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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
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Results for tigers
18 results foundAuthor: Environmental Investigation Agency Title: A Deadly Game of Cat and Mouse: How Tiger Criminals Give China the Run-Around Summary: Between 25 July and 14 August 2009 EIA carried out an investigation in the markets of Xining (Qinghai Province), Linxia (Gansu Province), Lhasa (TAR), Shigatse (TAR) and Nagchu (TAR). A team also attended the Nagchu Horse Festival (TAR). In just 21 days, EIA documented a range of items for sale, some openly displayed. In addition, EIA documented at least 9 people wearing real tiger skin chupas and at least 25 people wearing real leopard skin chupas at the Nagchu Horse Festival. Numerous ivory bangles, prayer beads and other carvings were documented for sale without State Forest Administration / CITES certificates in Xining, Linxia and Lhasa. Details: London: Environmental Investigation Agency, 2010. 11p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2010 Country: China URL: Shelf Number: 119546 Keywords: Illegal Wildlife TradeOffenses Against the EnvironmentTigersWildlife Crime |
Author: Ng, Julia Title: Tiger Trade Revisited in Sumatra, Indonesia Summary: The Sumatran Tiger is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN 2006 Red List of Threatened Animals, as Appendix I under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and as a Protected species under the Act of the Republic of Indonesia No.5 of 1990 Concerning Conservation of Living Resources and their Ecosystems. However, despite being given full protection in Indonesia and internationally, Tiger parts are still found openly in trade in Sumatra. TRAFFIC revisited the markets of Sumatra in 2006 to conduct Tiger trade surveys, four years after the last TRAFFIC survey from 1999–2002 (Shepherd and Magnus, 2004). All intelligence information obtained on the names and addresses of retail outlets selling Tiger parts from the 1999–2002 survey were given to the Indonesian authorities, at province and federal level, prior to the report being published. Unfortunately, little or no action was taken by the Indonesian authorities against these retail outlets selling Tiger parts or the retail outlets’ owners. Results from the 1999–2002 survey were published in both English and Indonesian, the latter were then widely distributed to all Indonesian enforcement agencies. To raise awareness on Tiger trade among enforcement agencies in Sumatra, three training workshops were conducted there in 2006, two of which were Tiger focused, the third on general wildlife crime enforcement and included a component on Tiger trade. The 2006 surveys were conducted over a seven month period in 28 cities/towns in seven Sumatran provinces and nine seaports. A total of 326 retail outlets were surveyed which were goldsmiths, souvenir and Traditional Chinese Medicine shops, and antiques and precious stones vendors. TRAFFIC returned to the markets to investigate and document again the open availability of Tiger parts for sale, and to investigate further possible trade links between Indonesia and Malaysia. The information gathered in Sumatra is presented here and it is hoped it will clearly highlight the priority actions that should be taken and how resources should best be distributed in combating the trade of Tiger parts. In addition, TRAFFIC has given the findings of this report, including the names and addresses of the retail outlets found selling Tiger parts to the enforcement authorities in April 2007, and hopes that action will be taken against these retail outlets. Of the 28 cities and towns surveyed in Sumatra, eight (29%) were found to have Tiger parts for sale. At least ten percent of the total retail outlets surveyed sold Tiger parts. A conservative estimate of the number of Tigers killed, based on the number of Tiger canines found during the market surveys is 23 Tigers. From the results, it is evident that the trade in Tiger parts continues openly, and the number of Tiger canines, claws and skin pieces found openly for sale in North Sumatra province is higher compared to the 1999–2002 survey. Medan and Pancur Batu are the main hubs for the trade of Tiger parts in this province but there were no Tiger cases brought to the Indonesian criminal court in these two cities between 2004 and 2006. This indicates that enforcement efforts are lacking in these two important hubs for Tiger parts. However, for the provinces of Jambi, South Sumatra and West Sumatra, there is an indication of a decrease in the trade of Tiger parts compared to the 1999–2002 survey. Binjai, Jambi, Palembang, Padang and Bukit Tinggi recorded a drop in the open availability of Tiger parts for sale. The reason for this is unclear, but it could be that more traders are aware that the Tiger is a protected species and therefore they are more wary of whom they talk to, or there are fewer Tigers in the wild compared to five years ago, or more optimistically, because fewer poachers and traders are hunting and selling protected species. Surveys at the ports on the east coast of Sumatra did not provide any conclusive evidence that Tigers or their parts are being exported to Malaysia or Singapore. Only birds were found to be smuggled out of the Belawan and Dumai seaports. It is obvious that no amount of Tiger action plan workshops and Tiger trade surveys conducted will save the Sumatran Tiger. What is needed now is for strict enforcement to take place in Sumatra to stop the poaching of Tigers and the trade. This report therefore recommends that resources should be concentrated on effective enforcement to take place to protect Tiger habitats and combat the trade by arresting the main dealers/suppliers of Tigers and closing down retail outlets selling Tiger parts. The specific recommendations for this report are: 1) The Indonesian authorities must take prompt action against the open trade of Tiger parts in Sumatra by closing down retail outlets selling Tiger parts; 2) Other actions include monitoring of Tiger trade hotspots (such as Medan and Pancur Batu), to gather intelligence information of retail outlets selling illegal wildlife parts so they can be promptly raided; 3) Successful prosecutions of owners of retail outlets selling Tiger parts are needed. PHKA, KSDA and the relevant NGOs must raise awareness among the judiciary on the seriousness of wildlife crime and investigators should be given proper training on collecting sufficient evidence for making a strong case; 4) Better inter-agency cooperation is needed among the different enforcement agencies, such as Quarantine and Customs at the seaports and the Police to carry out the raids at retail outlets. The formation and function of the ASEAN-WEN Wildlife Crime Task Force, involving agencies such as the Judiciary, Customs, Police, Navy and Quarantine, should be hastened. Details: Petaling Jaya, Malaysia: TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, 2007. 59p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 14, 2011 at: www.traffic.org Year: 2007 Country: Indonesia URL: Shelf Number: 122057 Keywords: Illegal TradePoachingTigersWild Animal TradeWildlife CrimesWildlife Smuggling |
Author: World Wide Fund (WWF). Tigers Alive Initiative Title: How vulnerable are wild tigers to poaching in the sites critical for their survival? Summary: As part of the global effort to double the number of the world’s remaining wild tigers, WWF has committed to support their recovery in 12 focal landscapes. In order to ensure the most effective use of its limited resources, WWF undertakes careful evaluations and monitoring of the landscapes and the individual sites that make up that landscape, particularly Protected Areas (PA). WWF carried out a preliminary assessment in April 2012 to gain insight into the relative security of sites crucial for increasing tiger population numbers in the places where WWF focuses support. Poaching is the most immediate threat to wild tiger populations worldwide (Champron et al., 2008; Check, 2006; Kenny et al., 1995) and therefore the main barrier to achieving the collective conservation goal of doubling the number of wild tigers by 2022 (Tx2). Stopping poaching is the single most direct action that can be taken to halt the decline in wild tigers and allow the recovery to begin. Substantial investments are being made by governments, donors and NGO partners to achieve the Tx2 goal. However, widespread poaching consistently undermines these efforts. In the fight against poaching, PAs are the first line of defence. Ideally PAs should be secure refuges for tigers that encourage healthy gene flow and steady population growth. If these sites are not effectively functioning as safe havens A recent preliminary assessment by WWF of 63 legally protected areas in seven tiger range countries shows that the minimum standards for protection according are only maintained in 22 of these areas, or 35%. This indicates that the areas set up to protect tigers and other threatened species are not necessarily the refuge they are designed to be. WWF’s internal preliminary assessment covered 84 locations, 63 of which are legally protected areas, in seven of the 12 countries where WWF currently works on tiger conservation. Scientists, researchers and managers working in the field, have determined these sites to be critical for wild tiger population growth. Each site was evaluated on three critical factors for protecting tigers: the number of protected area staff, the use of law enforcement monitoring tools, and whether the park was officially protected by law. Data for the assessment was collected from published sources and through a survey of WWF field staff and managers of the sites wherever available. Results from the assessment showed that staff and WWF field personnel from 41 of the 63 protected areas, or 65%, feel there are not enough staff to protect those areas and achieve Zero Poaching. One example is Malaysia’s Royal Belum State Park, critical for the survival of the Malayan tiger and where considerable poaching activity has been documented. Although occupying an area of over 1,000 km2, the park only has 17 enforcement staff. In contrast, protected areas such as Kaziranga National Park in India, with approximately 800 enforcement staff for about 860 km2, have been able to stem poaching activity. In Nepal, 2011 was recently celebrated as a Zero Poaching year for rhinos, which was largely attributed to the increase of range posts across several protected areas from 7 to 51. WWF has identified three actions tiger range governments can take immediately to launch an elevated operation towards Zero Poaching. These include identifying and delineating the most important sites requiring good protection from poaching, and ensuring these sites have sufficient numbers of enforcement staff who are well trained to monitor and improve their effectiveness by using monitoring systems. WWF also suggests that the police and judiciary need to help to ensure strict punishment on poaching and to actively engage local communities living adjacent to important tiger conservation areas. Details: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: WWF-World Wide Fund for Nature, 2012. 14p. Source: WWF TAI Report: Internet Resource: August 21, 2012 at http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_tai_tiger_vulnerability_to_poaching_report_2012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: International URL: http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_tai_tiger_vulnerability_to_poaching_report_2012.pdf Shelf Number: 126080 Keywords: Animal PoachingTigersWildlife Crime |
Author: Stoner, Sarah Title: Current Global Trends in the Illegal Trade of Tigers Summary: This is a presentation detailing the crime statistics on the illegal international trade of tigers and material from tigers, crime statistics, hotspot analysis and other information. Details: New Delhi, India: World Wide Fund (WWF) & Global Tiger Initiative, 2012. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 22, 2012 at http://www.globaltigerinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/TRAFFIC_Tiger_Trade_Analysis.pdf Year: 2012 Country: International URL: http://www.globaltigerinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/TRAFFIC_Tiger_Trade_Analysis.pdf Shelf Number: 126098 Keywords: Crime AnalysisCrime HotspotsCrime StatisticsIllegal Wildlife TradeOffenses Against the EnvironmentOrganized CrimeTigersWildlife Crime |
Author: Stoner, Sarah Title: Reduced to Skin and Bones Revisited: An Updated Analysis of Tiger Seizures From 12 Tiger Range Countries (2000-2012) Summary: In 2010, TRAFFIC produced ‘Reduced to Skin and Bones: An Analysis of Tiger Seizures from 11 Tiger Range Countries (2000-2010)’ (Verheij, 2010). The purpose of the present report is to provide an updated situational analysis of the current illegal Tiger Panthera tigris trade picture and to gain an improved understanding of one of the greatest threats to the Tiger’s survival. This report also aims to illustrate the need, use, practicability and direction that can be gained from the central collation and analysis of seizure data. Its conclusions outline the need for Tiger range and consumer countries to agree on and adhere to a standardized format for sharing and reporting data on poaching and illegal trade. Seizures are indicators both of illegal trade and of law enforcement effort. A lack of reported seizures (such as in Myanmar) needs to be considered against other data, which in this case points to substantial illegal transit trade, based on TRAFFIC market surveys. Seizure information was collected from a variety of sources, most importantly directly from a number of Tiger range country (TRC) governments, as well as TRAFFIC and WWF offices, supplemented with online research including media reports of government announcements of law enforcement activity. To render seizure data comparable, records of seized items were tallied as units that could be used to calculate the number of Tigers involved in each seizure. Since 2000, there have been 654 seizures of Tiger parts and derivatives across 12 TRCs (Bhutan, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Viet Nam1). It is estimated that a minimum 1425 Tigers were seized during this period. Since only a fraction of Tigers in illegal trade are intercepted by law enforcement, the scale of criminal activity represents a serious ongoing threat to the survival of wild Tigers, generally considered to number as low as 3200. India, the country with the largest national wild Tiger population, reported the most seizures since 2000 (336). Next were China (58) and Viet Nam (50), which have small numbers of wild Tigers, but large numbers of captive animals. Both China and Viet Nam have been identified as important zones of consumption for illegal Tiger products. Looking at recent seizures (2010-2012), the proportion that India accounts for shows a downward trend, 29% of total seizures compared to 58% for 2000-2009. Conversely, the proportion of seizures has increased for other TRCs such as China, Malaysia, Nepal and Russia but is most notable for Viet Nam, rising from 6% to 14%. Moreover, Indonesia with a relatively small wild Tiger population and few known captive animals, disproportionately seized almost 20% of all Tigers seized in the past three years. Clearly, as this study demonstrates, demand persists - tigers are still being poached and seized. Improved law enforcement and the emergence of intelligence-led policing may mean that some aspects of the illicit trade are being displaced to online markets. As has been revealed in China, offenders have shown that they can adapt their modus operandi to circumvent detection, including a shift towards the trading of Tiger parts and products online. It is paramount that law enforcement also adopts this approach by identifying the current and relevant threats and shifts their focus to ensure they are one step ahead of the offenders. Understanding how end-user markets operate will ensure that criminals cannot continue to evade detection. Details: London: TRAFFIC International, 2013. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 9, 2013 at: http://assets.worldwildlife.org/publications/542/files/original/traffic_species_mammals73.pdf?1362619925 Year: 2013 Country: International URL: http://assets.worldwildlife.org/publications/542/files/original/traffic_species_mammals73.pdf?1362619925 Shelf Number: 127907 Keywords: Animal PoachingIllegal Wildlife TradeTigersWildlife CrimeWildlife Law Enforcement |
Author: Global Tiger Workshop Title: Saving Wild Tigers: Kathmandu Summary Document A Report from the Global Tiger Workshop October 27-30, 2009 Kathmandu, Nepal Summary: Tigers are symbols of all that is powerful, mystical, and beautiful in nature. But wild tigers are in crisis, having fallen in numbers from about 100,000 in 1900 to just 3,200 today as a result of adverse human activities, including habitat destruction and a huge illegal trade in tiger parts. The decline continues to this day. This decade is the last opportunity to save wild tigers and the ecological riches they and the landscapes they inhabit represent. The good news is that despite serious loss, enough habitat remains in Asia that can be restored to support as many as 20,000 wild tigers. To develop recommendations to reverse the wild tiger’s decline, more than 250 participants from 13 of the 14 tiger range countries (TRCs) and the international community met in Kathmandu from October 27-30, 2009, as part of a process designed to lead to the Vladivostok Tiger Summit in September 2010. The workshop resulted in the unanimous adoption of the Kathmandu Recommendations—actions that will help achieve the goal of doubling the population of wild tigers within the next ten years. These recommendations emerged from the national priority actions that each TRC identified in individual country sessions, after thematic sessions that offered ideas and approaches for their consideration. Each TRC’s priority transformational actions are a unique set and many of these are already under implementation. They can be summarized under the following broad themes: Make core tiger breeding areas inviolate with commitments from TRCs and financing institutions to not build infrastructure in these areas. Engage in cross-sector dialogue to integrate tiger conservation into land-use and infrastructure plans. Ensure local support in favor of tiger conservation based on participatory, community-based programs that provide social and economic incentives for conservation and pro-actively manage human-wildlife conflict through mitigation and compensation. Relocate villages from core tiger breeding area using best practices. Develop innovative sustainable financing mechanisms for tiger conservation. Determine full costs of tiger conservation activities. Pilot mechanisms to transfer resources from infrastructure activities to conservation programs. Assess carbon stocks in TCLs to make the case for funding from REDD Build institutional capacity to train the next generation of leaders in protected-area and landscape management, networked in a regional community of excellence, and develop science-based management plans for protected areas and tiger landscapes. Dramatically reduce poaching and illegal trade by enhancing national law-enforcement capacity and strengthening coordinated support from international wildlife law enforcement bodies. Implement the Pattaya Manifesto and CITES resolution Conf.12.5. Garner political will for improved law enforcement. Reduce demand for tiger parts through large-scale, targeted campaigns to change behaviors and perceptions of consumers of tiger parts and socialize opposition to tiger consumption. To guide the international community and the Global Tiger Initiative, each TCR also identified specific areas for which it requires international support. Country requirements naturally vary but converge on capacity building, knowledge sharing, financing to fill critical gaps, cross-border law enforcement and protected-area management, global campaign to change consumer attitudes, and creating and sustaining political will. Generating political will to conserve tigers—to take full advantage of the expertise that exists and transformational ideas that are emerging—is the most important step toward saving the world’s most iconic species. This effort will intensify at the Asian Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation in January 2010, in Thailand, which will aim to define the support needed to accelerate the implementation of national programs. At the Vladivostok Tiger Summit in September 2010, the global goals, programs, funding, and implementation and monitoring mechanisms will be launched. Details: Kathmandu, Nepal: Global Tiger Workshop, 2009. 17p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 23, 2013 at: http://www.globaltigerinitiative.org/download/GTI-Kathmandu-Outcomes.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Asia URL: http://www.globaltigerinitiative.org/download/GTI-Kathmandu-Outcomes.pdf Shelf Number: 128096 Keywords: Animal PoachingIllegal Wildlife TradeTigersWildlife ConservationWildlife Crime (Asia)Wildlife Management |
Author: Gurung, Bhim Title: Tiger Human Conflicts: Investigating Ecological and Sociological Issues of Tiger Conservation in the Buffer Zone of Chitwan National Park, Nepal. Final Report Summary: Historically, there was contiguous forest all across the terai region of Nepal and tigers were distributed in high densities. The situation changed during early 1960s because the tiger habitat in the terai was drastically reduced as a result of human resettlement program. The destruction of habitat and fragmentation lead to the sharp decline in tiger population. Sport hunting and poaching also contributed to its decline. Like other tiger range countries Government of Nepal worked to overcome this crisis since early 70s. Protected areas were established, strict protection was adopted, and stiffer wildlife laws against wildlife criminals were endorsed. To further increase the land base for tigers buffer zone community forests around the parks and reserves were promulgated and moreover, Nepal initiated an ambitious Tarai Arc Landscape project not only to increase land base for tigers but also to restore connectivity between reserves. Tiger conservation effort in Nepal has been successful. After establishment of protected areas in the early 1970s tiger numbers increased and since late 1970s numbers have been stable in protected areas. Density, based on mean female home range size, is the highest anywhere. The improvement of habitat quality in the buffer zone of Chitwan National Park and elsewhere across the terai has increased the overall land base where tigers reside. Breeding has been recorded at five sites outside of protected areas. Such increase in habitat use by tigers in the multiple use buffer zone community forests resulted in conflict between tiger and human. Over the last quarter of a century 88 people have been killed by tigers in and around the park. The trend of human loss has been increased significantly from an average of 1.5 persons per year (1979 – 1998) to 8.25 per year since 1999. The increasing trend of people killed was significant in the buffer zone but not inside the park. A total of 37 tigers were involved in killing 88 people. Of these, 17 were removed because of their man-eating behavior. The number of problem tigers removed per year increased dramatically in 2004-05. Four relevant factors were associated with man-eating tigers: (1) injured or aged tigers find it difficult to kill natural prey, (2) imbalance between tiger and prey base, (3) aggressive tiger behavior and, (4) defensive or accidental killing. Management actions were not taken against if it appeared that tigers killed humans accidentally; however, if possible the tigers that turned into deliberate “man-eaters” were removed. A high percentage (38%) of humans killed by tigers occurred in the south sector of the park, i.e. Madi Valley. This study focused on the status of tigers and its prey in Chitwan National Park and in the Madi Valley buffer zone. Tiger and prey were relatively more abundant in the park than buffer zone. However, the disturbance factors, measured as encounter rate of livestock and human were significantly higher in the park than the buffer zone. Reduced human activity in the buffer zone as compared to the park is because there is a stronger incentive to local people to control local use of buffer zone forest. Support of local people is critical in tiger conservation in the human dominated landscape. To understand the perceptions of Madi population towards tigers and its conservation, a household questionnaire survey was conducted. Majority of the people in Madi valley did not like tigers in the neighboring forests because of threat to people and livestock. However, just less than half of the people liked tigers because of ecological, utilitarian, and moral values. To mitigate the conflict the study recommends establishing a system to regularly monitor tigers in cooperation with the local “Bagh Heralus” attached to each community forestry user committee. Each committee in cooperation with Park staff would supervise the “Bagh Heralu” and the overall goal of the tiger and prey monitoring program would be to understand the activity pattern of tigers living in the buffer zone, implement a tiger conservation awareness program designed to educate local people on tiger biology and research, and to create a problem tiger response team to act immediately and efficiently to assist in conflict situations. Local participation between local user groups in Madi valley and park staffs is also needed to reduce grazing along the southern border of the park. Details: Kathmandu, Nepal: WWF-Nepal Program, 2006. 72p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 23, 2013 at: http://www.panthera.org/sites/default/files/STF/2005-0013-014.2.pdf Year: 2006 Country: Nepal URL: http://www.panthera.org/sites/default/files/STF/2005-0013-014.2.pdf Shelf Number: 128099 Keywords: Forest ManagementHuman-Animal ConflictTigersWildlife ConservationWildlife CrimeWildlife Law EnforcementWildlife Management |
Author: India. Tiger Task Force Title: Joining the Dots: The Report of the Tiger Task Force Summary: The Tiger Task Force report begins by placing itself in context (see: The assessment, p 1-20). There is an immediate context to this report: the widely reported and discussed event of the disappearance of tigers in Sariska. There is also a larger context: the discourse and practice of tiger conservation in India. In terms of the immediate context, the Sariska debacle, the Task Force investigated the affair. The report presents the conclusions (see: The Sariska shock, p 14-20). The protection system there has completely collapsed. While officials were busy misreporting the record of tiger numbers, poachers roamed about and cleaned the reserve out. A powerful mining lobby, keen to carry out mining operations in the reserve fringe, is thrilled. Local politicians now want the protected area denotified: “What is there to protect?” they ask. Villagers here regard the tiger, and the park administration, as their common enemy no 1: they live sandwiched between the two, and are bitter about their desperately wretched existence and continued harassment. The park management talks about relocation, but has done little. In the meantime, even the one village that had been moved out has come back into the reserve. There is unease all around. In this situation, protection cannot and does not work. In terms of the larger context (see: Conserving the tiger, p 2-13), the report finds important, but forgotten, moments in the recent history of official conservation planning. The report of the 1972 task force headed by Karan Singh, Project Tiger: a planning proposal for preservation of tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) in India, inaugurated the tiger conservation programme in India (and official conservation as well). It is a remarkable blueprint. It gave the programme a promising start. If “people versus parks” — and its inevitable corollary, “people versus tigers” — is one contentious point of the debate around conservation in India today, the report finds extremely sensitive deliberations upon this issue in the past. It is obvious that some, among those that have given direction to official conservation policy, were horribly aware that in India, forests are not unpopulated tracts of wilderness. The 1983 Eliciting public support for wildlife conservation — report of the task force, by a committee headed by Madhavrao Scindia, focuses on the dependence of rural people on forests: “In their precarious existence, enforcement of restriction in wildlife reserves triggers antagonism”. This report wanted development programmes and funds for villages located in the periphery of conservation zones. It calls these zones “islands of conservation”. “If the land surrounding such effort continues to deteriorate in productivity affecting the availability of resources for communities, these islands are bound to succumb one day to the community’s demands”. In the 1990s, a furious storm breaks, reminiscent of today. The tiger is in deep trouble. Project Tiger, India’s flagship conservation programme, is in deep trouble. Conservation itself is in deep trouble. This was an opportunity to change directions. But what emerges is: One, the conservation regime rededicates itself to a command-and-control mode of wildlife preservation. Two, it becomes no longer necessary to refer to or think of “people” while speaking of or planning for conservation. The Sariska debacle is irrevocably because of this direction we chose. It is incumbent upon the Tiger Task Force to look to the future. The Task Force realises that, so far as conservation policy and practice are concerned, any such blueprint must be predicated upon three unavoidable variables (see: A paradigm change, p 21-26). As the report puts it, “The protection of the tiger is inseparable from the protection of the forests it roams in. But the protection of these forests is itself inseparable from the fortunes of people who, in India, inhabit forest areas”. There is the tiger. There is the forest. There are the people, living inside these forests and on the fringes of these forests. Details: New Delhi: Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (Project Tiger), 2006. 217p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed march 23, 2013 at: http://projecttiger.nic.in/TTF2005/pdf/full_report.pdf Year: 2006 Country: India URL: http://projecttiger.nic.in/TTF2005/pdf/full_report.pdf Shelf Number: 128109 Keywords: Animal PoachingTigersWildlife Conservation (India)Wildlife CrimeWildlife Management |
Author: TRAFFIC-India Title: The Roar of the Tiger: A compilation of the in-session documents, information documents and interventions at the CITES CoP14 on Agenda Document CoP14 Doc 52 ‘Asian Big Cats’ Summary: Tigers and Asian big cats were at the centre stage of an important debate at the 14th meeting of the Conference of Parties of the CITES at the Hague, The Netherlands. Led by India and other range states like Nepal, China, Bhutan and Russia, the 14th CoP was able to garner strong support for conservation of tigers in the wild. After the 14th CITES CoP in The Hague, there was naturally a lot of interest in India on the tiger issue, and consequently several versions of the entire debate, unfortunately some of them inaccurate, being discussed. Given the significance of the debate and its long-term implications for tiger conservation, this compilation attempts to put together the in-session documents, information documents, interventions and other relevant documents of the debate around the Agenda Document CoP14 Doc 52 ‘Asian Big Cats’. As such, the statements made by various countries such as India, Nepal, Bhutan and China on the floor gather significance. One of the key messages to emerge on this important international forum was that “Tigers should not be bred for their parts or derivatives.” Given the significance of the debate and its long term implications for tiger conservation, this compilation attempts to put together the decisions and other relevant documents of this debate. While the summary records and the resolutions are excerpted from the official record of CITES, the interventions of various countries have been compiled from various sources including unofficial transcripts. Details: New Delhi: TRAFFIC-India, 2007. 52p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 25, 2013 at: http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/traffic_pub_cop14_19.pdf Year: 2007 Country: Asia URL: http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/traffic_pub_cop14_19.pdf Shelf Number: 128110 Keywords: Animal PoachingTigersWildlife ConservationWildlife Crime (Asia)Wildlife Management |
Author: Global Tiger Initiative Secretariat Title: Global Tiger Recovery Program Implementation Report 2012 Summary: In November of 2010, leaders of the 13 Tiger Range Countries (TRCs) assembled at an unprecedented International Tiger Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia. With the extinction of wild tigers looming, they unanimously adopted the St. Petersburg Declaration on Tiger Conservation and endorsed its implementation mechanism, the Global Tiger Recovery Program (GTRP). The overarching goal of the St. Petersburg Declaration and the GTRP is to double the global number of wild tigers across their range by 2022, the next Year of the Tiger, from an estimated 3,200 to more than 7,000. This Summit, the first-ever devoted to an endangered species, marked a historic milestone in tiger conservation and in biodiversity conservation more broadly. The St. Petersburg Declaration represents a commitment to go beyond governments and NGOs creating isolated impacts to working collaboratively for collective impact to achieve a shared vision. The comprehensive GTRP comprises the National Tiger Recovery Priorities (NTRP) of the 13 TRCs and Global Support Programs to be spearheaded by international and national partners to bolster country efforts. The GTRP outlines the concerted country-specific and collaborative actions required in the first five years of the program to move toward the 2022 goal. These actions fall under several broad themes: policy and institutional change; habitat protection and management; controlling tiger and prey poaching; institutional strengthening and capacity building; increasing community engagement and reducing human-tiger conflict; controlling illegal trade in tigers and reducing the demand that drives it; cooperation to manage transboundary tiger landscapes and to combat illegal trade; scientific monitoring, surveys, and research; and finding new sources of sustainable financing for tiger conservation. The emphasis on these themes varies from TRC to TRC, depending on each TRC’s unique challenges and situation. To track progress toward the shared goal, TRC governments committed to transparent mutual accountability for implementing the actions necessary for recovering tigers in their particular context. Partners are holding themselves accountable to the TRC’s for fulfilling their promised support programs. All agreed to periodic stocktaking to review progress, consider new information, and establish future program directions. The First Stocktaking Meeting of Senior Officials and Experts to Review Implementation of the GTRP took place on May 15- 17, 2012, in New Delhi, India. All 13 TRCs reported on their progress as well the challenges and obstacles each faced in implementing their Priority Implementation Activities (PIAs). Partners also reported on their progress and setbacks. At the same time, the TRCs and partners outlined priorities for 2012-2013. Progress in 2011 and the first half of 2012 was impressive and a clear sign that the political will generated at the 2010 Tiger Summit is leading to action on the ground. TRCs completed or made progress on most of their PIAs and partners did the same. TRCs are actively collaborating, sharing knowledge and experience. Some activities took longer to get going than planned, but that is to be expected in a new and highly ambitious undertaking involving 13 governments and dozens of partners in NGOs and international organizations. After some initial delay, external funding streams have begun to flow, and the outlook for developing the resources needed to fully fund the GTRP seems bright. The Global Tiger Initiative was founded just four years ago, in June 2008. It will take considerably more time for tigers to begin to recover and to determine whether we are moving toward the goal of doubling their numbers. The progress reported here gives cause for some optimism but it is imperative that the momentum be maintained. Also encouraging is news of a potential new TRC. Kazakhstan, once home to the Caspian tiger subspecies, is working toward reintroducing tigers to their former range there. Other TRCs with very low tiger numbers are also beginning to plan for restoring tigers to their priority landscapes. How this Report was Prepared and is Organized The St. Petersburg Declaration charged the Global Tiger Initiative (GTI) Secretariat, based at the World Bank where the GTI was founded in 2008, with a coordinating role in implementing the GTRP and supporting and encouraging the TRCs in their efforts. Before the Tiger Summit, the GTI and the TRCs were engaged in a rigorous interactive process to develop the NTRPs and the GTRP. Since the Summit, this process has continued as TRCs developed individual lists of PIAs: these were the milestones the TRC planned to reach by the end of the first implementation period. Similarly, a Partners’ To-Do List of milestones was agreed upon. All were periodically revised and updated through mid-2012. It was agreed that progress would be assessed against the PIAs and Partners’ list. To develop this first Global Tiger Recovery Program Implementation Report 2012, each TRC provided to the GTI Secretariat a two-page summary of their progress in implementation of its PIAs, including a self-assessment of whether it completed a PIA, made significant or some progress toward completing it, or made no progress. Each TRC also contributed brief information on a best practice or success story, major challenges, and PIAs for 2012-2013. Before and after the stocktaking, TRCs had opportunities to revise their summaries. These country summaries form the bulk of this report. Details: Washington, DC: The World Bank,, 2012. 64p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 25, 2013 at: http://www.globaltigerinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/GTRP_Implementation_Report_2012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: International URL: http://www.globaltigerinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/GTRP_Implementation_Report_2012.pdf Shelf Number: 128117 Keywords: Animal PoachingIllegal Wildlife TradeTigersWildlife ConservationWildlife CrimesWildlife Management |
Author: Global Tiger Initiative Secretariat Title: Global Tiger Recovery Program 2010–2022 Summary: Wild tigers are under threat of extinction across their entire range. Wild tigers (Panthera tigris) have for centuries occupied a very special place in the nature and culture of Asia. These magnificent big cats sit at the top of the ecological pyramid in vast Asian forest landscapes. The presence of viable populations of wild tigers is an indicator of the integrity, sustainability, and health of larger ecosystems. However, wild tigers are on the brink of extinction, with only about 3,200 to 3,500 surviving today, scattered among 13 Asian Tiger Range Countries (TRCs): Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russian Federation, Thailand, and Vietnam. Diverse, rich, but undervalued tiger ecosystems are degrading and disappearing. Tiger landscapes support tigers, their prey, and a vast amount of biodiversity. They also contribute to human well being, locally and globally, through the provision of many ecosystem services such as water harvesting, carbon sequestration, plant genetic materials, food security and medicinal plants, and opportunities for community-based tourism. Most of these benefits are not currently monetized so tiger landscapes are significantly undervalued in national and global agendas. As a result, degradation, fragmentation, and loss of natural habitats, depletion of prey animals, and poaching to supply a large illegal global trade in their body parts, have pushed wild tigers and their landscapes to the brink of extinction. These threats are exacerbated by limited capacity for conservation action and, in most TRCs, by insufficient resources. The Global Tiger Recovery Program (GTRP) seeks to empower TRCs to address the entire spectrum of threats, domestic as well as those that are transboundary in nature, and work toward increased financial sustainability through the integration of conservation objectives into development. To solve the tiger crisis, which represents the larger Asian biodiversity crisis, the TRCs, international organizations, and civil society have come together on a collaborative platform within the framework of the Global Tiger Initiative (GTI). After a two-year process of sharing knowledge and best practices and developing a common vision, the GTRP was developed, with the shared goal of doubling the number of wild tigers globally by 2022 through actions to: (i) effectively manage, preserve, protect, and enhance tiger habitats; (ii) eradicate poaching, smuggling, and illegal trade of tigers, their parts, and derivatives; (iii) cooperate in transboundary landscape management and in combating illegal trade; (iv) engage with indigenous and local communities; (v) increase the effectiveness of tiger and habitat management; and (vi) restore tigers to their former range. The foundation of the GTRP is 13 individual National Tiger Recovery Priorities (NTRPs) that outline the urgent priority activities each TRC will take to contribute to the global goal. These NTRPs are buttressed with other actions that TRCs need to do in concert with others, such as arresting transboundary illegal trade, knowledge sharing, and establishing robust systems for monitoring populations, habitats, and overall progress. Additional actions to eliminate illicit demand for tiger parts and their derivatives and to undertake habitat valuation in order to promote payment for ecosystem services schemes are also included in the GTRP portfolio of 80 activities. The GTRP calls for incremental financing of about US$350 million over the first five years of the program, over and above the domestic financing to be provided by individual TRCs, based on their ability. TRCs have identified policy and institutional reforms to enhance the effectiveness of these proposed expenditures. TRCs have built considerable early momentum in implementing policy and institutional actions. Financial support for GTRP implementation is to be through a flexible financing mechanism that enables all potential funders—official bilateral programs, multilateral development banks, and the GEF, international NGOs, as well as private and corporate entities—to support the GTRP portfolio, which is to be kept current. Program management and coordination arrangements are built on the establishment and strengthening, as needed, of robust national implementation mechanisms, supported by TRC-wide and global processes to ensure mutual accountability and transparency through vigorous monitoring and reporting of progress. The existing Global Tiger Forum (GTF) is to be strengthened to play its mandated intergovernmental role and, until longer-term coordination arrangements are agreed upon, the TRCs asked the GTI Secretariat to support the implementation phase. Suitable collaborative platforms for those providing support to TRCs, through financing, capacity building, or arresting illegal trade, are to be created. Expected results include stabilized tiger populations in most critical habitats by year five and overall doubling by 2022; critical tiger habitats becoming inviolate and protected areas professionally managed; significant reduction in poaching and illegal trade and trafficking along with decreased illicit demand for tiger body parts and derivatives; consistent monitoring in place; and economic valuation of all tiger landscapes completed as a basis for sustainable financing. The GTRP is the last best hope for tigers. Wild tigers are at a tipping point and action, or inaction, in the coming decade will decide their fate. Action will lead to the tiger’s recovery; inaction or mere maintenance of the status quo will lead to its extinction. The GTRP represents the last best hope for the survival of the world’s most magnificent species and the conservation of the valuable landscapes in which it lives. Details: Washington, DC: World Bank, 2011. 70p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 25, 2013 at: http://www.globaltigerinitiative.org/download/St_Petersburg/GTRP_Nov11_Final_Version_Eng.pdf Year: 2011 Country: International URL: http://www.globaltigerinitiative.org/download/St_Petersburg/GTRP_Nov11_Final_Version_Eng.pdf Shelf Number: 128118 Keywords: Illegal Wildlife TradeTigersWildlife ConservationWildlife CrimesWildlife Management |
Author: Environmental Investigation Agency Title: Hidden in Plain Sight: China’s Clandestine Tiger Trade Summary: Undercover investigations and a review of available Chinese laws have revealed that while China banned tiger bone trade for medicinal uses in 1993, it has encouraged the growth of the captive-breeding of tigers to supply a quietly expanding legal domestic trade in tiger skins. This Government-authorised trade spurs the poaching of wild tigers and undermines the international ban on tiger trade agreed by the majority of the world through the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The lack of clarity over the use of bone from captive-bred tigers to make wine has further stimulated trade and demand. Details: London: EIA, 2013. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 28, 2013 at: http://www.eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/EIA-Hidden-in-Plain-Sight-med-res.pdf Year: 2013 Country: China URL: http://www.eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/EIA-Hidden-in-Plain-Sight-med-res.pdf Shelf Number: 128160 Keywords: Animal PoachingIllegal Wildlife TradeTigersWildlife Crimes (China) |
Author: Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) Title: Enforcement Not Extinction: Zero Tolerance on Tiger Trade Summary: The International Tiger Forum held in November 2010 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, provides an exciting opportunity. Convened by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, leaders of Tiger Range Countries (TRC) endorsed a declaration and Global Tiger Recovery Program (GTRP) to double the tiger population by 2022, the next Year of the Tiger, setting the tone for future national and global efforts. Many of the strategies advocated in the Forum have been proposed repeatedly since the last Year of the Tiger. Some are older still. On paper they appear objective, logical and scientific – yet governments have failed to implement them thoroughly or consistently. Will this time be any different? Can world leaders rise to the challenge and deliver meaningful action, not simply fine words? Drawing on EIA’s experience of investigating the illegal trade in consumer countries, this position paper highlights the key recommendations on law enforcement that have consistently been made over the years and examines the possible underlying reasons why they have not yet been implemented. Accepting that these enforcement recommendations are still key to the survival of the wild tiger, we identify actions that governments can take to overcome those obstacles and demonstrate real progress and change on the ground. We call upon governments to prioritise the following: • Secure greater involvement of police and Customs officers in tiger and other Asian big cat conservation • Reduce demand for tiger and other Asian big cat parts • Expand the use of intelligence-led enforcement in combating tiger trade • Improve international cooperation to disrupt transnational criminal networks • Continue with reform of judicial processes • Increase resources to combat wildlife crime • Improve the motivation of enforcement personnel • Tackle corruption in wildlife crime Details: London: EIA, 2011. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 4, 2013 at: http://www.eia-international.org.php5-20.dfw1-1.websitetestlink.com/wp-content/uploads/reports210-1.pdf Year: 2011 Country: International URL: http://www.eia-international.org.php5-20.dfw1-1.websitetestlink.com/wp-content/uploads/reports210-1.pdf Shelf Number: 128960 Keywords: Illegal Wildlife TradeOrganized CrimeTigersWildlife CrimeWildlife Law Enforcement |
Author: Zain, Sabri Title: Behaviour Change We Can Believe In: Towards A Global Demand Reduction Strategy for Tigers Summary: With populations of Tigers continuing to plummet in the wild over the past decades, it would appear that campaigns and other public awareness initiatives to reduce consumer demand for parts and derivatives from this and other endangered species have failed to stem the tide of illegal killing. This paper discusses why conservationists need to explore new approaches to understanding and influencing the behaviours that are driving consumer demand for these products, and examines tools and models that can address the underlying drivers of these behaviours. Various principles employed in the disciplines of social psychology, economics and behavioural economics (where the first two disciplines overlap) are outlined, as well as some key factors that are important to consider for anyone developing strategies that seek to influence the behaviour of consumers of wildlife products. Some strategic guidelines and a framework for applying these factors to the development of a global demand reduction strategy for Tigers are also outlined. Details: Cambridge, UK: TRAFFIC, 2012. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 4, 2013 at: www.traffic.org Year: 2012 Country: International URL: Shelf Number: 128961 Keywords: Animal PoachingTigersWildlife ConservationWildlife Crime |
Author: Banks, Debbie Title: Thailand's Tiger Economy Summary: In the last ten years there have been thousands of column inches dedicated to the news that the tiger is on the brink of extinction. With a global population that has crashed by 95% over the last 100 years, millions of dollars have been spent on new and innovative approaches for tackling habitat destruction, the decline in prey population, and the continuing international illegal trade in tiger parts and derivatives. But the tiger can be saved, if people really want it to happen. Across it’s range, there are several isolated examples of tiger populations bouncing back in the face of what were once thought to be insurmountable odds. Sadly, one country where this hasn’t happened is Thailand, once the primary range of the Indo-Chinese tiger. Years of rampant illegal logging, widespread poaching of endangered species, poorly implemented conservation strategy and government indifference have decimated the tiger population and the forests that it depends on. Thailand has shown itself to be woefully inadequate in implementing domestic legislation to stamp out the tiger trade and in enforcing international agreements to which it is a signatory. EIA has learned through its investigations that Thailand has also become a conduit for illegal trade as well as a manufacturer and supplier of tiger products. A blossoming institutional belief that tigers can be saved by the breeding of captive tigers outside a scientific international studbook programme is threatening to undermine in situ conservation efforts. Instead of securing a longterm future for tigers, these activities shield a more sinister threat : the commercial trading of tigers into extinction. EIA investigations have revealed a persistent lack of interest and effort on the part of the Thai authorities to control a growing domestic and international trade that threatens not only the remaining wild tigers in Thailand, but also wild tigers across their range. Despite the widely available tiger products which publish their factory address details on the packaging, the authorities appear to have taken no action and displayed no interest in curbing this trade. The tiger, once a symbol of strength and progress, has been reduced to a symbol of apathy and disregard for a once rich biodiversity. But EIA believes that it is not too late for the new Prime Minister to take immediate and decisive action to reverse the recent trend and to reinstate the wild tiger as a symbol of a new Thailand. Details: London: Environmental Investigation Agency, 2001. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 7, 2013 at: http://www.eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/Thailands-Tiger-Economy-low-res.pdf Year: 2001 Country: Thailand URL: http://www.eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/Thailands-Tiger-Economy-low-res.pdf Shelf Number: 129010 Keywords: Illegal Wildlife TradeTigersWildlife ConservationWildlife Crime (Thailand) |
Author: Bhattarai, Babu Ram Title: Human-Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) Conflict in Bardia National Park, Nepal Summary: Human-wildlife conflicts are common phenomena from the past and have become significant problems throughout the world. Big cats, which play a vital role in maintaining the ecosystem balance through prey-predator interaction, are now on the verge of extinction since they require large habitats, but much of their habitats have been fragmented and degraded. Therefore, frequent encounters with humans and their livestock have caused human-carnivore conflicts which result in retaliation killings. The high rate of human population growth and the successfully restored habitat in the community forests of Nepal have accelerated the conflicts due to the dispersal of tigers into these forests where they share these resources. This study aimed at exploring the human-tiger conflict in terms of livestock depredation, human casualties, retaliation killing and poaching of tigers and their prey base. It assessed the tiger conservation perceptions and tolerance level of the local people to losses caused by tigers and the roles of different stakeholders in tiger conservation through mitigating human-tiger conflict. It explored strategies of conflict reduction for tiger conservation. The study was conducted in six Buffer Zone User Committees of The Bardia National Park, Nepal. I interviewed 273 heads of household, 10 nature guides, eight BZUC presidents, nine protected area managers and two local government representatives from March to May of 2009. The average livestock holding among the respondent households was found to be 6.70 head of animals per household and the depredation rate due to tigers was 0.25 head per household per year. The consequential result was a 6% loss of stock over the past three years. The less-prey density area was associated with a high livestock depredation rate for cows/oxen and goats/sheep. Twelve people were killed and four injured in tiger attacks between 1994 and 2007. The perception relative to tiger conservation was found to be positive and people could tolerate the loss of livestock to some extent but not human loss or casualties. Six tigers were released from the habitat due to human-tiger conflict in between 1989 and April 2009. The interview results demonstrated that the tigers were killed primarily for trade of its body parts. Half of the respondents suggested tigers should be conserved in the national parks and reserves. The livestock grazing and human intrusion into tiger habitat and poor husbandry are causes of conflict. Conservation education along with adequate and prompt compensation against damages and regular monitoring of tigers may help to reduce human-tiger conflicts. As well, functional coordination between all stakeholders is recommended to conserve tigers. Details: Greifswald, Germany: Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, 2009. 104p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed July 3, 2013 at: http://www.botanik.uni-greifswald.de/msclenc/downloads/Masterarbeiten_pdf/2009_Bhattarai.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Nepal URL: http://www.botanik.uni-greifswald.de/msclenc/downloads/Masterarbeiten_pdf/2009_Bhattarai.pdf Shelf Number: 129250 Keywords: Animal PoachingHuman-Animal Conflict (Nepal)TigersWildlife ConservationWildlife Crimes |
Author: Stoner, Sarah Title: Briefing Document: Reduced to skin and bones re-examined : An analysis of Tiger seizures from 13 range countries from 2000-2015. Summary: Illegal trade and the trafficking of Tiger Panthera tigris, as well as their parts, products and derivatives, and the poaching which supplies it, is the most immediate threat to the survival of wild Tigers. A new minimum estimate of the number of Tigers that now exist in the wild of over 3890 was released by WWF in April 2016. Much of this change stems from the release of new national surveys results in a number of Tiger range countries (TRCs), many of which employed more rigorous methods of sampling compared to previous surveys efforts (WWF, 2016). Studies also indicate that the known Tiger range has declined by 42% between 2006 and 2014, attributed to actual range decline and a reflection of better data collection methods and increase in Tiger surveys (Goodrich et al, 2015). Current knowledge on the range and number of wild Tigers has improved, yet poaching and illegal trade shows no signs of abating. Additionally, the role of captive Tiger facilities has become more relevant in recent years. In 2010 and 2013, TRAFFIC produced two systematic reports analysing Tiger seizures from range countries that described trafficking patterns (Verheij et al., 2010; Stoner and Pervushina, 2013). This 2016 report presents an updated situational analysis, assessing information over a 16-year period from January 2000 to December 2015 for all Tiger range countries (TRCs), using a combination of data acquired from governments and open source media reports. During May-June 2016, TRAFFIC, with the assistance of the Global Tiger Forum (GTF), formally requested seizure data (for incidents occurring between January 2012 and 2016) from the government departments responsible for gathering illegal wildlife seizure data within each TRC. Only government data from Bangladesh and Malaysia was supplied, and India pointed TRAFFIC to source required information from Tigernet. The governments of Bhutan, India, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Thailand supplied data previously to TRAFFIC to service Tiger trade analysis for previous reporting periods (Verheij et al, 2010, Stoner and Pervushina, 2013). However, the majority of this dataset comprises Tiger seizures held within TRAFFIC's database that are reported within the media or from openly available sources, such as Tigernet in India. Any duplicate incidents were removed. Data parameters did not consider seizures that have taken place outside the 13 TRCs (including, for example: seizures that originated from or are destined for any TRC). Data have been analysed to show overall trends for the full 16 years as well as a closer examination of changes over time across four quarterly periods: 2000-2003 (Q1), 2004-2007 (Q2), 2008-2011 (Q3) and 2012-2015 (Q4). TRAFFIC is preparing a full report of this analysis, which aims to illustrate findings on the trade in Tigers at a global level, while also describing trends in each TRC through country profiles, describing key considerations at a country-specific level (Stoner et al., in prep). This Briefing Document highlights top-line findings from the detailed analysis over the 16 years, including key occurrences and patterns over the period assessed. Key recommendations are provided for consideration by actors at national, regional and international levels. Details: Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia: TRAFFIC, Southeast Asia Regional Office, 2016. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 7, 2016 at: http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/reduced_to_skin_and_bones.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Asia URL: http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/reduced_to_skin_and_bones.pdf Shelf Number: 147818 Keywords: Animal PoachingIllegal Wildlife TradeTigersWildlife CrimeWildlife Law Enforcement |
Author: EMS Foundation Title: The Extinction Business: South Africa's 'Lion' Bone Trade Summary: For more than a decade, South Africa has been actively supporting and growing the international trade in big cat bones, despite local and international outrage and condemnation from conservation and protection organisations, lion scientists, and experts. In 2017, South Africa's Minister of Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, controversially, and in the face of vociferous opposition and robust arguments against this trade, set the annual export quota at 800 lion skeletons. Even more alarmingly, Molewa, without stakeholder participation, took the incomprehensible decision to almost double the quota in 2018 to 1,500 skeletons. On July 11th 2018, the person in charge of the quota at the DEA told us categorically that no quota had been set for 2018. A few days later the DEA was forced to make a public announcement about the 2018 lion bone quota following a public outcry when a letter from Molewa, dated June 7th 2018, informing the provinces of the new quota allocation, was leaked. The undeclared reasons behind government's decision to conceal this information from interested and affected parties needs to be brought to light and interrogated. The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) justified its decision to dramatically increase the quota on a single government commissioned interim study which, from the get-go guaranteed a skewed outcome, particularly because of the inclusion of outspoken pro-trade economist, Michael 't Sas-Rolfes, in the small research team. The report itself admitted that the findings were based on insufficient data and that "further avenues need to be explored". By no stretch of the imagination can this interim study translate into a conclusive scientific justification for a lion bone quota, and even less, an increase of the quota. Notably, some of the researchers involved in this study have distanced themselves from the decision-making process around the 2018 quota, stating that all the decisions were made by the Scientific Authority and the DEA, and that the researchers provided no input on what the quota should, or should not, be. They specifically added that "The wording of that quota letter via NW [NorthWest] is a bit unclear concerning our involvement...we provided no input on what the quota should, or should not, be. We correctly excluded ourselves from this process." In the last 18 months, the EMS Foundation and Ban Animal Trading have been gathering extensive information and investigating South Africa's international 'lion' bone trade. This data has provided the basis of our Report, The Extinction Business: South Africa's 'Lion' Bone Trade. The South African captive big cat industry is a pariah and it is under severe local and international scrutiny. Hunting associations that support the trophy killing of captive bred lions have been sidelined by international hunting associations and organisations. Instead of working with all the stakeholders to limit and close down the industry, South Africa is steadfastly supporting it. It is facilitating its conversion into an even crueler industry: captive breeding and farming lions so they can be slaughtered solely to feed the problematic big cat bone trade in Southeast Asia. This is evidenced by the emergence of lion slaughterhouses in South Africa as well as the fact that we have clear evidence that 91% of the 'lion' skeletons exported from South Africa in 2017 included skulls. Thus showing that South Africa's lion bone trade is not a by-product of an existing industry (i.e. trophy hunting) but an entirely separate industry. Consequently, a trade in wild animal body parts, with links to international criminal networks, in countries where they are attempting to lower demand for big cat body parts, is being stimulated. Alarmingly, the Minister is unpersuasively attempting to argue that this abhorrent and destructive industry is a sustainable, and ethical alternative to trophy hunting. By doing so, true conservation efforts that should benefit wild animals in this country, as well as its citizens, are being undermined. A ban on the captive breeding of lions and tigers will bring an end to this unacceptable and brutal South African industry. The DEA, however, refuses to recognise this and instead, for inexplicable reasons, chooses to intensify its support for an industry that is tarnishing Brand South Africa's image. South Africa's tourism industry is suffering reputational damage, and this will, in turn, have a negative impact on South Africa's economy and job creation. A vast number of individuals rely on continued employment in the tourism sector, and their livelihoods are in the firing line in order to benefit only the few predatory elite in the 'lion' bone trade. When it comes to the economics of the 'lion' bone trade on the South African side - after all, this is what is driving the trade - there is almost nothing in the public domain about the modalities of the industry and/or the processes and mechanisms of how the money flows along the entire supply chain. Access to this information and transparency is crucial, not only to understanding the nature of the trade, but in gaining insights into the illegal trafficking links. The South African government urgently needs to open up this industry, and its participants, to public scrutiny so that it can be fully and accurately interrogated, understood, and the money trail monitored. The illegal trade in wild animals, which is not only devastating animal communities and consuming huge financial resources, cannot be adequately tackled without addressing the significant loopholes in the existing legal trade multilateral agreements, i.e. CITES. Drawing upon hundreds of CITES export permits, issued by South Africa's conservation agencies, this Report examines and investigates substantial problems and endemic loopholes in the CITES permitting, enforcement and oversight system. It further demonstrates the failings of South Africa's national policies and procedures, all of which translate into a convergence of the legal and illegal trade in wild animal. Systemic weakness in the international wild animal trade permitting regimen, particularly in South Africa and Asia as illustrated in this Report, not only add to wild animal trafficking, but also undermine any efforts to address the illegal trade. It is also clear that transnational wild animal trafficking networks and crimes perpetrated against wild animals cannot be disrupted without examining the legal and regulated trade, and the supply and demand chain thereof. Indeed, the critical mechanism to disrupt transnational organised wildlife crime is to critique and amend the legal trade. Our findings reveal that: - There are substantial loopholes in the CITES permitting system itself; Merely complying with the CITES Treaty is insufficient and is a threat to wild animals and biodiversity. Countries need to do more in the context of their own national legal frameworks to protect wild animals caught up in the international trade; - There is a lack of verification, one example of this is that more than the 2017 set quota of 800 skeletons went out of South Africa with legal CITES permits; - There is a lack of required due diligence by the CITES Management authorities on both the exporting and importing side, in profiling and authenticating exporters, importers, addresses and destinations; - There are major oversight problems in South Africa and in the countries of import. This has created a situation where the legal trade in 'lion' bones is fueling the illegal trade in lion and tiger bones and providing laundering opportunities for tiger bones in Asian markets. This is brewing into a toxic mix, particularly when it is placed in the context of the widespread overlap between those involved in international lion trade, trade in tigers and other CITES-listed species, and the routine leakage of imported lion products into illegal international trade. Details: Honeydew, South Africa: EMS Foundation, 2018. 122p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 25, 2018 at: http://emsfoundation.org.za/wp-content/uploads/THE-EXTINCTION-BUSINESS-South-Africas-lion-bone-trade.pdf Year: 2018 Country: South Africa URL: http://emsfoundation.org.za/wp-content/uploads/THE-EXTINCTION-BUSINESS-South-Africas-lion-bone-trade.pdf Shelf Number: 150918 Keywords: Animal ExtinctionIllegal Wildlife TradeLionsTigersTrafficking in WildlifeWildlife ConservationWildlife CrimeWildlife TradeWildlife Trafficking |