UN calls for overhaul of national laws to tackle wildlife crime

Countries urged to outlaw possession of wildlife and timber illegally harvested or traded elsewhere

Arthur Neslen

Tuesday 24 May 201613.00 BST

Last modified on Tuesday 24 May 201613.01 BST

Governments around the world need to pass national laws outlawing the possession of wildlife and timber that has been illegally harvested or traded elsewhere, a new report by the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) urges.

At present, unlisted but endangered flora and fauna can be legally sold in other nations, even if it was illicitly taken from the countries of origin, due to a lack of coverage in the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).

As the Guardian revealed last year, conservation authorities believe that the survival of many endangered species is being threatened as a result.

The level of concern is such that the UN is now calling for “each country to prohibit, under national law, the possession of wildlife that was illegally harvested in, or illegally traded from, anywhere else in the world.”

“Domestic environmental laws should be expanded to provide protection to wildlife from other parts of the world,” the report adds.

Draft laws could be prepared nationally, regionally or internationally, to give a legal basis for contraband seizures by customs officers, without having to refer to international protected species lists, according to the UN paper.

Theodore Leggett, the study’s author, told the Guardian there was a good chance for the idea gaining traction in the international community.

“There is tremendous international goodwill on this right now. No one is going to stand up and say that wildlife trade should be less regulated,” he said.

Read on … 

Japan's whaling fleet abides by UN ruling and catches no whales

A fleet of Japanese whaling ships have returned to the port of Shimonoseki, a major whaling base, after their voyage to the Antarctic, report the Japan Times.

This year, however, for the first time in nearly 30 years, they returned empty-handed following last year's ruling by the UN's International Court of Justice that mandated the end to the annual hunt.

The two ships, the 724-ton Yushin Maru and the 747-ton Yushin Maru No 2, contained no catch when they docked. This was the first time they had not caught any whales since 1987.

The government had pledged that this season’s research excursion would not involve lethal hunting, and harpoons normally used in the capture of whales were removed from the vessels.

Crew members on the two boats only carried out “sighting surveys” and took skin samples , news reports said. And the two ships were not subjected to any attacks by anti-whaling activists.

The International Court of Justice ruled in March last year that Tokyo was abusing a scientific exemption set out in a 1986 moratorium on whaling. The court concluded Tokyo was carrying out a commercial hunt under a veneer of science.

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United Nations launches emergency appeal for elephants of the Congo

Kevin Heath / 16 hours ago

The United Nations Rapid Response Facility has launched an emergency appeal to raise funds to fight elephant poachers in the Garamba National Park in the DR Congo. The launch comes just days after Mr. Martin Kobler, who heads the UN Organisation Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) said more international help is needed to stop the poachers.

Kobler visited the Garamba National Park last week and said, “Armed group activity is eastern DRC is largely funded by the proceeds from illegal trade and trafficking of the country’s rich natural resources. Our efforts to track down these negative forces must also address the drivers of the conflict,”

Despite increase action by rangers of the Garamba National Park the toll of elephant deaths keep mounting. Between April and July this year 78 elephants were killed which represented 4% of the parks elephant population. An unsustainable level of losses.

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Reality check in race to curb extinction as only five of 56 targets are seeing progress

Attempts to slow down the dramatic loss of wild animals and their habitats are failing, a United Nations reported has warned.

The Global Biodiversity Outlook 4, published on Monday as countries meeting in South Korea to discuss the problem, said there was little sign that the world would meet the target date of 2020 to curb the rate of extinction.

The number of species being lost because of human activity is one of the reasons why geologists are considering declaring a new epoch in time, called the Anthropocene. In the future, it is likely that the sudden change in flora and fauna will be noticeable in the fossil record.

The plight of the world’s most endangered animals, such as lemurs, the blue-tongued forest giraffe and the spoon-billed sandpiper, is getting worse despite the international effort by humans.

Read on ...

Climate change puts Earth in deep trouble

March 2014: Climate change has led the world into deep trouble says a UN report. It is the second in a series of four reports being prepared by the world’s leading climate authorities in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It assesses the impacts, adaptation and vulnerability of human and natural systems, the observed impacts and future risks of climate change, and the potential for and limits to adaptation.

Samantha Smith, leader of the WWF Global Climate & Energy Initiative says the report highlights the dramatic difference of impacts between a world where we act now to cut emissions, which now come mostly from using fossil fuels; and a world where we fail to act quickly and at scale.

“This report tells us that we have two clear choices: cut emissions now and invest in adaption - and have a world that has challenging and just barely manageable risks; or do nothing and face a world of devastating and unmanageable risks and impacts.
”The report makes it clear that we still have time to act. We can limit climate instability and adapt to some of the changes we see now. But without immediate and specific action, we are in danger of going far beyond the limits of adaptation."

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Japan's whaling future in balance as ICJ set to rule on hunting in Antarctic

Activists say case brought before international court of justice by Australia is make-or-break for whales' future in Southern Ocean

Agence France-Presse in the Hague

The Guardian, Sunday 30 March 2014 18.37 BST

The leading court at the UN will rule on Monday on whether Japan has the right to hunt whales in the Antarctic, an emotive case that activists say is make-or-break for the mammals' future.

Australia took Japan to the international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague in 2010, accusing Tokyo of exploiting a loophole by hunting whales as scientific research to get around a 1986 ban on commercial whaling.

Australia has asked the ICJ to order Japan to stop its Jarpa II research programme and "revoke any authorisations, permits or licences" to hunt whales in the Southern Ocean.

During hearings last year, Canberra accused Tokyo of doing nothing more than "cloaking commercial whaling in a labcoat of science".

Norway and Iceland maintain commercial whaling programmes in spite of the 1986 International Whaling Commission (IWC) moratorium, but Japan insists its programme is scientific, while admitting that the resulting meat ends up on plates back at home.

Japan has killed more than 10,000 whales under the programme since 1988, according to Canberra, allegedly putting it in breach of international conventions and its obligation to preserve marine mammals and their environment.

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UN urges people to eat insects to fight world hunger

Eating more insects could help fight world hunger, according to a new UN report.

The report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization says that eating insects could help boost nutrition and reduce pollution.

It notes than over 2 billion people worldwide already supplement their diet with insects.

However it admits that "consumer disgust" remains a large barrier in many Western countries.

Wasps, beetles and other insects are currently "underutilised" as food for people and livestock, the report says. Insect farming is "one of the many ways to address food and feed security".

"Insects are everywhere and they reproduce quickly, and they have high growth and feed conversion rates and a low environmental footprint," according to the report. Nutritional value

The authors point out that insects are nutritious, with high protein, fat and mineral content.

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