Crime 'threatens nearly half the world's natural heritage sites'

By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent

18 April 2017

Poaching, illegal logging and fishing are threatening endangered species in some of the world's most iconic natural sites, according to a report.

Conservation charity WWF says almost half of the world's 200 designated natural heritage sites are "plagued" by wildlife criminals.

These include the last refuges for critically endangered javan rhinos and wild tigers.

The authors say more co-ordination is needed to target the whole crime chain.

From the Great Barrier Reef to the Galapagos Islands and at many other locations across the globe, Unesco has designated around 200 natural World Heritage sites as being of outstanding international importance and deserving of the highest levels of protections.

WWF looked at the threats to species that are already protected under the Convention on the International Trades in Endangered Species (CITES).

The authors found that these threatened animals and plants are poached or illegally harvested in 45% of natural World Heritage sites.

Many of the parks in the study are home to critically endangered creatures - including Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia, which is the last stand for around 60 javan rhinos.

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Interpol launches most-wanted list of environmental fugitives

International policing agency’s public appeal targets nine dangerous fugitives suspected of crimes involving poaching and illegal logging

Arthur Neslen, Brussels

theguardian.com, Monday 17 November 2014 06.30 GMT

Interpol wanted Operation Infra-Terra (top row from left to right): Adriano Giacobone, Sudiman Sunoto, Bhekumusa Mawillis Shiba and Ben Simasiku; (bottom raw from left to right): Nicolaas Antonius Cornelis Maria Duindam, Ariel Bustamante Sanchez, Sergey Darminov and Feisal Mohamed Ali Photograph: Photograph: Interpol

Suspects wanted for crimes including poaching rhino, trafficking ivory and illegally chopping down forests feature on the first ever Most Wanted-style appeal to catch environmental criminals. 

Interpol’s public appeal hopes to catch nine fugitives suspected of environmental crimes costing hundreds of millions of dollars, in a move to catapult the issue to the forefront of international law enforcement.

Stefano Carvelli, the head of Interpol’s fugitive investigative support unit, said that the offences were only the tip of the iceberg of an environmental crime wave, which agency reports have estimated to be worth $70bn-$213bn annually.

“If we talk about illegal logging, we have many pending cases,” he said. “We also have many serious biodiversity cases. The problem is very big, I can feel it. These are crimes with many, many different parameters.”

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Lemurs sliding towards extinction

A new survey shows lemurs are far more threatened than previously thought.

A group of specialists is in Madagascar - the only place where lemurs are found in the wild - to systematically assess the animals and decide where they sit on the Red List of Threatened Species.

More than 90% of the 103 species should be on the Red List, they say.

Since a coup in 2009, conservation groups have repeatedly found evidence of illegal logging, and hunting of lemurs has emerged as a new threat.

The assessment, conducted by the Primate Specialist Group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), concludes that 23 lemurs qualify as Critically Endangered - the highest class of threat.

Fifty-two are in the Endangered classification, and a further 19 Vulnerable to extinction.

"That means that 91% of of all lemurs are assessed as being in one of the Red List threatened categories, which is far and away the largest proportion of any group of mammals," said Russ Mittermeier, chairman of the specialist group and president of Conservation International.

Continued:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18825901