By Namgyal*
The recent fur burnings in Tibet generated much excitement and gave some hope to the beleaguered tiger campaign, but it was a short lived moment. Chinese authorities have given the burnings an unwanted political angle; It first began with people being detained by the authorities over fur burnings and orders to desist from public burning of furs.
On April 28, 2006 Radio Free Asia reported that the Chinese authorities in Qinghai province had instructed the Tibetan language broadcasters to wear fur. Qinghai, a region with more than 2 million Tibetans, was where the recent fur burnings have been most prominent. The ominous silence of Chinese wildlife organizations on the fur burnings in Tibet is glaring, particularly WWF China, whose recent report blames Tibetan high-fashion style for threatening the survival of tigers, and asserted that public education is needed to change Tibetans’ like for animal skins. London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) posted an unusual alert on its website on February 23, 2006 asking people to write to the Chinese Ambassador London to show support to the Tibetans burning fur.
The tiger campaign: missing the bigger picture The use of tiger skins was the main reason that international campaigns focused on the Tibetan community; yet, interestingly in the pictures of fur burnings from Tibet one could see mostly otter and leopard skins. However, the gloomy trend in the populations of Indian tiger, with some experts predicting extinction in the wild, is said to be caused by rampant poaching driven by demand for tigers in China and east Asian societies, where tiger parts are consumed for their supposed medicinal and aphrodisiac properties. The consumer market for tiger medicine is said to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually and goes mainly to Asians around the world.
A report, Following The Tiger Trail, by TIN (TibetInfoNet) posted January 31 this year on its website points to a larger sinister angle on the whole illegal trade in Tibet and beyond. The report also berates a dramatic EIA report based on anecdotal evidence and the subsequent media reception as too simplistic and inaccurate particularly with regard to their depiction of Tibetan culture and so-called new found economic boom in Tibetan region as fuelling the tiger trade. The report goes on to say how two or three syndicates in Tibet, enjoying high political connections, control the whole wildlife trade passing through Tibet, and the connection of these syndicates to a larger international crime network with links to south Asian mafias. The report says, “TibetInfoNet is in possession of a list of ten traders involved in illegal wildlife trafficking, all of whom are associated with at least one of the two syndicates mentioned above.…These traders are wealthy businessmen and have clear links to south Asian mafias.”
The EIA report also says, “The governments of India, Nepal and China are perfectly aware of the problem but apart from isolated seizures, no real coordinated and cooperative enforcement action has taken place. Our repeated calls for action have been met with promises on paper, but the tiger can’t cope with any more rhetoric.”
Did the international campaign to save tigers make a huge tactical mistake when they decided to focus on the Tibetan community and openly sought to use the influence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama? The campaign to save the tiger certainly cannot afford to get involved in political quagmires, particularly with China, whose support is critical to the tiger campaign. In addition to the problem of illegal cross-border trade in tiger parts between India and China, the black hole that is our understanding of the extent of the market for tiger medicines is one area for which China’s political support is crucial for an effective public education campaign.
At present, effective and targeted enforcement action is urgently needed to combat the criminal networks operating between India, Nepal, Tibet and China that are responsible for the trafficking of tiger and leopard skins. India and China have a wealth of information on the criminal networks involved, and it is essential that these countries share information and work together.
The fur burning in Tibet certainly gave a glimmer of hope to the tiger campaign, but the fate of remaining tigers in India will ultimately depend on the political wills of India and China to treat the trade in tiger parts as a serious international crime and to take concrete actions to stop this trade.
*Namgyal has an MA in Sustainable International Development from the Brandeis University and has been researching and writing on Tibetan environmental issues for the past five years.
