Connect with us

Latest News

Better protection for endangered species

Published

on

Political leaders and conservation experts gather for a summit in Switzerland to agree on stronger measures to protect giraffes and elephants against international trade, just months after an alarming report on the state of species at risk.

Up to a million plant and animal species are threatened with extinction and the pace is accelerating, warned the United Nations in May.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which brings together thousands of delegates from more than 180 countries, opened on Saturday.

A total of 56 proposals to change the level of protection afforded to wild animals and plants will be debated by August 28.

Already, delegates have agreed to regulate the international trade in giraffes, to protect this large mammal threatened with a “silent extinction” .

The number of giraffes in Africa has decreased by about 40% in 30 years. There are fewer than 100,000 animals today, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

From now on, trade in skin, horns, hooves and giraffe bones would be considered a threat to the survival of the species.

The measure was applauded by environmentalists.

Granting this protection to giraffes is a vital lifeline for this majestic species, which had been slowly dying out for years.

Adam Peyman, Humane Society International
However, not all delegates agreed on the real threat to giraffes, with some pointing out that the loss of habitat due to human activities remains more of a concern than trade.

And hunting trophies?

The agreement for the preservation of giraffes also includes a measure to further control the legal trade in items derived from them, including trophies reported by hunters.

Nature organizations and MEPs are calling for these trophies to be banned for all endangered animals.

Trophy hunting, which is recreational in nature and is considered “non-commercial”, is currently exempt from CITES prohibitions. The question is not on the agenda of the conference, however.

A large number of species are coveted by hunters, including elephants, black and white rhinos, crocodiles, gray parrots and cheetahs.

The United States is the largest importer of hunting trophies, followed by China.

Zoos will not be able to buy elephants anymore

In the meantime, delegates in Geneva also reached an agreement to ban the sale of wild elephants to zoos.

The countries of West, Central and Eastern Africa already prohibit sending these pachyderms into zoos, unlike in southern Africa, where they are less threatened.

More than 100 baby elephants have been sold to Chinese zoos by Zimbabwe since 2012, according to the Humane Society International.

It would be banned from now on. The sale of elephants is therefore limited only to the maintenance of these animals in their natural environment, in particular reserves.

This decision will save a large number of elephants torn from their families in the wild and forced to spend their lives imprisoned in zoos in mediocre conditions.

Iris Ho, from the Humane Society International

Ecologists have called the measure a “historic victory”.

All approved proposals for debate, including those on giraffes and elephants, will have to be confirmed in plenary at the closing meeting of the CITES conference on 28 August before officially entering into force.

Advertisement

Trending

error: Content is protected !!