Wildlife code flouted

Press, 12 July 1979, Page 17

Wildlife code flouted

Turtles, crocodiles, rhinos, cheetahs and many spotted cats are threatened with extinction by international trade. So are some lizards, parrots and falcons.

Much of the trade in endangered species of wildlife is illegal and underground. Most of it exists to provide people in the wealthier countries with luxury goods such as tortoise-shell knick-knacks, crocodile skin handbags and furs.

Since the year 1600, over 130 species of mamals and birds have become extinct as a result of direct exploitation by man or by obliteration of their habitats. At least 120 more are now in danger. And the pace of destruction is accelerating. Half the known extinctions of all forms of wildlife during the past 1900 years (the first one recorded, of the European lion, occurred around 80 AD) have taken place this century. Delegates from governments from all over the world have recently finished reviewing an international convention designed to stop the destruction.

But their two-week meeting in a plush country club outside San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, brought about little strengthening of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

The convention is thought to control .only 10

per cent of the entire world trade in endangered species, thanks both to illegal traffic and to the major importers and exporters of wildlife who are not party to it.

The illegal trade runs into tens of millions of dollars a year in the United States, which is one of the countries with the tightest controls. It is thought to be worth much more in Europe. Germany, which is a party to the convention, nevertheless enjoys an unenviable reputation as one of the main illicit markets.

Only 51 of the world’s nations are members of the convention. Belgium and Japan, neither of which are members, are the other main markets. The Netherlands was a big buyer, too, until it passed tough new legislation. Indonesia is a major exporter of wildlife; 200 birds

of paradise have been leaving its shores each week, many of them smuggled out through Papua New Guinea.

Indonesia also exports turtles, as do Thailand, India, the Philippines and Mexico; the main markets are Taiwan, Japan, Germany, Italy and Belgium.

Crocodile skins are flown out from Singapore. Thailand, Indonesia, Bolivia and Paraguay to Italy, France and Germany.

Ivory poaching is increasing in Zambia, Uganda and the Ivory Coast. The Central African Empire, which exported the equivalent of 3595 pairs of tusks in 1977, seems to be acting as a clearing house (Empire Bokassa runs the ivory business). Japan and Hong Kong have been the leading importers. The convention is having some success in attrac-

ting offenders into membership and, it is hoped, into changing their ways. Indonesia has just joined and Japan has announced its intention to do so. The convention lists 612 species and groups of species which may not be traded at all and 262 which can be traded only under control.

The parties can change these lists: indeed Britain scored a considerable success during the meeting by adding all types of whale But wildlife traders often keep ahead of them, switching their attention to unlisted species which are then speedily brought into peril. Any member can refuse to acceept restrictions on any species the convention names. For example, France allows in hides from some of the most endangered crocodiles in the interests of its reptile skin

The convention pays little attention to plants, even though some 10 per cent of the world’s species mav be rare or theatened.

Many parties to the convention fail to enforce it with any rigor. Customs officers in some member countries seem to know little of the regulations, and identifying specimens often requires special training, frequently not provided.

While the U.S. Justice Department claims that there have been 20,000 prosecutions in America since 1973, Britain has seen seen only five in the last three years — and two of these were brought privately by an environmental pressure group. Even when there are prosecutions, the convention’s secretariat complains, contraventions of the convention tend to be treated as mere misdemeanours, attracting only small fines.

The meeting did little to remedy these deficiencies, but it did at least defeat proposals that would have weakened the convention. This was accomplished thanks to an unusual arrangement which allowed pressure groups to speak but not to vote, in the convention’s meetings.

The pro-wildlife groups, headed by two former top U.S. Government officials representing the World Wildlife Fund. united successfully to apply pressure to resist the proposals.