Wildlife conservation needs more governmental support, expert says

China has made significant progress and joined several international campaigns against the trade in illicit wildlife products, including ivory and rhino horn, according to a top specialist on wildlife conservation.

"I think China has been serious in strengthening its laws, regulations and enforcement on illegal wildlife products trade," says John Scanlon, secretary-general of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES.

Scanlon says that among the 177 partner countries of CITES, China is one of the most actively engaged.

"When we look at China, we must recognize and see the great efforts it has made," he says. "It is not the Chinese government that is involved in the illicit trade, but some individual Chinese who are acting illegally. We have to draw a distinction clearly."

Different authorities are functioning well together in their efforts, led by the Ministry of Forestry, and they have coordinated their work with all the agencies involved across China. In terms of enforcement, it has scaled up significantly and coordinated with different disciplines, including police, customs and forest inspectors, Scanlon says.

But there is also an urgent need for the Chinese government to raise public awareness regarding wildlife protection, he says.

"The issue over communication with the Chinese people on consuming wildlife products should not be restricted to China only. Ivory, rhino horns and other illicit products are delivered to different destinations," Scanlon says.

"But how do you raise the awareness? I think the best way is by working with Chinese people themselves. Because they know the culture, they know the best way to communicate. So that's why we use our own Chinese staff to directly work with the Chinese authorities to say how we can work with China to help raise awareness."

He says a major problem is a lack of understanding about the implications of the global trade in wildlife products. So it is also important to work with international organizations like the United Nations Environmental Programme, which has excellent reach in China, Scanlon says.

China is not and can't work alone on this issue, he says, adding that China has joined international campaigns over the past three years and been very active in working with CITES. China has also hosted three CITES meetings, including a meeting on training officials from Asia and Africa in technical control delivery.

"China has recently invested $200,000 in the African Elephant Fund based in Nairobi, Kenya, which is a multi-donor technical trust for the implementation of an African Elephant Action Plan, to further protect the species," Scanlon says.

There are a significant number of exchanges between China and Africa in the field in terms of wildlife protection enforcement, he adds.

"I think what we need to recognize is that domestically China has taken significant actions to protect the species and the same can be also said for Africa - countries like South Africa, Botswana and Namibia - which is taking strong action to protect its national heritage - the wildlife."

But he also says that in some African countries, because of weak governance, they have difficulties in wildlife conservation, controlling conflict and rampant poaching.

"I think there are a lot of good examples in other parts of the world, which take good and sound steps to protect wild animals," he says. "For instance, in the US, the government has a very strong border control and they use some advanced techniques that are used in other fields to protect wildlife."

In some countries, he claims, the issue is not taken seriously due to lack of funds and efforts. Another difficulty regarding illicit wildlife product control, especially ivory trade, is there are still legal markets, which may give rise to illicit ones also.

"Unlike rhino-horn trade, which is completely illegal, ivory is a little bit different, because it had been traded officially until 1999 when it was banned," he says, adding that although traditional Chinese medicine used rhino horn as an ingredient, the Chinese government prohibited it nearly two decades ago.

"In China and other countries, there is legally-sold ivory with a certificate system," he says. "But it's still different from the US, because the US now does not allow any ivory trade, unless it's ancient or antique ivory."

In China, new ivory is coming through new sales, purchased legally on international markets, which is hard to distinguish from poached ivory.

"That's why we are working with the Chinese government to ensure the system and regulations are rigorous, making sure the legal trade is not laundered or in illegal ivory," he says.

"When there is a legal trade, there is an opportunity for laundering, and that's why we should have tighter and legal national controls."

lilianxing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 03/15/2013 page5)