Nam represented at Illegal Wildlife Trade conference

NAMIBIA is represented at the landmark London Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade taking place today in England’s capital.

The primary purpose of the conference is to gather high-level decision makers from more than 50 countries, to agree and commit on measures to end the illegal trade of elephants, rhino, tigers and other wildlife.

Romeo Muyunda, Chief Public Relations Officer at the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, explained that Namibia’s representative, Boas Erckie, Deputy Director for Etosha National Park has participated to “share our experiences and learn from the other countries’ experiences”.

He said Namibia is also intending to “see how we can collaborate with other countries to improve the current situation in regard to illegal trade of wildlife”.

While Namibia’s poaching numbers are relatively low, in particular with regard to the severely threatened black rhino, the country does face issues of illegal wildlife trade, though this remains unreported and research is minimal.

Some of the animals facing illegal breeding, capture and trade include a variety of reptiles, including tortoises, and the pangolin in Namibia.

Liz Komen, founder and director of the Namibia Animal Rehabilitation Research and Education Centre (NARREC) said there is clear evidence that illegal wildlife trade is taking place in Namibia.

“Illegal trade is a two-way street. For example, we always think of it as capture and sell … or poach of indigenous flora and fauna. But there is another aspect, already active in Namibia. Illegal trade in reptiles by smuggling in, captive breeding and sales in Namibia”. Komen said these activities are often apparent merely by observing the food for sale in pet shops across the country.

She cautioned that the public and government need to take urgent steps to address these crimes, and that government has to focus on setting legislation regulation and policy for best practice.

Maria Dieckmann, founder of the Rare and Endangered Species Trust (REST), who works with vultures, pangolins and other species, said that many in Namibia believe that there has been a particular surge of illegal pangolin trade.

Another Namibian attending the London event is John Kasaona, a co-director at the Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC) in Namibia.

Kasaona was also a speaker at a two-day symposium at the Zoological Society of London, which took place as a run up to the conference this week, where he held a talk based on Namibia’s efforts and successes in “protecting wildlife through community-based conservation”.

The London conference is being hosted by the UK Prime Minister David Cameron and is being attended by the royals Prince Charles and his son Prince William. According to the UK government, the aim of the conference is “to help eradicate illegal wildlife trade and better protect the world’s most iconic species from the threat of extinction”. Ultimately, the goal of the conference is to garner high-level political commitment to take urgent action to tackle what many describe as a “crisis” in illegal wildlife trade.

Current statistics show that the illegal wildlife trade takes the lives of 100 elephants a day, and rhino poaching increased by 5000% between 2007 and 2012.

Furthermore, statistics show that 10% of Africa’s elephant population was killed for ivory during the past two years. The Western black rhino was declared extinct in 2013.

It is estimated that the global international wildlife crime trade is worth U$9,8 billion a year, and thus, is the world’s fourth largest illegal activity, behind drug trafficking, the illegal arms’ trade and human trafficking.

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