Flora | ICT magazine

Posts Tagged ‘Flora’

Trade in endangered species: Fishy business

March 25th, 2010 | No Comments

How the elephants’ success hurt the bluefin tuna

AS OLD hands tell it, protecting a threatened species used to be a relatively straightforward affair at the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Government officials would turn up at the triennial meetings and, after listening to advice from scientists, conservationists and their own environment ministries, were likely to agree to a “listing”.

This year at its meeting in Doha, everything changed. Seemingly alarmed by the large number of proposals to list marine species, Japan turned up in force. Japan’s 30-strong delegation was as big as the one from America. And thanks to its “capacity building” efforts—in other words, providing finance for projects in developing countries—Japan was also able to fly in a dozen or so fisheries ministers, mostly from Africa, to ensure their participation—and, no doubt, their votes. …

Eaten away

March 18th, 2010 | No Comments

A ban on the trade in bluefin tuna is rejected

IT WAS a moment of some drama when delegates assembled in Doha came to vote on a ban in the trade in bluefin tuna on March 18th. The previous evening many representatives of the 175 member nations of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) had been at a reception at the Japanese embassy. Prominent on the menu was bluefin tuna sushi. On the agenda the next day at the CITES meeting was a proposal to list the bluefin tuna as sufficiently endangered that it would qualify for a complete ban in the trade of the species (The Economist supports such a ban).

The complex proposal called for further discussion of the bluefin tuna’s plight. Europe, the United States, Monaco and Norway were hoping to move to an adjournment, which would have allowed a proper investigation of the issues over the weekend. Kevern Cochrane, the representative from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), agreed. He also acknowledged that the official FAO panel had decided that the species met the scientific criteria for listing as a sufficiently endangered species qualifying for a trade ban–the bluefin tuna population has dropped below 15% of its maximum historical level. …

While stocks last

March 16th, 2010 | No Comments

Some ivory sales are a good idea. This one isn’t

IN 1989 the signatories to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) agreed to ban the ivory trade, and banned it has remained. Except, that is, for when CITES chooses to allow it—as it has done now and then since 1997, when specific countries have some well-sourced ivory to get rid of. Most recently, in 2008, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe were allowed to make such sales to China and Japan. Now, as the triennial CITES meeting gets under way in Doha, both Tanzania and Zambia say they want to do something similar.

Those in favour of such sales (most notably, the countries which seek to make them) say they allow countries to benefit from having elephants, and help to finance elephant conservation and protection. Those against them (some conservation charities and some academics in the field) argue that any sale of ivory will lead to an increase in poaching by stimulating demand, and that little of the money raised actually goes to elephants. …

Tuna fishing: Changing tides

November 19th, 2009 | No Comments

The bluefin tuna is still being managed badly. A trade ban is on the cards

IN A world where wildlife is under increasing pressure, good management can mean the difference between survival and extinction. In the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, the management of bluefin tuna is in the hands of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT)—and the results can scarcely be described as good. Bluefin have been fished from these waters for 7,000 years but in the past 40, while they have been under the aegis of this group, their numbers have declined by three-quarters.

In recent years the organisation, which is notorious for ignoring the advice of its own scientists, has been under some pressure. Moves have been made to transfer responsibility for the bluefin to a different body, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This organisation has the power to ban trade in an endangered species such as the bluefin entirely. …

Tuna and pollock: A tale of two fisheries

September 10th, 2009 | No Comments

How to pillage the oceans deliberately, and by accident

THERE are two ways to overfish the sea. One is to ignore scientific advice and plunder on regardless. The other is to accept the advice, and then discover it isn’t good enough.

For decades the Atlantic bluefin-tuna fishery has fallen into the former camp. The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), the group charged with managing this fishery, has been a disgrace. Every year, its member states have handed themselves quotas far in excess of those prescribed by the organisation’s scientific advice. Last year things were so bad that ICCAT’s chairman warned members that if they did not do better their power to manage the bluefin would end up being taken away from them. But they failed to restrain themselves, and the backlash has begun. Earlier this year Monaco proposed that the bluefin be listed in Appendix I of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). Such a listing would ban all international trade while the stock recovered. …

Father of Lockerbie victim applauds bomberâ€™s release but still seeks truth

August 22nd, 2009 | No Comments

The father of one of the British Lockerbie bombing victims said he was still seeking the truth behind the terror attack, in an interview published Saturday. Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora, 23, was among those killed, applauded the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, who was