Countries fail to agree on complete ban to protect African lions from global trade

The 182 countries at the Johannesburg summit did reach a compromise banning only the trade in bones, teeth and claws from wild lions

Damian Carrington, Johannesburg

Sunday 2 October 2016 20.23 BST Last modified on Sunday 2 October 2016 23.55 BST

An attempt to ban all international trade in African lions, from trophy heads to bones, has failed at a global wildlife summit.

African lions have shrunk to just 8% of their historic range, with only 20,000 left in the wild. About 1,500 a year are hunted as trophies, a practice that attracted global attention last year after an American dentist killed Cecil the lion with a crossbow in Zimbabwe. 

A rising trade in lion bones to Asia, where such bones are replacing scarce tiger bones in supposed tonics, has raised fears of further declines. South Africa alone legally exported 1,200 skeletons – 11 tonnes of bones – between 2008 and 2011, the latest figures available.

But 182 countries at the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), meeting in Johannesburg, were unable to agree on a proposal from nine African countries to ban all international trade in lion parts.

Instead, a compromise agreement banned only the trade in bones, teeth and claws from wild lions. Those coming from captive-bred lions will still be legally sold, although South Africa will now have to report on how many it sells each year. The export of trophies from lion hunting remains legal.

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US ceases efforts to end global trade of polar bear parts

US Fish and Wildlife Services to shift focus to climate change’s effects on bears

Canada had opposed ban as threats to hunting economy and Inuit practices

Oliver Milman

Wednesday 4 May 201617.17 BST Last modified on Wednesday 4 May 201617.45 BST

The US government has quietly dropped its campaign for an international ban in the trade of polar bear parts, which would have given the practice the same outlaw status as the elephant ivory market.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service has spent several years attempting to ban the overseas trade of polar bear skins, teeth, paws and other parts from Canada, which permits the hunting of the Arctic predators.

However, the federal agency has said it won’t pursue the matter further at an international summit of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites), in September. Instead, the US will focus on the threat posed to polar bears from climate change.

“Though we remain concerned about the commercial use of polar bear hides as an additional threat to the species, we are not pursuing increased Cites protections at this time,” the USFWS said in a statement.

“We are putting our resources into working in collaboration with other polar bear range states to address climate change and mitigate its impacts on the polar bear as the overwhelming threat to the long-term future of the species.”

The US’s bid to ban the polar bear trade has garnered support from the UK, Germany and Russia but has been opposed by Canada, which insists that hunting is sustainable and an important cultural practice of the native Inuit people. Hunting can also generate income for communities, with tourists paying up to $50,000 for the chance to shoot a polar bear.

The parts from more than 400 polar bears were traded in 2013. Polar bears are the world’s largest species of bear, with males weighing around 500kg (1,100lb).

About 16,000 of the world’s 25,000 polar bears live in Canada. Inuit would have been banned from selling paws and teeth of polar bears internationally, even after the rest of the animal had been butchered and eaten, under any Cites ban. The Canadian government has previously lobbied the US to drop its opposition to the trade.

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Polar bear trade ban divides campaigners

Wildlife campaigners are at odds over a new attempt to ban the global trade in polar bear parts.

Some activists say the market for rugs and ornaments made from the bears is driving them to extinction.

But others argue that the most pressing problem for the species is climate change and the disappearance of polar ice.

The issue will be decided at a UN wildlife conservation meeting in Thailand in March 2013.

The Humane Society International/UK says that polar bears have been brought to a tipping point by climate change but that increased hunting in recent years is pushing the species "beyond the brink".

We can't be arguing for the science when it suits us and then ignore it when it doesn't suit our case”

Dr Colman O'CriodainWWF

"The drivers for the increase in recent years in the trade in polar bear parts are the extremely worrying and rapidly increasing prices being paid on international markets for polar bear parts," said Mark Jones, executive director of the Humane Society International/UK.

He points to the fact that in the five years up to 2012 there has been a 375% increase in the number of polar bear skins offered at auction, some selling for as much as $12,000 (£7,400).

Continued:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20798136