Wildlife conservationists are expected to push for new trade restrictions to protect fast-disappearing animals and plants, while lobbyists try to free up commerce in some species at international talks starting yesterday in Bangkok.
The two-week conference brings together thousands of delegates from the 166 countries that have signed the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES.
PHOTO: AP
The voluntary agreement, introduced in 1975, is meant to protect about 30,000 animals and plants, some of which are threatened with extinction due to commercial trade. About 50 proposals are expected to be submitted during the meeting to legitimize or block trade in some species.
Environmentalists say wildlife sales generate billions of dollars annually, making it the world's third-largest illicit enterprise after drug trafficking and illegal arms sales.
About 150 activists protested outside the conference hall yesterday, demanding the return of Thai elephants sold to zoos abroad and Indonesian orangutans allegedly smuggled into Thailand for use in boxing matches to entertain tourists at a local wildlife park.
Namibia is expected to propose lifting a 1989 ban on the sale of ivory that would allow it to sell tusks, ivory trinkets and goods made from the hair and skin of elephants that had died naturally or were culled under government-supervised programs.
Kenya and several West and Central African nations have opposed the idea, calling for a 20-year extension of the current moratorium.
Kenya is also lobbying for a global ban on trade in lion trophies and skins, arguing that the animals have declined sharply in number due to hunting, loss of habitat and lack of prey.
Australia and Madagascar are expected to call for tighter restrictions on trade in great white sharks -- the massive ocean predator that has increasingly become the prey of traders and trophy hunters seeking its jaws, teeth, skin and meat. The US has backed the proposal.
Meanwhile, activists have denounced a proposal by Japan to allow some populations of minke whales to be hunted for scientific purposes. Japan is among a few countries that have continued to hunt the mammals despite a 1986 ban on commercial whaling that largely halted the practice.
Thailand will ask delegates to outlaw trade of the Irrawaddy dolphin, which is native to freshwater habitats in Southeast Asia and is sought after by zoos, particularly in Japan and Singapore, for its pleasing appearance and ability to perform tricks.
While Thailand has made strides in cracking down on illicit wildlife trade in recent years, the country remains a hub for the sale and export of protected species due to corruption and weak law enforcement. Bangkok will ask for greater latitude in selling farm-grown orchids, a lucrative export. Wild specimens of the flower have been over-harvested worldwide because of their popularity among collectors, according to the UN.
Among the aquatic species set to be debated at the conference is the humphead wrasse, a Pacific reef fish considered a delicacy in some countries.
Proposals to protect the ramin timber tree, the Chinese yew and other medicinal plants, as well as an array of bird, turtle, crocodile and rhinoceros species will also be considered.
KINGPIN: Marset allegedly laundered the proceeds of his drug enterprise by purchasing and sponsoring professional soccer teams and even put himself in the starting lineups Notorious Latin American narco trafficker Sebastian Marset, who eluded police for years, was handed over to US authorities after his arrest on Friday in Bolivia. Marset, a Uruguayan national who was on the US most-wanted list, was passed to agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration at Santa Cruz airport in Bolivia, then put on a US airplane, Bolivian state television showed. “The arrest and deportation were carried out pursuant to a court order issued by the US justice system,” Bolivian Minister of Government Marco Antonio Oviedo told reporters. The alleged kingpin was arrested in an upscale neighborhood of Santa
FAKE NEWS? ‘When the government demands the press become a state mouthpiece under the threat of punishment, something has gone very wrong,’ a civic group said The top US broadcast regulator on Saturday threatened media outlets over negative coverage of the Middle East war, after US President Donald Trump slammed critical headlines from the “Fake News Media.” The US president since his first term has derided mainstream media as “fake news” and has sued major outlets over what he sees as unfair coverage. Brendan Carr, head of the US Federal Communications Commission — which oversees the nation’s radio, television and Internet media — said broadcasters risked losing their licenses over news coverage. “The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will
SCANDAL: Other images discovered earlier show Andrew bent over a female and lying across the laps of a number of women, while Mandelson is pictured in his underpants A photograph of former British prince Andrew and veteran politician Peter Mandelson sitting in bathrobes alongside late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was unearthed on Friday in previously published documents. The image is believed to be the first known photograph of the two men with Epstein. They are currently engulfed in scandal in the UK over their ties to their mutual friend. The undated photograph, first reported by ITV News, shows King Charles III’s disgraced brother and former British ambassador to the US sitting barefoot outside on a wooden deck. They appear to have mugs with a US flag on them
INFLUTENTIAL THEORIST: Habermas was particularly critical of the ‘limited interest’ shown by German politicians in ‘shaping a politically effective Europe Jurgen Habermas, whose work on communication, rationality and sociology made him one of the world’s most influential philosophers and a key intellectual figure in his native Germany, has died. He was 96. Habermas’ publisher, Suhrkamp, said he died on Saturday in Starnberg, near Munich. Habermas frequently weighed in on political matters over several decades. His extensive writing crossed the boundaries of academic and philosophical disciplines, providing a vision of modern society and social interaction. His best-known works included the two-volume Theory of Communicative Action. Habermas, who was 15 at the time of Nazi Germany’s defeat, later recalled the dawn of
RSS