African elephant and rhino poaching are on the rise, Cites says (photo: Cites)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Governments taking part in the Cites (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) meeting in Geneva agreed to contribute to a $100 million fund to save the African elephant, in the face of increased poaching.
Some 300 delegates from around the world took part in the meeting that ended 19 August in Geneva. “The target is to raise $100 million over the next three years to enhance law enforcement capacity and secure the long term survival of African elephant populations,” says Cites said Secretary-General John Scanlon.
The organization also reviewed issues surrounding rhino poaching.
Cites’s members discussed a public report prepared by its programme for Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants, Gland-based IUCN and Traffic. The report shows that”2010 had seen the highest levels of elephant poaching since 2002, with Central Africa being of highest concern. The analysis has also found that poverty and poor governance are driving elephant poaching, together with increasing demand in China.”
African elephants, from a painting by Gail Van Lingen
Gland, Switzerland and Harare, Zimbabwe (GenevaLunch) – Evidence appears to be growing that poaching is on the rise in Zimbabwe and that international gangs are working with local poachers, based on converging reports from several sources. The increased poaching affects elephants and rhinos. Several species of both are on the protected species lists published by Gland-based IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature).
The government-run The Herald newspaper in Harare reported 3 November that at least 200 rhinos have been poached in the past three years, “as locals increasingly network with international syndicates in the illegal trade of the horns, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Natural Resources, Environment and Tourism” was told by parks officials 2 November. Reporters were asked to leave the room when statistics were given for the current population. The Herald estimates the populations for white and black rhinos to be 500 and 300 respectively.
Bankers are seeing bonuses slashed, jobs cut – but one group that isn’t suffering is retail brokers, who are so hot that “poaching is the new game in town,” writes Reuters in a long article where they note that Swiss-based UBS, for example, in 2008 increased the number of brokers by 300, up to 8,182 during the same period where the bank cut staff overall by more than 5,000 people.
