Legal Eastern markets are killing Africa's wildlife

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Legal Eastern markets are killing Africa's wildlife

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2018-03-17 14:30 - Don Pinnock

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The scale at which Africa’s wildlife is being drained by Eastern market demand is enormous, according to a report by the wildlife monitoring network TRAFFIC released this week.

The focus on wildlife trade from Africa generally centres on the illegal trade and the massive poaching of iconic species such as elephants and rhinos. However, comparatively little attention has been given to legal wildlife trade from the continent.

According to TRAFFIC, between 2006 and 2015, almost 1.4-million live animals and plants, 1.5-million skins and two million kilograms of meat from CITES-listed species were legally exported from 41 African countries to 17 countries in East and Southeast Asia.

The report – Eastward Bound – Analysis of CITES-listed flora and fauna export from Africa to East and Southeast Asia ­– warns that these export volumes are huge and escalating.

South Africa proved to be the largest seller of live birds, mammals and plants. Namibia was, by far, the greatest exporter of mammal skins – mainly those of Cape fur seals – most going to Singapore and Hong Kong. The second most common mammal skin exported was from elephants, with 11 285 sold from Zimbabwe (8 744) and South Africa (2 533). The greatest overall number of skins exported, however, were from Nile crocodiles – over 1,4-million.

Over two million kilograms of meat was also exported, most of it being from just three species: Nile crocodile, European eel and Cape fur seal. The largest importer of reptile meat was Hong Kong.

The scale of killing can be guaged by one seemingly bizarre export. In just 10 years, more than 50 tonnes of hippo teeth were marketed to the East from Uganda and Tanzania.

Live trade was dominated by two species which generally receive little attention: leopard tortoises and ball pythons. Importers of live animals were predominantly Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong. These and mainland China domanated skin imports and Singapore plus the Republic of Korea were the main meat importers.

The most commonly exported birds were African grey parrots, with 40 475 leaving South Africa between 2006 and 2015 and 34 283 from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The species was uplisted to 'endangered' in 2017, but several parties, including the DRC took out a reservation against the ban.

For some reason, there was a run on Fischer’s lovebird in 2013, with 65 315 heading for Asia. Although the bird is native to Tanzania, all exports were from captive sources in South Africa.

During the 10-year period under review, a major export was also wood, with 10 million square metres – much of it from virgin forest – bound for the East. Most of this was driven by exports of African teak, more than 9 million square metres coming from the DRC’s fragile rain forests.

It is likely, according to the report, that these overall export numbers are low in terms of what actually leaves the continent. The report states that "It is recognised that not all trade reported in the CITES Trade Database was sourced legally. For example, specimens may have been taken which exceeded national harvesting quotas, or taken from the wild and falsely claimed to be captive-bred. It is possible that such specimens make up a significant proportion of total trade reported. Also many species were only recently listed in CITES, so will not appear in this review of trade data for 2006 to 2015 in large amounts or at all. Exports of shark and manta ray products do not feature highly in this analysis. Although many were listed at 16th Conference of the Parties - CoP16 (2013) - the listings did not go into effect until September 2014 and therefore Parties will not have reported trade until then."

Of all of the species listed at CoP17 (2016), including sharks, rays and timber species such as Dalbergia, restrictions did not enter into effect until 2017.

"It is also useful to compare patterns of legal trade from a country with that of illegal trade," says the report. "Some countries thought to have a large illegal trade have very small or non-existent legal trade. Others have legal trades that far outweigh the estimated size of the illegal trade."

As there are only very rough estimates of poached or illegally captured animals and unlicensed timber harvesting, the scale of extraction of Africa’s living products or their derivatives is unmeasurable but undoubtedly enormous.

(Source: Conservation Action Trust)


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Re: Legal Eastern markets are killing Africa's wildlife

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:evil: :evil:


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Re: Legal Eastern markets are killing Africa's wildlife

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This says it all :
IMG-20180317-WA0000.jpg


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Re: Legal Eastern markets are killing Africa's wildlife

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This was confirmed to be fake news okie. ;-)


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Re: Legal Eastern markets are killing Africa's wildlife

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I certainly hope so and also old lol


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Re: Legal Eastern markets are killing Africa's wildlife

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lol


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Hong Kong failing to tackle wildlife smuggling epidemic: study
Hong Kong must do more to crack down on illegal wildlife smuggling by ending legal loopholes and lenient sentences, conservation groups said Monday, as they detailed the city’s role in the lucrative trade.

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Seized endangered pangolin scales on display in Hong Kong | © AFP | Isaac LAWRENCE


Hong Kong (AFP) |

Despite its comparatively small size, the bustling southern Chinese transport hub plays a “disproportionate” role in wildlife crime, researchers said, accounting for around a fifth of all global ivory seizures and nearly half of all pangolins seized in the last decade.

Yet authorities do not list wildlife trafficking offences under the city’s organised crime legislation targeting drug traffickers and triad gangs — and the few who are caught rarely face stiff penalties, the report’s authors warn.

“Wildlife crime in Hong Kong remains under-policed and under-investigated,” said Amanda Witfort, a professor at Hong Kong University’s Faculty of Law and one of the report’s authors.

“Wildlife smuggling is not regarded as organised and serious crime under Hong Kong law,” she added.

The study by Hong Kong Wildlife Trade Working Group (HKWTWG), a coalition of local groups, offers one of the most detailed analyses yet on smuggling rackets in the city.




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Pictures showing wildlife that being smuggled in Hong Kong


Researchers compiled and analysed 379 seizures from government departments, court cases, media reports and NGOs from January 2013 to December 2017 to assess the extent of the trade.

Researchers said the amount of parts seized in the city for three major trafficked species since 2013 could equate to the deaths of “3,000 elephants, 65,000 pangolins and 51 rhinoceros”.

But they warned the actual volume being trafficked through Hong Kong could be 5-10 times the size of seizures.

Over the last decade Hong Kong estimates the value of smuggling has grown by some 1,600 percent while the diversity of endangered species has increased 57 percent.

Hong Kong has long served as a key gateway to China’s mainland where there is huge demand for illegal and endangered wildlife parts.

The report detailed many of the ways crime gangs have snuck their quarry into the city, from so-called “ant smugglers” who arrive by commercial airplane with as much as 30 kilos of ivory sewn into their clothing, to loot hidden inside cargo ships heading to the world’s fifth busiest port.

An analysis of convictions in the last five years showed sentences ranged from community service to eight months jail and fines of HK$1,500 to HK$180,000 ($191 to $22,900), far below maximum penalties. Criminals who were prosecuted tended to be low-level carriers, leaving the kingpins untouched.

“It is evident that there are numerous operations relying on Hong Kong, at the very least as a transit port, and in the worst case as a base of operations and/or money laundering,” the authors wrote.

China finally banned the ivory trade a year ago while Hong Kong began phasing it out a few months later. The southern Chinese city has also recently increased the maximum penalties on smuggling to 10 years in jail and a HK$10million fine.

© 2019 AFP

https://lowvelder.co.za/afp/531458/hong ... mic-study/


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Re: Legal Eastern markets are killing Africa's wildlife

Post by Lisbeth »

Those numbers are impressive :shock: O-/
It is disastrous! :evil:

To see those sacks full of pangolin scales makes me both sad and furious :evil:


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Re: Legal Eastern markets are killing Africa's wildlife

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:evil: :evil: :evil:


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