Lhasa, August 28 – A 3 day Enforcement Workshop for the Protection of Tibetan antelope, jointly organized by the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) Management Authority of China and the CITES Secretariat, successfully ended today in Lhasa, Tibet autonomous region of China.
The workshop, sponsored by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW?www.ifaw.org), covered areas of international and national wildlife law, wildlife law enforcement and intelligence techniques, collaboration with other international law enforcement agencies and various national agencies. The participants included representatives from nature reserves, the Forestry Police, Customs and Public Security. As one of the major achievements of the workshop, four nature reserves in the Tibetan antelope range in China, located in the provinces of Qinghai, Xinjiang and Tibet signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on enforcement information sharing and collaboration. The MOU established a joint protection mechanism and is a milestone for Tibetan antelope conservation.
Tibetan antelope, also known as Chiru inhabits the remote plateaus of western China. It is an endangered species protected by China’s Wildlife Protection Law as well as an Appendix I species on CITES, which means that international trade of the animal and products are banned. However, driven by market demand outside of China for a luxurious shawl made of its wool, called shahtoosh, which means “king of wool,” poaching of the animals, smuggling of its wool is ultimately the market demand for shahtoosh shawl is decimating the species. Its population has been dramatically reduced since the 1990s.
Senior Enforcement Officer of CITES Secretariat, John Sellar said in his opening speech, “Despite all the excellent initiatives around the world and the dedication shown by those on the ‘front line,’ we seem to still be far away from eliminating the poaching of Chiru and the illegal trade in its parts.” Sellar continues, “I also know that tackling wildlife crime remains low priority for many counties because of the many demand upon their law enforcement personnel. Many species cannot wait for enforcement agencies to win long-term battles and he war against wildlife crime will be lost for species such as the Tibetan antelope if urgent action is not taken in the immediate future.”
Dr. Meng Xianlin, Deputy director of CITES MA China said, “The existence of illegal market and the rampant smuggling continue to fuel poaching of Tibetan antelope in the wild. The situation is yet grim.”
Last May, Kekexili Nature Reserve in Qinghai broke a poaching ring and seized 700 Tibetan antelope bodies, many of them pregnant females. Since the beginning of 2003, Indian authorities seized nearly 100 shahtoosh shawls and their May confiscation of 215 kilograms of shahtoosh wool in Delhi, represents the lives of between 3000-5000 animals.
IFAW Wildlife and Habitat Program Deputy Director Grace Gabriel and wildlife law enforcement expert, Dr. Bill Clarke found shahtoosh shawl on sale in a neighboring country when traveling to attend the workshop in Lhasa. Dr. Clark points out that the problem “can be solved only by international cooperation among law enforcement authorities. Many of the criminals who provide the financial incentive for poaching Tibetan antelopes live and operate far beyond the direct reach of Chinese authorities. Thus, it is important for China to cooperate with foreign authorities to suppress this criminality.”
Participating nature reserve delegates also gave their enforcement assessment at the meeting and IFAW China country director Dr. Aster Zhang Li said in response, “IFAW has committed to facilitate wildlife law enforcement information sharing and collaboration of various agencies. Since 1998, IFAW has funded about USD $400,000 to support anti-poaching patrols, training workshops and in-situ conservation research. IFAW will continue to coordinate the collaborative enforcement work and the capacity building of the nature reserves in China.”
Both the CITES Secretariat and the Management Authority of China highly acknowledge IFAW’s contribution to Tibetan antelope conservation. Mr. Seller said: “NGOs have played a vital role in many of these activities. None more so than the International Fund for Animal Welfare and I wish to take this opportunity to place on record the appreciation of the CITES Secretariat for all IFAW’s work relating to Tibetan Antelope.”
For more information, contact:
Jennifer Ferguson-Mitchell
Associate Director of Global Media & Communications
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
jfm@ifaw.org
(International Fund for Animal Welfare)
