WILDAID
WILDAID
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Mom=*Family First* (291120563)
Date: 14/07/2010 7:30:13 PM
Ending The Illegal Wildlife Trade
..Ending The Illegal Wildlife Trade..
Estimated at $6-20 billion a year by Interpol, the illegal wildlife trade has drastically reduced numerous wildlife populations and currently has some teetering on the brink of extinction. The impact on human communities looks to be equally drastic in the long-term, as local resources required for sustenance hunting and tourism activities are depleted at an unsustainable rate, and as animal viruses including Ebola, SARS and possibly HIV may jump to human carriers during the poaching and transporting of wildlife.
Despite the gravity of these threats, many countries lack the resources to defend their parks and wildlife against rampant poaching, while poachers often have few options to earn a living legally. Illegal wildlife products are still openly traded in many places, with buyers often unaware of the law or of the devastation they are financing. We can change this in our lifetimes.
The fight against the illegal trade in wildlife has achieved a rare degree of international consensus, as have the related issues of rule-of-law, good governance, conflict resolution and the fight against corruption. Over 150 nations are active parties to the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which regulates global trade in a number of threatened species including rhinos, tigers, corals and orchids. While opinions differ over which species should be protected, there is agreement that regulation and protection should be effective. Unfortunately, a lack of resources, expertise and political will – combined with unchecked demand – mean that trade regulation and protection of species is often weak. Regardless, the extent of these problems is limited and addressable in an affordable way within our lifetimes.
* Black rhino populations fell from 60,000 in 1970 to 2,500 in 1990 as poachers targeted their horns.
* African elephant numbers fell from 1,200,000 in 1970 to 600,000 in 1989 as a result of the trade in ivory.
* The Spix macaw is believed to be extinct in the wild. Most of the last individuals were trapped illegally for collectors.
* There are believed to be fewer than 50,000 Asian elephants left in the wild.
* World sturgeon catches for caviar declined from nearly 28,000 to 8,140 tons between 1982 and 1994.
* An estimated 100 million sharks, skates and rays are caught every year.
* There may be fewer than 5,000 tigers surviving in the wild.
To end the illegal wildlife trade within our lifetimes.
We believe that the ecological damage, cruelty and corruption involved in the illegal wildlife trade are both unnecessary and morally unacceptable – that these activities constitute a theft from future generations.
We believe that it is the duty of both the governments and citizens of wealthier nations to provide technical and financial support to less wealthy nations to protect our common heritage.
We want a world where our invaluable natural riches are not ravaged, one in which local communities can improve their lives without destroying their environment, and where humanity can survive together with wildlife for generations to come.
Mom=*Family First*
~Save Our Wolves~Mom Two♥~Namaste’~
TIGER ~Namaste~
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