Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Felipe Zamora
Co-Chair
felipe.zamora@panam.ed.cr
Introduction
Through recent years, it has
become evident that the issue of illegal
wildlife trade has reached significant
global proportions. It is estimated that
the illicit trading of flora and fauna
across different continents, has grown
from 70 to 213 billion US dollars
annually. This issue is depriving
developing economies of billions of
dollars around the globe huge losses in
revenues
and
development
opportunities. The problem has
escalated to an extent that illegal
trading of wildlifes impacts goes well
beyond environmental impacts; world
economies are in danger. Furthermore,
global illegal wildlife trade is a vast
illicit economy that provides funding to
powerful militia and terrorist groups.
The consequences have become
evident; this issue has prevented both
sustainable
development
and
environmental sustainability in several
countries. As it is reflected in the
decisions made in the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(CITES), the UN Office for Drugs and
Crime, the UN Commission on Crime
Prevention and Criminal Justice,
INTERPOL, the UN Security Council, the
UN General Assembly, the Economic
and Social Council (ECOSOC) and
others have ratified that illegal wildlife
trade and environmental crime are
now considered significant internal
threats
and must
be
tackled
immediately.
The illegal trade in wildlife is no
longer an emerging issue. The trade
involves a wide range of species
including insects, reptiles, amphibians,
fish, and mammals. This concerns both
dead and alive products that are used
for
pharmaceutical,
food,
pets,
ornamental or traditional purposes.
Animals such as gorillas, chimpanzees,
elephants, tigers, rhinos, Tibetan
antelopes, bears, corals, birds, and
pangolins suffer on a daily basis from
illegal trade. However, all of these
animals have a significant value not
only on the black market, but also to
national economies. Even though illegal
wildlife trade operates outside of
official government regulations and
management, it represents a significant
economic, environmental, and security
threat that has received little attention
in the past. It is estimated that out of a
population of 420,000 to 650,000
elephants in Africa, around 20,000 are
killed every year. Since 2002, the
population of forest elephants has
declined by 62%. For rhinos, 94% of
the poaching takes place in South
Africa and Zimbabwe, and it is
estimated that the rhino horn business
is worth around 192 million USD.
Furthermore, poaching has increased
dramatically in recent years from less
than 50 syndicates in 2007, to more
than 1 000 in 2013.
Moreover, as a result of Chinas
economic success, illegal ivory trade
has tripled over the past decade, while
at the same time; the number of
poached elephants in Africa has
doubled. A report conducted by
INTERPOL suggests that large-scale
ivory trading reached a global-high in
The
United
Nations
Environmental
Programme
was
established after the 1972 UN
Conference
on
the
Human
Environment, held in Stockholm,
Sweden, proposed the creation of a
global body to act as the environmental
conscience of the UN system. In
response, the UN General Assembly
adopted Resolution 2997 on December
15, 1972 creating the UNEP Governing
Council, composed of 58 nations
elected for four-year terms by the UN
General Assembly, responsible for
assessing the state of the global
environment, establishing UNEP's
programme priorities, and approving
the budget. The UNEP Secretariat, with
its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, to
provide a focal point for environmental
action and coordination within the UN
system, headed by an Executive
Director, with the rank of UN UnderSecretary-General; and a voluntary
Environment Fund to finance UNEPs
environmental initiatives, to be
supplemented by trust funds and funds
allocated by the UN regular budget.
The Stockholm Conference
marked the formal acceptance by the
international
community
that
development and the environment are
inextricably linked. It prompted a
growing body of research that has
greatly improved understanding and
awareness of critical environmental
issues over the past three-plus decades,
and it provided the impetus for new
national, regional and international
environmental legislation worldwide.
In the subsequent two decades,
a proliferation of environmental
conferences
and
conventions
addressed
various
environmental
issues,
including
conserving
Bloc Positions
Illegal
Wildlife
trade
is
considered a global problem, however,
there are certain regions where the
concentration and density of this
problem is greater than in others. Some
of these hotspots are: southeast Asia,
China, eastern and southern Africa,
eastern Europe, parts of Mexico and the
Caribbean, Indonesia, New Guinea, and
the Solomon Islands.
In Southern Africa, ambiguous
laws permit the hunting of rhinos as
trophies,
which
enables
illegal
poaching to occur. Due to this, illegal
poaching has tremendously increased
environmental information to
facilitate their efforts to combat
the illegal trade in wildlife
species.
4. Calls
upon
the
entire
international
and
bilateral
donor community to recognize
and address environmental
crime as a serious threat to
sustainable development and
revenues, and to support
national, regional and global
efforts
for
the
effective
implementation of, compliance
with and enforcement of
targeted measures to curb
illegal trade in wildlife species.
5. Support immediate, decisive
and collective action to narrow
the gap between commitments
and compliance, such as the
ones expressed in multilateral
environmental
agreements,
through
national
implementation
and
enforcement, including the
relevant
decisions
and
resolutions taken by their
governing bodies intended to
combat the illicit trade in
wildlife.
6. Identify end-user markets and
systematically design, support
and
implement
where
appropriate
consumer
awareness campaigns focusing
on high consumer end-markets.
Call upon both Governments
and the UN system to effectively
work with and engage civil
society and the private sector in
efforts to identify alternatives to
consumer demands for traded
wildlife species.
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