Trafficking in wild fauna and flora a huge global issue and needs to be nipped swiftly
The second highest global illegal trade, after drugs, is the trafficking of illegal wild fauna and flora and annual ivory trade alone amounts to a gigantic US$ 19 billion, a Biodiversity Forum to commemorate the ‘World Environment Day 2016’ was told last week.
This was stated by a retired Customs official - Samantha Gunasekera who had served in the Biodiversity, Culture and National Heritage Protection Division when he addressed a seminar on Biodiversity Sri Lanka ‘Go Wild for Life’ – Zero Tolerance for Illegal Wildlife Trade held in the Senate Hall, Colombo University.
It was organised by the Institute of Environmental Professionals Sri Lanka (IEPSL), Biodiversity Sri Lanka and Base for Enthusiasts of Environmental Sciences and Zoology (BEEZ) – a student body.
At this seminar startling revelations were made with regard to the illegal wildlife trade and the report in 2012 the seizure of a ‘blood ivory’ container with 359 pieces weighing 1.5 tons by the Sri Lanka Customs en-route to Dubai from Kenya and another seizure of a massive consignment of 28 container loads of Madagascar Dalberia – Rose Wood – worth $ 7 million which was being transported from Zanzibar to Hong Kong via Sri Lanka in 2014 which suggested that Sri Lanka could be a major transit point for illegal wildlife trafficking.
This is particularly stressed considering the fact that Sri Lanka is strategically located in one of the busiest international shipping routes in the Indian Ocean and most of the container ships, particularly between Africa and the Gulf Regions to the East Asian region, pass through the Colombo Port.
Speakers at the seminar were Jagath Gunawardena, environmentalist and Attorney- at- law; Samantha Gunasekera; Prof. Devaka Weerakoon, University of Colombo/ IUCN Sri Lanka; Vasantha Leelananda, Executive Vice President, John Keells Group and Akram Cassim, CEO, Colombo Jewellery Stores.
Mr, Gunasekera continuing said that to prevent wild fauna and flora smuggling political will is vital and there is a need to eliminate corruption and create clear transparency in the backdrop of national thinking. In Sri Lanka it was found that certain government/ private institutions have connections with organised wildlife criminals in the smuggling of Wallapatta, rusty spotted cats, Sri Lanka jungle fowl and exotic birds among others.
He said that many endangered species which are threatened by the trade are not legally protected/prohibited from exports and no monitoring in done in collections. No cost/ benefit analysis on wild collections and gaps in existing legislation in Sri Lanka is found, he said, while indicating that there is an absence of provisions in national legislation to implement CITES ( International agreement on the Conservation on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) regulations to address the illegal international trade.
He indicated that to eradicate the dangers to the wildlife in Sri Lanka a number of recommendations have been made such as proper policies; addressing the gaps in national legislation; legality for CITES; proper enforcement; better co-ordination between inter- governmental and with non-Governmental organisations and education/awareness-officials/school children /university students/ public.
In assessing the value of wildlife, he said that there is intrinsic value that contributes to the ecological, genetic, social, economic, scientific, educational, cultural and recreational and aesthetic values.
He said illegal trades would drive the whole species to the brink of extinction, reduce rare species towards extinction, unsustainable collections; loss of genetic information and impacts on biodiversity where there could be genetic drift and biodiversity degradation and fragmentation.
At the tail-end of the event, a panel discussion provided a live discussion on the whole gamut of biodiversity in Sri Lanka and here was a cross-section of bio-diversity enthusiasts.
However some of the participants told the Business Times (BT) on the sidelines of the seminar that this seminar appeared to be just another of the many events which doesn’t offer practical solutions to deal with common problems.
One of them indicated that in Sri Lanka environmental degradation in Sri Lanka is apparent everywhere, the garbage issue, water issue, floods, landslides, elephant human conflict and all of them should be dealt with immediately and these organisations on environment should do some tangible work to reduce the impact.