Illegal trade of species a threat to biodiversity
EACH year, World Wildlife Day, on March 3, celebrates and raises awareness of the world’s wild animals and plants. Australians won’t be celebrating much this year as some fires are still burning there.
While bush fires are a feature of life in Australia, the 20192020 fire season was particularly severe with 34 people killed, 2,779 homes destroyed, 3,121 other buildings lost, an estimated 46 million acres burned, some 306 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted, an estimated one billion animals dead and some endangered species driven to extinction.
Globally, biodiversity faces many threats one of them being illegal trade. World Wildlife Day is a United Nations initiative that coincides with the anniversary of the signing of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), an international agreement between governments to regulate global trade in wild animals and plants to ensure that their survival does not become threatened by such trade.
Thousands of species are internationally traded and used by people in their daily lives for food, health care, housing, tourist souvenirs, cosmetics or fashion. With 183 contracting parties, 182 countries and the European Union, CITES is one of the world’s most powerful tools for wildlife conservation through the regulation of trade.
World Wildlife Day is celebrated under a different theme each year. This year the theme is ‘Sustaining all life on Earth’. CITES regulates international trade to sustain life on Earth with benefits for both the livelihoods of people and the global environment.
Globally, over 36,000 plant and animal species are accorded varying degrees of protection by the CITES convention. Regulations implementing CITES in the European Union list the species relevant to this part of the world and the EU experience of illegal trading in endangered wildlife.
Ireland ratified CITES in January 2002 and the convention entered into force here on 8 April 2002. Irish laws follow the EU Regulations and lay out the terms and conditions for possession, use and trade in protected species that are both native to Ireland and non-native species listed under CITES.
Trade in marine species such as exotic seahorses, colourful corals and tropical seashells is monitored by customs officials and wildlife officers to ensure that the survival of these beautiful and often endangered life forms does not become threatened by tourists unwittingly buying them as souvenirs while on holidays abroad and bringing them home.
Wildlife is best enjoyed and left in the wild where it belongs.