Google – AFP, André Viollaz (AFP), 3 February 2014
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Seized
ivory tusks are displayed during a Hong Kong Customs press
conference on
January 4, 2013 (AFP/File, Dale de la Rey)
|
United
Nations (United States) — The United Nations Security Council is cracking down
on ivory hunters and traffickers who finance armed groups in Africa in a new
initiative that has been welcomed by conservationists.
Two
resolutions adopted by the council last week -- one relating to the Central
African Republic, the other to the Democratic Republic of Congo -- stated that
the trade in illegal wildlife was fueling conflicts in the region and
bankrolling organized crime.
Under the
resolutions, the council can slap sanctions, such as freezing assets or
restricting travel, on any individual found to be involved in wildlife
trafficking.
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Game
rangers look at the large bloated
carcass of an adult elephant killed for
its
tusks in the Ishasha Valley, Virunga
National Park on March 5, 2012 (Virunga
National Park/AFP/File)
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The UN also
suspects the Lord's Resistance Army run by the ruthless warlord Joseph Kony
uses the illegal ivory trade as a source of generating finances.
Other
groups believed to benefit from the illegal wildlife trade include Somalia's
Al-Shabaab Islamist militant group and Sudan's fearsome Janjaweed militia.
"This
is the first time that a United nations Security Council sanctions regime has
targeted wildlife poachers and traffickers," said Wendy Elliott, species
programme manager at the World Wildlife Fund told AFP. "It should act as a
deterrent."
"There
is no silver bullet to end this traffic, this is not going to solve the problem
instantly but a year ago wildlife trafficking was not seen as a criminal issue,
just an environmental one," Elliott added.
The
resolution means that traffickers can now be targeted by officials from
different government agencies such as interior and finance ministries, as well
as customs.
Since 2009,
the trade in poaching has escalated to near industrial levels, with more than
500 kilograms of ivory seized worldwide, threatening elephants and rhinos with
extinction despite the existence of CITES (The Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).
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An
estimated 60 elephants are slain each day in Africa, where the total
numbers of
the animals has plummeted by half since 1980 to just 500,000 (AFP)
|
An
estimated 60 elephants are slain each day in Africa, where the total numbers of
the animals has plummeted by half since 1980 to just 500,000.
Lucrative
criminal trade
In February
2012, traffickers from South Sudan massacred more than 300 elephants in the
Bouba N'Djidda National Park in northern Cameroon.
In May last
year, taking advantage of the chaos embroiling the Central African Republic,
poachers armed with Kalashnikov assault weapons killed at least 26 animals in
the fabled "village of elephants" the WWF said, a reserve set up
Dzanga Bai World Heritage Site.
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A policeman stands in front of a pile of
ivory before being crushed during a public
event in Dongguan, south China's
Guangdong province on January 6, 2014
(AFP/File)
|
The UN and
conservationists want a twin-pronged approach, targeting both producers of
ivory in Africa -- including countries such as Gabon, Kenya, Zambia, Democratic
Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and Uganda -- and consumer
countries such as China and Thailand. Transit countries on ivory smuggling
routes, such as Kenya, Tanzania, Malaysia and Vietnam, would also be targeted.
"It's
a simmering issue," a UN diplomat told AFP. Two international conferences
to address the subject had already taken place in Botswana and France last
December, the diplomat noted.
British
Prime Minister David Cameron meanwhile has convened a summit on the trafficking
of endangered species from February 12 and 13.
"The
idea is to get the highest level of political commitment from the countries
involved (in the London conference)," Elliott said.
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