Wildlife trade, still a threat to extinction?

As you know, human populations have grown exponentially, but so too has the demand for wildlife. People in developed countries have become used to a lifestyle which fuels demand for wildlife, including having access to a variety of sea foods, leather goods, timbers, medicine etc. People living in extreme poverty however regard wildlife as a means to meet their short-term needs and will likely trade it for whatever they can get. I’ve worked with people including ex-poachers, many of them who never wanted to see wildlife destroyed, trapped in a dangerous form of income generation, before being educated and trained in sustainable livelihood alternatives.

The Millennium Development Goals recognise the link between biodiversity and sustainable development. Sustainable trade in natural resources can actually contribute to local and national economies creating incentives to conserve species and their natural habitats. However unsustainable and illegal wildlife trade is still threatening many species around the world, driving them towards extinction and leading to loss in revenues at the national and international level (Source, www.traffic.org ) .

Captive baby Sumatran Orang-utan © TRAFFIC SE Asia/Chris R. Shepherd

Because the trade in wild animals and plants crosses borders between countries, the effort to regulate it requires international cooperation to safeguard certain species from over-exploitation. CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments. Today, it helps protect more than 30,000 species of animals and plants, whether they are traded as live specimens, fur coats or dried herbs. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. (Source www.cites.org )

To try and put this into some perspective, I thought I'd mention a few points about the well documented decline in wild Tiger numbers. Today there are believed to be fewer than 2,500 breeding adult Tigers left in the wild, and despite their protection status their numbers are still declining. Tigers are currently listed as Endangered by the IUCN.

The Siberian Tiger P. t. altaica lives in the boreal forests of the Russian Far East © Kevin Schafer / WWF

Once found across Asia, from Turkey to eastern Russia, over the past century Tigers have disappeared from south-west and central Asia, from Java and Bali in Indonesia and from large parts of South-east and East Asia. Tigers have lost 93% of their historic range, and more than 40% of their range in the last decade. Much of the remaining habitat is becoming increasingly fragmented. Today, Tigers are found only in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Viet Nam, and possibly in North Korea.

In the early 1990s, trade in Tiger parts was banned worldwide, but Tigers remain in serious danger from illegal wildlife trade poaching mainly for their bones for use in traditional Asian medicines, and for their pelts and other body parts, such as teeth, skin and claws, as decorative items. (Source www.traffic.org )

The skin of a Tiger killed by poachers in Nepal © Jeff Foott / WWF-Canon

If you're interested in supporting work to curb illegal wildlife trade of tigers and other species, there are the well-known conservation groups, but there’s also a brilliant organisation dedicated to wildlife trade called ‘TRAFFIC’. Their Vision is a “world in which trade in wild plants and animals is managed at sustainable levels without damaging the integrity of ecological systems and in such a manner that it makes a significant contribution to human needs, supports local and national economies and helps to motivate commitments to the conservation of wild species and their habitats”. (Source www.traffic.org )

They’ve got a great website so if you’ve enjoyed the read, you’ll love having a look: www.traffic.org  

Happy Reading!

Best wishes,

Luke Purcell.

Sources/References - www.traffic.org , www.wwf.org , www.cites.org , United Nations Environment Programme.