Environmental Investigation Agency added a photo to their timeline.
Insightful op-ed in South China Morning Post that looks beyond seizures and anti-poaching efforts to the very real and urgent need to go after the powerful criminal syndicates behind the ivory trade ...
Time for a Hong Kong tusk force to combat illegal ivory trade
"What can be done to save the elephant? CITES was developed to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. Yet despite a consensus about the threatened status of elephants, CITES has failed to prevent their wholesale slaughter or dampened the motivation for their trade....
Hong Kong has the requisite system in place to intercept illegally traded wildlife and, by law, the Customs and Excise Department is obliged to check that elephants and elephant parts are not illegally traded and handled through its ports. However, many would argue the scale of the operation to enforce these requirements is too small.
The nature of the ivory trade adds to the complexity in enforcement. Much like the illegal trade in narcotics, counterfeits and human trafficking, the global ivory trade is controlled by organised crime syndicates, often using similar trade routes. From the initial poaching of the elephant, transport by air or sea, to handling by dealers and sale in the destination country, the process is highly organised and requires a degree of complicity from corrupt park officials, the police and customs officers.
This makes catching illegal traders and prosecuting offenders extremely difficult, and fudged permit declarations hard to trace. Despite the interception of a number of big ivory shipments in recent years, enforcement in Hong Kong needs to be scaled up to more adequately address the problem."
Read the full article at http://www.scmp.com/comment/
Image: Hong Kong Customs officers seize large illegal shipment of ivory from Nigeria to China (c) EPASee More
Time for a Hong Kong tusk force to combat illegal ivory trade
"What can be done to save the elephant? CITES was developed to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. Yet despite a consensus about the threatened status of elephants, CITES has failed to prevent their wholesale slaughter or dampened the motivation for their trade....
Hong Kong has the requisite system in place to intercept illegally traded wildlife and, by law, the Customs and Excise Department is obliged to check that elephants and elephant parts are not illegally traded and handled through its ports. However, many would argue the scale of the operation to enforce these requirements is too small.
The nature of the ivory trade adds to the complexity in enforcement. Much like the illegal trade in narcotics, counterfeits and human trafficking, the global ivory trade is controlled by organised crime syndicates, often using similar trade routes. From the initial poaching of the elephant, transport by air or sea, to handling by dealers and sale in the destination country, the process is highly organised and requires a degree of complicity from corrupt park officials, the police and customs officers.
This makes catching illegal traders and prosecuting offenders extremely difficult, and fudged permit declarations hard to trace. Despite the interception of a number of big ivory shipments in recent years, enforcement in Hong Kong needs to be scaled up to more adequately address the problem."
Read the full article at http://www.scmp.com/comment/
Image: Hong Kong Customs officers seize large illegal shipment of ivory from Nigeria to China (c) EPASee More
No comments:
Post a Comment