TRAFFIC Southeast Asia

Region: Cambodia, Brunei, Timor Leste, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam
Office: Malaysia
Founded: 1991
1st Director: Stephen Nash
Current Director: Azrina Abdullah
Contact Details

Regional overview
Southeast Asia is a major centre for the wildlife trade, both as a supplier and consumer of wildlife products. The region includes some of the world’s poorest countries, where the rich biodiversity is exploited by communities to eke out an existence. Elsewhere, greater affluence in rapidly developing areas has led to increased demand and purchasing power for wildlife products. Most major taxonomic groups of plants and animals found are traded, both within and outside the region, particularly timber, reptile skins, plant extracts and live birds. As a result of high levels of wildlife consumerism, unsustainable rates of harvesting are threatening species that were once plentiful and bringing already endangered species closer to extinction. Major markets supplying illegal products still operate openly in many countries.

Sign outside TRAFFIC Greater Mekong Programme, Ha Noi, Viet NamOffice history and key wildlife trade decisions in the region
TRAFFIC Southeast Asia was established in October 1991, hosted by WWF Malaysia. A Viet Nam office was established in April 1999, which became a sub-regional office for Indochina in 2001.

1992: reported to the CITES Secretariat on the Philippines coral trade
1993: published a special report to assist Viet Nam with acceeding to CITES (Guidance on the accession of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to CITES)
1994: published research into the songbird trade in Southeast Asia (Sold for a song: The trade in Southeast Asian non­CITES birds); reported to CITES Secretariat on Hawksbill Turtle trade in Viet Nam; Viet Nam accedes to CITES
1995: investigated freshwater turtle trade in Viet Nam (Investigations into tortoise and freshwater turtle trade in Vietnam)
1996: published findings on shark fisheries (Shark fisheries and the trade in sharks and shark products of Southeast Asia)
1997: reviewed wildlife trade in Lao and Viet Nam (Trade review: Fin, feather, scale and skin: Observations on the wildlife trade in Lao PDR and Vietnam); Myanmar and Cambodia accede to CITES
1999: published a comprehensive report into the trade in live coral fish for food and the use of destructive fishing methods (Fishing for solutions: Can the live trade in wild groupers and wrasses from Southeast Asia be managed?); co-hosted, with WWF and The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), a major workshop on tortoise and freshwater turtle trade in Asia, whose recommendations were largley adopted by CITES in 2000
2000: launched a major Agarwood report (Heart of the matter); signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Viet Nam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and Forest Protection Department (FPD)—the country’s CITES Management Authority, subsequently resulting in improved CITES legislation in Viet Nam
2004: researched the Ramin trade in Indonesia (Framing the picture: An assessment of Ramin trade in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore); the India Star Tortoise trade (Demand driven: The trade in Indian Star Tortoises Geochelone elegans in peninsular Malaysia); the Sumatran Tiger trade (Nowhere to hide: The trade in Sumatran Tiger); the Bekko trade (Shelled out? A snapshot of Bekko trade in selected locations in Southeast Asia); and marine turles in Viet Nam (The trade in marine turtle products in Viet Nam)
2005: published comprehensive reports into primate trade in Indonesia (Hanging in the balance: An assessment of trade in orang-utans and gibbons on Kalimantan, Indonesia) (In full swing: An assessment of trade in orang-utans and gibbons on Java and Bali, Indonesia); published a report into the musk trade (Against the grain: Trade in Musk Deer products in Singapore and Malaysia); analysed pet trade in North Sumatra (Open season: An analysis of the pet trade in Medan, North Sumatra 1997-2001)
2006: reported on trade into a threatened reptile (The trade of the Roti Island Snake-necked Turtle Chelodina mccordi)
2007: published reports into wildlife trade in Viet Nam, Lao and Cambodia (A matter of attitude: The consumption of wild animal products in Ha Noi, Viet Nam) (Trade in natural resources in Stung Treng Province Cambodia) (Trade in natural resources in Attapeu Province Lao)

USEFUL LINKS
EIN News from the Southeast Asia region