14 November 2014
The International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) released Guidelines on Methods and Procedures for Ivory Sampling and Laboratory Analysis in support of the deployment of forensic technology to combat elephant poaching. (more…)
Source: UN News Centre | New UN guidelines issued to counter ‘critically high’ levels of elephant poaching in Africa
Source: ICCWC-UNODC | Guidelines on Methods and Procedures for Ivory Sampling and Laboratory Analysis | 2014
14 October 2014
During a visit to the Garamba National Park, top UN official Mr. Martin Kobler, who heads the UN Organisation Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO), urged national and international actors to step up efforts in preserving the natural resources and rich biodiversity of the park located in the north-eastern part of the country. (more…)
Source: UN News Centre | DR Congo: UN envoy urges increased efforts to protect biodiversity of Garamba Park
17 February 2014
At the London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade on 13 February, forty-six countries agreed to a declaration to fight the illegal wildlife trade, which results in the deaths of thousands of elephants, rhinos and other endangered species per year. The declaration states that the trade has a ‘significant scale and detrimental economic, social and environmental consequences.’ The countries agreed to address corruption, adopt legislation for stricter penalties on poachers, and recruit more law enforcement officers, among other actions. Additionally, in the declaration states promise to not procure wildlife products officially. Foreign secretary William Hague described the conference as unprecedented, historic and a turning point in the fight against the illegal wildlife trade.
Source: The Guardian | Global accord on combatting illegal wildlife trade agreed by 46 nations
22 May 2013
Eight states (Thailand, China, Kenya, Malaysia, the Philippines, Tanzania, Uganda and Viet Nam) which have been identified as primary source, import and transit countries affected by the illegal trade in ivory, have submitted national action plans to the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The plans contain among others specific activities in the areas of international and national enforcement, legislation and regulations, and were requested by the CITES Standing Committee because of the huge rise in the number of elephants that were poached for their ivory.
The eight countries that have submitted action plans are urged to take urgent measures to put their plans into practice before July 2014, when the CITES Standing Committee will review their implementation. The Secretariat will then provide the Standing Committee with its evaluation of the activities that have been conducted by each state, and will recommend potential further measures to intensify efforts in critical areas.
Two additional groups of states which need to adopt measures shortly have also been identified. First, Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Egypt, Gabon, Mozambique and Nigeria will need to develop and begin implementing similar national action plans in order to combat illegal trade in ivory this year. Second, the Secretariat will be seeking clarification from Angola, Cambodia, Laos, Japan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on how they control trade in ivory.
For some background on this topic, see here.
Source: CITES | Press Release | Eight countries submit national action plans to combat illegal trade in elephant ivory
7 March 2013
At the Conference of the Parties of the of the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), eight states (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and China) were identified as key to the trade in ivory and were threatened with trade sanctions if they do not address failures in protection against poaching, and failures in seizing illegal ivory trade.
Six of these states are states which most ivory passes through (Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam), the other two are the states were most ivory is bought (China and Thailand).
The news of threat of trade sanctions coincides with the publication of a report that details the increase in levels of poaching. The report concludes that illicit ivory trade activity and the weight of ivory behind this trade has more than doubled since 2007, and is over three times greater than it was in 1998.
Source: The Guardian | Two-thirds of forest elephants killed by ivory poachers in past decade
Source: UNEP, CITES, IUCN, TRAFFIC | Elephants in the Dust - The African Elephant Crisis | A Rapid Response Assessment
Source: The Miami Herald | Ivory trade nations face threat of sanctions