TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, works to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature
New foundation to promote sustainable collection of wild plants
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Wolf's Blane, Arnica montana is used in the treatment of bruising and sprains Click photo to enlarge © G. Ammermann / WWF Barcelona, Spain, 9th October 2008—An important agreement was signed today between the four founding institutions of the International Standard for Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (ISSC-MAP) to endorse global implementation of the standard through the FairWild Foundation.
ISSC-MAP is a standard that promotes appropriate management of wild plant populations used in medicines and cosmetics to ensure they are not over-exploited. Under the new agreement, the FairWild Foundation will help develop an industry labelling system so products harvested using the sustainable ISSC-MAP criteria can be readily recognised and certified. Use of the standard will be promoted throughout the herbal products industry.
TRAFFIC
New study on what’s driving the wildlife trade in south-east Asia
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Wild meat on sale in Vietnam; a new study investigates what drives trade in wildlife Click photo to enlarge TRAFFIC
Cambridge, UK, 3 October 2008—A report released today by the World Bank and TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, examines what factors influence wildlife trade in south-east Asia, and in particular trade that is illegal and unsustainable.
Launching the report, What’s Driving the Wildlife Trade?, Tony Whitten, the World Bank’s Senior Biodiversity Specialist for the East Asia and Pacific Region, commented on the rationale in carrying out the study: “Understanding the factors that influence wildlife trade is absolutely fundamental if steps are to be taken to curb illegal trade or influence unsustainable trade so that it becomes sustainable.”
Over-harvesting a key threat according to new IUCN Red List
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In the Red List update, African Elephants have been downlisted from Vulnerable to Near Threatened Click photo to enlarge (C) Martin Harvey / WWF-Canon Barcelona, Spain, 6 October 2008--The new IUCN Red List of Threatened Species was unveiled today at the World Conservation Congress currently underway in Barcelona. A record 44,838 species have been assessed, of which 16,928 (38%) are threatened with extinction.
The new assessment finds 1,141 mammal species, more than 1 in 5 of all mammals, is threatened with extinction. Over harvesting is a key threat, wiping out larger mammals, especially in Southeast Asia, but also in parts of Africa and South America. Species like the Caspian Seal Pusa caspica move from Vulnerable to Endangered. Its population has declined by 90 percent in the last 100 years due to unsustainable hunting and habitat degradation and is still decreasing.
However, conservation can bring species back from the brink of extinction, with five percent of currently threatened mammals showing signs of recovery in the wild. They include the African Elephant Loxodonta africana, which moves from Vulnerable to Near Threatened, largely a reflection of the recent and ongoing population increases in southern and eastern Africa. The status of the species varies considerably across its range.
