slaughtered elephants taking rainforest trees with them

Forest elephants in the Mbeli River, Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, Congo. Photo by: Thomas Breuer. Elephants are vanishing. The booming illegal ivory trade is decimating the world’s largest land animal, but no place has been harder hit than the Congo basin and its forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis). The numbers are staggering: a single park in Gabon, […]
Turtles win greater protection at CITES meeting

Dozens of freshwater turtle and tortoise species won greater protection under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), reports the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Several U.S.-led proposals to restrict trade in 44 Asian turtle and tortoise species and three North American pond turtle species were today adopted […]
Conservationists: ban the wild cheetah pet trade

A group of prominent wildlife conservation groups have joined an alliance of African states in calling on CITES to ban the trade in wild cheetah for the pet trade. The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Zoological Society of London (ZSL), and Endangered Wildlife Trust have joined delegates from Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda in demanding action. CITES […]
What happened to the elephants of Bouba Ndjida? [warning: graphic photos]

‘And also, they were alive when the poachers started to cut off their faces’—Celine Sissler-Bienvenu. Poached elephant on its knees with another lying dead behind it. Last year poachers killed an estimated 650 elephants in Cameroon’s Bouba Ndjida National Park. Photo courtesy of IFAW. A new report released by the Wildlife Conservation Society says that […]
Has shark fin consumption peaked at 100M dead sharks per year?

Scalloped hammerheads (Sphyrna lewini) off Cocos Island, Costa Rica. This species is up for protection by CITES this month if nations votes in its favor. Photo by: Barry Peters. While a new study warns that up to 100M sharks are killed annually, there are signs out of China that demand for shark fin may be […]
62% of all Africa’s forest elephants killed in 10 years (warning: graphic images)

Forest elephant in Gabon More than 60 percent of Africa’s forest elephants have been killed in the past decade due to the ivory trade, reports a new study published in the online journal PLOS ONE. The study warns that the diminutive elephant species — genetically distinct from the better-known savanna elephant — is rapidly heading […]
CITES 40th Anniversary: Reflections of CITES Secretary-General John Scanlon

Part 3 of 3PART 1: Overview of the CITES 16th Conference of Parties in Bangkok | PART 2: Elephant and Rhino issues to be debated This interview is an excerpt from The WildLife with Laurel Neme, a program that explores the mysteries of the animal world through interviews with scientists and other wildlife investigators. “The […]
Thailand’s Prime Minister commits to ending ivory trade

Forest elephants in the Mbeli River, Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, Congo. Photo by: Thomas Breuer. Yesterday, Thailand’s Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, committed to ending the ivory trade in her country. Her announcement came during the opening of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Bangkok, which seeks to […]
Elephant and Rhino issues to be debated at CITES 16th Conference of Parties

Part 2 of 3PART 1: Overview | PART 2: Reflections of CITES Secretary-General John Scanlon This interview is an excerpt from The WildLife with Laurel Neme, a program that explores the mysteries of the animal world through interviews with scientists and other wildlife investigators. “The WildLife” airs every Monday from 1-2 pm EST on WOMM-LP, […]
Overview of the CITES 16th Conference of Parties in Bangkok

Part 1 of 3PART 2: Elephant and Rhino issues to be debated at CITES 16th Conference of Parties This interview is an excerpt from The WildLife with Laurel Neme, a program that explores the mysteries of the animal world through interviews with scientists and other wildlife investigators. “The WildLife” airs every Monday from 1-2 pm […]
Sri Lanka to give poached ivory to Buddhist temple, flouting international agreements

The Sri Dalada Maligawa Buddhist Temple, which may soon receive 359 elephant tusks. The Sri Lankan government is planning to give 359 elephant tusks to a Buddhist temple, a move that critics say is flouting the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The illegal tusks were seized in Sri Lanka last May en […]
Indonesia remains epicenter for illegal wildlife trade in reptiles and amphibians

Illegally traded lizards (left to right): black tree monitor (Varanus beccarii), Reisinger’s tree monitor (Varanus reisingeri), emerald monitor (Varanus prasinus), and the blue-spotted tree monitor (Varanus macraei). Photo courtesy of Jessica Lyons. Demand for exotic pets is driving the illegal harvest and trade of herpetofauna (reptiles and amphibians) in Indonesian New Guinea, according to a […]
Wildlife trade bans may be worsening trafficking of some species, argues paper

Malayan tiger. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. While founded with good intentions, wildlife trade bans may in some cases be worsening the plight of some endangered species, argues a commentary published in the journal Tropical Conservation Science. Looking at three animals listed under the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna […]
Solomon Islands’ export of ‘captive-bred’ birds deemed to be a farce

Over 68,000 birds listed on CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) were exported from the Solomon Islands during 2000-2010 according to a recent report by wildlife-monitoring NGO, TRAFFIC. Although the majority of birds were listed as ‘captive-bred,’ the report raises the question of whether these species were not […]
Blood rosewood: Thailand and Cambodia team up to tackle illegal logging crisis and save lives

Cambodian and Thai officials have agreed to work together to combat illegal logging of rosewood and resulting violence between Cambodian loggers and Thai rangers, reports MCOT online news. Officials with both nations met on Tuesday and spent three hours discussing the issue. Commercial logging was banned in Thailand following devastating floods in 1989. However, the […]
U.S. gobbling illegal wood from Peru’s Amazon rainforest

Logged wood off the Ucayali River in Peru. Photo by Toby Smith/EIA. The next time you buy wood, you may want to make sure it’s not from Peru. According to an in-depth new report by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), the illegal logging trade is booming in the Peruvian Amazon and much of the wood […]
Banning ivory sales to China could save elephants

Ivory stored in Malawi. Photo by: EIA. Although the international ivory trade has been banned since 1989, last year was the worst ever for elephant poaching, and this year has begun little better as reports come out of Cameroon of hundreds of elephants slaughtered in a single park. What went wrong? According to a new […]
After illegal logging allegations, certifier lodges complaint against paper giant APP

Rainforest in Sumatra. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Less than a week after Greenpeace released evidence that protected tree species were being illegally logged and pulped at an Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) mill in Sumatra, a major certifier, the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), has lodged a complaint and asked for […]
Cute baby animal photos of the day: baby pot-bellied seahorses

Pot-bellied seahorse: adult and baby. Babies, or fry, are brown black but turn yellow over time. Photo by: Julie Larsen Maher. The Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) New York Aquarium has recently celebrated the arrival of “fry” (baby) pot-bellied seahorses (Hippocampus abdominalis). Found in the seas surrounding Australia, the pot-bellied seahorse is protected under CITES (Convention […]
Investigation links APP to illegal logging of protected trees

Sumatra rainforest canopy seen from the base of a compass tree . Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. UPDATE: Greenpeace has stated that it has handed over evidence of illegal logging by APP suppliers to Indonesian police; an investigation looks likely. A year-long undercover investigation has found evidence of Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) companies cutting […]
NGO: Thailand must list rosewood under CITES

In order to save its remaining forests, Thailand must list rosewood under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) this year, according to a new report from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Illegal logging and smuggling of rosewood is being driven by increasing demand in China for rosewood, which is used to produce […]
Madagascar asks CITES to regulate rosewood and ebony

Following a logging crisis in 2009 where a number of Madagascar’s remaining forests were illegally cut, the African nation has turned to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to help regulate 91 species of rosewood and ebony. “Regulating trade in these high-value timber species under CITES will […]
Tough sentence for ivory smuggler may spell way forward in elephant poaching crisis

Forest elephant in Gabon. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. The Republic of the Congo sentenced an ivory smuggler to an unprecedented four years in prison, proving the government’s rising willingness to crack down on poachers. The wildlife trade has been decimating elephant populations in the Congo, while a recent report from the Wildlife Conservation Society […]
Conservation groups kicked out of CITES debate on elephants

The Standing Committee of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) tossed conservations NGOs out of the room during a debate on the rise in elephant poaching for illegal ivory. A vote of seven to six sent conservation groups making up the Species Survival Network (SSN) packing, however the […]
China opens trade in ‘legal’ tiger skins

Wild cat furs on sale in market in China, 2006. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has warned the US, the UK, and all tiger-range nations that China has re-opened the trade in wild cat skins—including tigers—ahead of a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meeting this week in […]
The glass is half-full: conservation has made a difference

Focused conservation efforts, including reintroduction of captive individuals into the wild, have saved the golden lion tamarin from extinction. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Don’t despair: that’s the message of a new paper in Trends in Ecology and Evolution, which argues that decades of conservation actions at multiple scales have had a positive impact for […]
A message to poachers: Kenya burns elephant ivory stockpile

Elepahnts in Botswana. Photo by: Tiffany Roufs. Yesterday the president of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki, sent a fiery signal to illegal wildlife traffickers worldwide. Kibaki lit up five tons of elephant ivory, worth $16 million on the black market, to show the continent’s resolve to undercut illegal poaching. This was the second time Kenya has set […]
Endangered Madagascar wildlife on sale in Thailand

This male Panther Chameleon, originating from Nosy Mangabe, Madagascar, was observed at a dealer’s house in Saraburi city, Thailand, January 2010. © M Todd/TRAFFIC. Conservation group TRAFFIC uncovered nearly 600 Madagascar reptiles and amphibians on sale in Thai markets, including endangered species and those banned for sale by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered […]
Bear bile trade, both legal and illegal, ubiquitous in Asia

Surveying 13 nations and territories in Asia, the wildlife trade organization TRAFFIC found that the bear bile trade remains practically ubiquitous in the region. In many cases the trade, which extracts bile from captive bears’ gall bladders for sale as a pharmaceutical, flouts both local and international law, including Appendix I of Convention on International […]
CEO sentenced for smuggling elephant ivory into US

A judge sentenced Pascal Vieillard, CEO of A-440 Pianos Inc., to 3 years probation for illegally smuggling elephant ivory into the US, while the Georgia-based company has been fined $17,500. Vieillard had earlier pleaded guilty to importing pianos with ivory parts. “A-440 Pianos and its CEO deliberately violated laws that govern the importation of elephant […]
95% of Liberia’s elephants killed by poachers
Since the 1980s, Liberia has lost 19,000 elephants to illegal poaching, according to Patrick Omondi of the Kenya Wildlife Service speaking in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. The poaching of Liberia’s elephants has cut the population by 95% leaving only 1,000 elephants remaining. “Though, Liberia opposes trade in ivory, but, the trade is still being […]
Bluefin tuna gets record price ($396,000) at Japanese auction

A vicious cycle: as species becomes rarer, price will continue to rise On Tuesday, a 752-pound Pacific bluefin tuna was sold at Japanese auction for the highest price ever received for raw seafood – $396,000. The price tops the previous record by more than $100,000 and comes at a time when tuna populations around the […]
Malaysian customs seizes 1,800 trafficked reptiles

Malaysia contains an amazing array of plants and animals, including this water monitor. Photo taken in Sabah by Rhett A. Butler Malaysia ended 2010 with the confiscation of 4.3 metric tons of reptiles near the Thai border on December 20th, reports the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network, TRAFFIC. The confiscation was the largest of the year […]
Red pandas may be threatened by small-scale trade

Two studies investigated the scale and potential threat of continued trade in red pandas and found that while reports are low, the occurrence of isolated incidents may be enough to threaten species survival. The red panda, Ailurus fulgens, is a cat-sized, arboreal mammal which lives in temperate forests in the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. […]
Beyond gloom: solutions to the global coral reef decline

The world’s coral reefs are in trouble. Due to a variety of factors—including ocean acidification, warming temperatures from climate change, overfishing, and pollution—coral cover has decline by approximately 125,000 square kilometers in the past 50 or so years. This has caused some marine biologists, like Charlie Veron, Former Chief Scientist of the Australian Institute of […]
Over 20,000 pangolins illegally poached in Borneo

Notebooks confiscated by the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) reveal that 22,000 Sunda pangolins (Manis javanica) were illegally poached from May 2007 to January 2009 in the Malaysian state in northern Borneo. The number, in fact, may be significantly higher since the logbooks didn’t cover over a third of the time period. The logbooks were analyzed […]
The biology and conservation of declining coral reefs, an interview with Kristian Teleki

Kristian Teleki, Vice President for Science Initiatives for SeaWeb and former Director of the International Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN), spoke with Laurel Neme on her “The WildLife” radio show and podcast about the biology of corals, threats to coral reefs, and what can be done to halt their decline. This interview originally aired May […]
Already illegal, one man tests poisoning rhino horn too
Given the epidemic of rhino poaching across Africa and Asia, which has placed four out of five species in jeopardy of extinction, one fed-up game manager wants to take the fight beyond the poachers to the consumer. Ed Hern, owner of the Lion and Rhino Park near Johannesburg, told South Africa’s The Times that he […]
Elle MacPherson mempromosikan penggunaan cula badak ilegal [Peringatan: Gambar Grafis]

Walaupun sejumlah penelitian ilmiah menunjukkan bahwa cula badak tidak bersifat menyembuhkan, supermodel, pengusaha, dan saat ini adalah pembawa acara Britain’s Next Top Model, Elle MacPherson, berkata bahwa dia mengonsumsi bubuk cula badak sebab: “[ini] mujarab bagi saya”. Dalam sebuah wawancara dengan The Times Online via Twitter, Elle MacPherson berkata bahwa bahan ilegal ini rasanya seperti […]
Elle MacPherson promotes consumption of illegal rhino horn [warning: graphic image]

Despite a number of scientific studies showing that rhino horn has no curative properties, supermodel, entrepreneur, and recent host of Britain’s Next Top Model, Elle Macpherson, says she ingests powdered rhino horn because: “[it] works for me”. In an interview with The Times Online via Twitter, Elle Macpherson says the illegal substance tastes like “crushed […]

Feeds: news | india | latam | brasil | indonesia