WWF - News about the conservation of endangered species

Data shows illegal ivory trade on rise

2009-11-16

Cambridge, UK: The illicit trade in ivory, which has been increasing in volume since 2004, moved sharply upward in 2009, according to the latest analysis of seizure data in the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS).

ETIS, one of the two monitoring systems for elephants under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) but managed by TRAFFIC, holds the world’s largest collection of elephant product seizure records.

The analysis, undertaken in advance of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP15) to CITES, was based upon 14,364 elephant product seizure records from 85 countries or territories since 1989, nearly 2,000 more records than the previous analysis, in 2007.

The remarkable surge in 2009 reflects a series of large-scale ivory seizure events that suggest increased involvement of organized crime syndicates in the trade, connecting African source countries with Asian end-use markets. The ETIS data indicate that such syndicates have become stronger and more active over the last decade.

There continues to be a highly significant correlation between large-scale domestic ivory markets in Asia and Africa and poor law enforcement, suggesting that illicit ivory trade flows typically follow a path to destinations where law enforcement is weak and markets function with little regulatory impediment.

Indeed, the rise in illicit trade in ivory indicates that implementation of a CITES “action plan for the control of trade in African elephant ivory,” the Convention’s principal vehicle for closing such unregulated and illicit domestic markets in Africa and Asia, has failed to drive any significant change over the last five years.

The ETIS analysis identifies Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Thailand as the three countries most heavily implicated in the global illicit ivory trade. Illegal trade involving each of these nations has been repeatedly singled out for priority attention since the first assessment in 2002, but they continue to feature as critical hotspots in the trade as sources, entrêpots and consumers of ivory.

Another nine countries and territories—Cameroon, Gabon and Mozambique in Africa and Hong Kong SAR, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam in Asia—were also identified as important nodes in the illicit ivory trade.

China, which along with Japan was an approved destination of the legal, CITES-sanctioned one-off ivory sale in 2008, faces a persistent illegal trade challenge from Chinese nationals now based in Africa. Ongoing evidence highlights widespread involvement of overseas Chinese in the illicit procurement of ivory, a problem that needs to be addressed through an aggressive outreach and awareness initiative directed at Chinese communities living abroad.

The results are less clear-cut concerning the impacts of the CITES approved one-off ivory sales in 1999 and 2008.

Following the first such sale, in June 1999, there was a progressive decline in the illicit trade in ivory for five years, with no evidence to suggest that the sale had resulted in an increase in the illicit ivory trade globally.

After the second CITES-approved ivory sale, in late 2008, the results are unclear as to whether it has stimulated increase demand or whether it has simply coincided with an increase in supply that was already underway over the last four years. The collection of more data over an extended time period will throw further light on this vital issue.

The full ETIS report can be downloaded from the CITES website as document at http://www.cites.org/common/cop/15/doc/E15-44-01A.pdf

Atlantic bluefin trade ban now vital as tuna commission fails to take action again

2009-11-15

Porto de Galinhas, Brazil: The Atlantic tuna commission today came up with only inadequate or delayed actions to ensure the recovery of the eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna, global conservation organization WWF warned today. Saving the tuna will now depend largely on an international trade ban due to be discussed in March.

The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas today endorsed a proposal from its chair, the EU, Japan, Morocco and Tunisia to drop the 2010 eastern bluefin quota from 19,500 tonnes to 13,500 tonnes, still far too high to enable stock recovery.

A key study presented to ICCAT in Recife showed even a strictly enforced 8,000-tonne quota would have only a 50 per cent chance of achieving a recovery in eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna by 2023 and another ICCAT study showed only a total fishing halt yielded significant chances of the bluefin population to recover enough to no longer qualify for high-level trade restrictions by 2019.

It is now more than ever necessary for member countries of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to line up behind global trade restrictions on Atlantic bluefin tuna. CITES is to consider a Principality of Monaco proposal that bluefin be listed for the highest level of trade restrictions at a meeting in Doha next March.

“Today’s outcome is entirely unscientific – and entirely unacceptable,” said Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean. “This reduction of allowable catch is not based on any particular scientific advice to recover the stock with high probability – it is just an arbitrary political measure and only for one year. Now more than ever WWF sees a global trade ban as the only hope for Atlantic bluefin.”

Dr Tudela said a new provision for a 2011 fishery closure if the fishery was detected as being at serious risk of collapse was difficult to reconcile with the scientific committee’s recent data that the stocks are already at less than 10-15 per cent than unfished levels. “The trends for bluefin tuna are very clear and we need to act on the forward view rather than the rear mirror view to avoid collapse,” Dr Tudela said.

WWF had lobbied the meeting for a fishing suspension and determined action against illegal fishing, estimated to considerably inflate the most recent (2008) catch estimates of 34,120 tonnes. During the Recife meeting almost all harvesting countries were formally identified by ICCAT for breaking its rules – like EU tuna fattening farms accepting fish without proper documentation.

The massive overcapacity of industrial fleets in the Mediterranean also continues to hamper conservation efforts, yet the problem remains insufficiently addressed by the tuna commission.

The season for industrial fishing for bluefin tuna with purse seine fleets was reduced from two months to one, but remains open during the peak of the spawning period of 15 May to 15 June when the tuna are most vulnerable. ICCAT also continued to ignore long-standing calls to establish sanctuaries in key bluefin tuna spawning grounds such as the Balearic Islands off Spain.

“Common sense says that a trade ban supported by a temporary fishing closure is currently what is needed for the recovery of Atlantic tuna,” Dr Tudela said. “To close the fishery is what ICCAT needed to do to save the tuna and to save its own reputation.”

Dr Tudela called on CITES member countries “not to be fooled by ICCAT’s promises to save Atlantic bluefin tuna in the coming years. We have seen too many empty promises in ICCAT’s forty years of not conserving tuna. The tuna commission has failed in the most crucial moment of its history – how can it be expected of anything better? Now is the time for action elsewhere”.

Adding more fuel to the compelling case of ICCAT’s overall failure, contracting parties endorsed a further two years of the use by Morocco of illegal driftnets to catch swordfish. The nets, known widely as ‘walls of death’, kill 4,000 dolphins and 25,000 sharks in Mediterranean waters every year.

Bans on driftnets are covered in a large array of international agreements dating back to 1992 and including the UN, ICCAT, the EU which is the main market for the Moroccan swordfish, and Morocco itself.

“This year all contracting parties talked of the need to restore ICCAT’s credibility, and to do so they endorse the slaughter of 50,000 more sharks and 8,000 dolphins, violating UN resolutions? It is beyond belief, and is one more proof of the total dysfunction of ICCAT as a serious fisheries management organization,” said Dr Tudela.

ICCAT was also unable to agree on substantial measures to protect vulnerable shark species.

Mediterranean bluefin catches continue to mock quotas and science

2009-11-12

Porto de Galinhas, Brazil: New bluefin tuna catch estimates show Mediterranean fishing fleets continuing to make a mockery of fishing quotas set by the beleaguered Atlantic tuna commission.

The new catch estimates – themselves likely to severely underestimate the effect of continuing rampant illegal fishing – are also around four times the level scientists estimate would give the collapsing tuna population only limited chances of recovery over a time span of more than a decade.

Scientists attached to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) estimated the 2008 bluefin catch at 34,120 tonnes, well over last year’s quota of 28,500 tonnes set under the discredited 2006 ICCAT “recovery plan”.

Last year, ICCAT set a 22,000-tonne catch quota for 2009 in a controversial response to its scientists’ recommendations for a quota as low as 8,500 tonnes.

The new estimates come as ICCAT considers radical amendments to management measures in the face of rising calls for an international trade ban on Atlantic bluefin tuna and a supporting suspension of the fishery.

“New estimates lodged with ICCAT’s science committee show that one quarter of the latest estimated bluefin tuna catch would give us just a toss of the coin chance of recovering the tuna population by 2023,” said Dr Sergi Tudela, WWF Mediterranean.

Dr Tudela said he believed the latest estimates themselves were well under the real catch.

“To accept these figures at face value we have to accept a huge reduction in the amount of illegal fishing over the previous year,” he said. “I just don’t see the evidence or the reasoning for this miraculous drop in illegal fishing, while there is abundant evidence that pirate fishing remains rampant.”

ICCAT’s scientific committee notes that the estimates take no account of illegal fishing by unregistered boats.

The French navy reported dubious catch data and a lack of observers in intercepted Turkish bluefin boats, investigations are underway into the reflagging of vessels in Algerian waters and a Spanish study revealed laundering of undersize tuna through tuna fattening farms for the Japanese fresh tuna trade.

Opening the ICCAT meeting, chair Dr Fabio Hazin of Brazil said ICCAT had to set up “an efficient mechanism for the monitoring and control of the fishing fleets” and capable of “applying penalties proportional to the infringements detected”.

“We have been very much able to impose sanctions on non-members in the past and time has also come for ICCAT to show it does not have double standards, and that it is equally determined to also impose sanctions on its members in the same way it does with non-members,” he said.

Romanians protest lift of sturgeon fishing ban

2009-11-12

Bucharest, Romania – A government decision to overturn a ten-year ban on the fishing of wild sturgeon in the Danube River basin drew protests in the capital this week, led by WWF and a contingent of local NGOs.

The controversial legislation, allowing sturgeon fishing for purposes other than restocking, was adopted in September by the Agriculture and Environment Committees of the Romanian Parliament. The new law in effect legalizes fishing of sturgeons for commercial purposes.

Meanwhile, some Romanian politicians are calling for the elimination of the current ban on gillnet and trawler fishing in the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve.

To counter this destructive decision, 34 Romanian environmental NGOs, including “Save the Delta” Association and WWF, organized a bitter protest in the Romanian capital Bucharest on Tuesday.

“The new fishing law practically throws away the EUR 4 billion spent by the Romanian Government for the sturgeon restocking programme, which was developed during the last four years,” said Luminița Tănasie, Director of WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme Romania. “If the 200,000 young sturgeons which were bought for restocking the Danube, are not given the necessary time to mature and reproduce naturally, the sturgeon fisheries will not be able to recover, and both the economical and the ecological loss will be enormous.”

In front of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Rural Development building in Bucharest, protesters on Tuesday held a “sturgeon fair”, offering the public the opportunity to view sturgeons caught in a fishing gillnet. Environmentalists also displayed the photographs of the MPs who proposed the amendments.

At the end of the protest, the sturgeons were sent to the MPs. The MPs who proposed the elimination of the ban on gillnets and trawlers within the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve received the gillnet used during the protest. Each of the MPs also received a letter of protest signed by the 34 participating NGOs, asking them to reconsider their actions and adopt new legislation.

Scientific reports indicate that among the sturgeon species which populate Romanian waters, are the critically endangered (possibly extinct) Ship Sturgeons, the endangered Russian and Beluga Sturgeons, as well as the Sterlet Sturgeon, considered to be vulnerable.

The Black Sea once harboured some of the most productive sturgeon populations. However, research on age structure of sturgeons captured in Romania has revealed a critical decrease in the number of sturgeons born during 1990–99 that survived to sustain the population.

Sturgeons are fished mainly for caviar, although their meat and skin are also widely used in the region. Poorly regulated fisheries have caused severe decline in populations due to overfishing, which almost entirely disrupted the fish species' natural spawning in the Danube River.

Due to concern about the sustainability of international trade in sturgeon caviar and meat, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has been regulating such trade in all sturgeon species since 1998 and has, from time to time, been forced to recommend trade suspensions.

Fishing of sturgeons for commercial purposes was banned in Romania in 2006 for a period of ten years. The relatively long period of prohibition is explained by the long life cycle of the sturgeon (the maximum age being between 24 and 100 years), by the long period necessary for the sturgeon to reach reproductive age (between 6 and 26 years), and by the fact that the sturgeon does not reproduce every year.

The letter of protest was also sent to the Romanian President Traian Băsescu, to the Interim Prime Minister Emil Boc, to the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR), to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and to the Romanian National Commission to UNESCO.

Palm oil roundtable breaks emissions logjam

2009-11-05

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil this week agreed to consider implementing voluntary measures to encourage producers and buyers of palm oil to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

The Roundtable’s 7th annual conference came to a close Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Titled “Moving Ahead in Challenging Times,” the three-day conference drew more than 800 people from inside and outside of the palm oil industry, including buyers and producers.

After several rounds of heated discussion this week, the Roundtable’s Executive Board reached a compromise in which some emissions reduction requirements will be directly incorporated in the Roundtable’s certification standards.

They agreed to further address the issue and hammer out emissions measures related to land use change before the next Roundtable conference in 2010. To this end, they will develop a voluntary framework within which companies will work together to reduce emissions.

This objective received considerable support by producers from outside Malaysia and Indonesia who said they will use this voluntary standard as soon as it becomes available, while committing to stop the expansion of plantations on peat lands.

“This is a move in the right direction,” said Adam Harrison, WWF’s representative on the RSPO Executive Board. “We encourage companies to embrace emissions reduction standards once they become available and do their part to avoid the catastrophic effects of climate change.”

The conference also focused on the frustration by producers concerning the slow uptake of certified sustainable palm oil by buyers. The sluggish market prompted WWF to publish the Palm Oil Buyers’ Scorecard on Oct. 28, a project that assessed the performance of 59 European retailers and manufacturers buying palm oil.

The Scorecard showed that the majority of European palm oil buyers are failing to buy certified sustainable palm oil, despite its availability and the previous commitments by many companies to purchase it.

The Scorecard was presented and widely discussed at the conference. It was praised by producers and buyers alike as a positive vehicle for bringing much needed transparency to this growing market and showing companies buying palm oil that they are expected to do their part in transforming the palm oil market.

The growing demand for palm oil is adding to the already severe pressure on remaining rainforest areas of the world. The loss of forest in Indonesia is threatening the survival of species such as the orang-utan, the Sumatran tiger, rhino and elephant. Forest loss and the draining of peatlands for palm oil plantations is also contributing to climate change and displacing local people who rely on the forest for food and shelter. Palm oil is one of the world’s fastest expanding crops in Southeast Asia as well as West Africa and South America.

It is because of threats like this that WWF worked with other NGOs and the palm oil industry to set up the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in 2003. Since then WWF has worked with the industry to ensure that the RSPO standards contain robust social and environmental criteria, including a prohibition on the conversion of valuable forests. Certified Sustainable Palm Oil has been available since November 2008 and provides assurance that valuable tropical forests have not been cleared and that environmental and social safeguards have been met during the production of the palm oil.

WWF opted to grade palm oil buyers after releasing figures in May showing that only a small percentage of the sustainable palm oil available on the market had been bought. Since then, the situation is starting to improve. Over the last year, RSPO certified plantations have produced over 1,000,000 tonnes of certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO), and over 250,000 tonnes have been sold to date. While this still represents only 22 percent of the available supply on average, the RSPO has reported that CSPO sales have been growing in recent months.

Red List update shows up global failure to slow biodiversity loss

2009-11-03

Gland, Switzerland: The latest update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species should cause alarm over the continuing unprecedented loss of species and the failure so far of mechanisms to arrest biodiversity loss, WWF said today.

The 2009 Red List update, issued today by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, shows more than one-third (36 percent) of the 47,677 species assessed are threatened with extinction. The assessment featured a special focus on freshwater species, which are being hit hard by pollution, loss of wetlands and water diversions.

The Red List ranks species according to their population status and threat levels. It shows the effects that habitat loss and degradation, over-exploitation, pollutants and climate change are having on the world’s species.

“As crucial climate talks in Copenhagen draw near and with the International Year of Biodiversity around the corner, this is a wake-up call for world leaders.” said Amanda Nickson, Director of the WWF International Species Programme. “We are a world away from meeting the globally endorsed 2002 commitment of the Convention on Biological Diversity to deliver a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010.”

“This failure and the mechanisms to overcome it will need to be the dominant agenda item on next year’s meeting of parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.”

Growing threat of climate change

Through its global initiatives, WWF is pursuing major efforts to arrest biodiversity decline in some of the most spectacular and highly diverse places on the planet, and to recover populations of some of the most endangered species, such as tigers.

It is estimated that less than 3200 tigers exist in the wild in a wide arc of countries from far eastern Russia to India and Indonesia. Tigers - a top predator residing at the top of its food chain - occupy less than seven percent of their original range, which has contracted 40 percent from 10 years ago.

As tigers require a large home range, protection of the species and its habitat bring huge benefits to thousands of other species. An international summit scheduled for 2010 in Vladivostok in Russia is a critical opportunity to reverse the decline in tiger numbers and ensure their survival in the wild.

“Tigers are a symbol of what is happening to many species across the globe, and demonstrate the urgent need for the world to come up with the political will, policies, resources and incentives to maintain a living and diverse planet.” said Ms Nickson. “The IUCN is frank that its assessments are likely to understate the real extent of the loss of species.”

Significant international meetings next year to address biodiversity loss and the threats to planetary life support systems include a major Conferences of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

Ms Nickson noted that the CBD’s 2010 target had probably underestimated the growing impact of climate change, which is now being increasingly recognised as an additional threat leading species of animals and plants towards extinction. Polar bears earned US endangered status last year on the basis of climate change and the Red List notes more.

The Queen of the Andes, largest of one the world’s cactus families which dies on flowering and setting seed after an average 80 year growing span, may be having its ability to flower impaired by climate change.

Alarm on freshwater species

The assessment of freshwater species continued to alarm, with more than one third of assessed freshwater fishes under threat of extinction and approaching half of all molluscs. In Lake Dianchi in China, the assessment found all seven freshwater snails and 12 of the 13 freshwater fish species new to the Red List were threatened by overharvesting, pollution and introduced fish species.

The planet’s amphibians are the most threatened of all species with 1895 of 6285 species assessed in the Red List threatened with extinction.

However, in a rare ray of hope in the new assessment, one freshwater fish, the Australian Grayling has been moved from being listed as Vulnerable to being listed as Near Threatened as a result of conservation efforts which included putting fish ladders on dams, improving streamside vegetation and policing anglers.

Tiger experts call for urgent action to save species

2009-10-30

KATHMANDU, Nepal – More than 250 experts, scientists and government delegates from 13 tiger range countries this week called for immediate action to save tigers before the species disappears from the wild, citing the urgent need for increased protection against tiger poaching and trafficking in tiger parts.

WWF welcomes the recommendations from the Kathmandu Global Tiger Workshop 2009, where organizers on Thursday stated in closing remarks that “without immediate, urgent, and transformative actions, wild tigers will disappear forever.”

The recommendations from the workshop include support for implementing a resolution related to tigers in the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), and to avoid financing development projects that adversely affect critical tiger habitats.

“These are a good start but the momentum from Kathmandu needs to be carried forward all the way to the Tiger Summit during the Year of the Tiger 2010 and beyond,” said Mike Baltzer, head of WWF’s Tiger Initiative. “The tiger range countries are clearly committed to saving their wild tigers and the world needs to extend unstinting support to this mission because once tigers are gone, they’re gone forever.”

There are only about 3,200 tigers left in the wild and WWF’s goal is to double that number by 2022, the next Year of the Tiger. Tiger populations are declining in face of massive poaching for illegal wildlife trade, habitat loss and fragmentation, and conflict with humans.

“I am convinced we are on the right road to saving tigers,” said Dr. Eric Dinerstein, WWF’s Chief Scientist, in his closing remarks to delegates from 20 countries at the conclusion of the meeting. “We will look back on this meeting as the dramatic turning point for conserving this magnificent species, its habitats, Asian biodiversity, and the billions of people who depend upon healthy natural landscapes for which tigers are the talisman.”

The Kathmandu Global Tiger Workshop is the first in a series of political negotiation meetings occurring throughout the year and leading up to a final Heads of State Tiger Summit in September 2010, which is the Year of the Tiger.

The workshop was hosted by Nepal’s Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Government of Nepal, and co-organized and co-sponsored by the CITES Secretariat, Global Tiger Forum, Global Tiger Initiative, Save The Tiger Fund, and the World Bank.

Atlantic bluefin tuna trade ban supported by fishery’s scientists

2009-10-28

Madrid, Spain - Atlantic bluefin tuna meets the criteria for a ban on international trade, according to global scientists of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). This official assessment of bluefin’s extreme stock decline has been welcomed by major environment groups WWF and Greenpeace.

The scientists met in Madrid, Spain (21-23 October) to assess current stock status of Atlantic bluefin tuna against the specific criteria necessary to list a species under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

ICCAT’s scientists estimate that the current spawning biomass is less than 15 per cent of what it once was before fishing began – meaning Atlantic bluefin tuna meets the criteria for a CITES Appendix I listing.

Further, the scientists’ analyses confirmed that a suspension of commercial fishing is the only measure with a substantial chance of ensuring that the stock no longer meets the criteria for CITES Appendix I by 2019.

“What’s needed to save the stocks is a suspension of fishing activity and a suspension of international commercial trade – this is the only possible package that can give this fish a chance to recover,” said Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean. “We must stop mercilessly exploiting this fragile natural resource until stocks show clear signs of rebound and until sustainable management and control measures are firmly put in place.”

On 14 October the Principality of Monaco submitted a CITES Appendix I listing proposal to temporarily ban international commercial trade and allow the species to recover from years of ineffective fisheries management and control.

“The ICCAT scientists have made formal what we have been saying all along – that Atlantic bluefin tuna is balancing precariously on the edge of collapse, and only drastic measures can now ensure this endangered species gets a fighting chance of recovery,” added Sebastian Losada, Oceans Campaigner for Greenpeace International. “The extent of the failure by ICCAT members to act responsibly and preserve our marine environment can no longer be ignored. Atlantic bluefin tuna has been subject to decades of massive overfishing and overexploitation and time is running out to save this species”

“Independent of what ICCAT decides to do in November, the science is undeniable that Atlantic bluefin tuna meets the criteria for a suspension of trade through a CITES Appendix I listing – and if ICCAT stops the fishing too, so much the better for this species,” added Sergi Tudela of WWF.

WWF and Greenpeace urge ICCAT to impose a zero quota at the organization’s next annual meeting on 6-16 November in Recife, Brazil. Interest will focus on what ICCAT does with the advice of its own scientists; in the past, the advice of ICCAT’s scientists has been largely disregarded.

The verdict from ICCAT’s scientific committee will be submitted to the 48 Contracting Parties when they meet in Recife. The next Conference of the Parties of CITES, meanwhile, is in Doha, Qatar, in March 2010, when WWF and Greenpeace are calling on the 175 CITES member countries to vote in favour of an Atlantic bluefin tuna Appendix I listing.

Bulgarian natural icon turns 75 under threat of dubious construction activities

2009-10-28

Sofia, Bulgaria – A massive expansion of skiing infrastructure is threatening the essence of Vitosha Natural Park, one of Bulgaria’s most famous and popular protected areas, on the eve of it’s 75th anniversary.

Right at the edge of national capital Sofia, Vitosha mountain is a much loved destination for those wishing to escape the hustle and bustle of a busy city. Trekking routes and skiing facilities attract between 2,5 and 4 million people each year.

However, three years after acquiring a monopoly on skiing facilities in the area in an already dubious manner, Vitosha Ski, is planning to boost the current 19 ha ski area more than seven fold to 142,5 ha, adding eight new ski pistes and 18 ski lifts.

If the construction goes ahead, it would destroy the habitats of the species including bears, wolves, wild cats and chamois for which Vitosha was designated a European Natura 2000 site.

The new ski zone would rise on territory owned by the state, for which the Forestry Agency is responsible and although the Forestry Agency has not yet approved the plans the threat must be taken seriously.

“From the very beginning the ski zone expansion has been planned and pushed through in a way that is quite obviously in breach of a number of Bulgarian laws, not only environmental” , Vesselina Kavrakova, Program Manager of the WWF Danube - Carpathian Program in Bulgaria, said.

Worryingly, this is yet another case in Bulgaria of illegal or semi-legal construction of ski and tourism infrastructure. Among others, many of the skiing facilities of the well known resort of Bansko in south-west Bulgaria were unlawfully built in the heart of Pirin National Park.

The European Commission has initiated penalty procedures against Bulgaria because of violations of environmental law in the case of Bansko.

Earlier this month environment minister Nona Karadjova abolished a non-transparent decision by the Regional inspectorate of environment and water that would have given a go-ahead to construction work.

“We welcome the Minister’s decision”, Toma Belev, Director of Vitosha Nature Park administration, said. “The interest in protected areas in Bulgaria and Romania by private investors is huge as these areas are part of the nations’ natural treasure, emblematic for these countries and therefore easier to ‘exploit’.”

In an opinion poll conducted by Alpha Research in 2008, 73.6% of respondents said that destruction of nature is the greatest environmental problem in Bulgaria; 58.3% said that illegal construction was the greatest problem.

In 2007, over 145,000 people signed a petition calling on the Bulgarian authorities to take action.

Degraded Borneo land to be restored to orangutans

2009-10-27

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah: Almost 1000 hectares of degraded land in the area designated Heart of Borneo is to be restored as orangutan habitat, following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between WWF-Malaysia and the State of Sabah yesterday.

The five year memorandum for the project - made possible with RM4.35 million ($US 1.27 million) grant from the ITOCHU Corporation of Japan - was signed during a regional forum on ‘Enhancing forest eco-systems and corridors within the Heart of Borneo

The 967 hectare area is in the North Ulu Segama landscape of Sabah, where some orang-utan populations had become isolated due to a combination of the natural barrier of the Ulu Segama River and logging and other activities.

Poor quality habitat is expected to lead to further organgutan population declines.

Opening the forum, Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman, said the State was very serious about conserving its forests and very committed to the Heart of Borneo, adding that 250,000 hectares of forest had already been set aside for conservation.

However, he said financing remained a crucial subject. To this end he thanked the Malaysian Federal government for its contribution of RM5 million ($US 1.47 million) to the Sabah Forestry Department to kick-start programme implementation - but indicated more help was needed.

“It is the hope of the Sabah state government that ‘friends’ from European countries and the USA can lend support to this endeavour,” he said.

WWF’s Heart of Borneo Initiative Leader, Adam Tomasek, congratulated the Sabah state government’s commitment to the Heart of Borneo and emphasised his gratitude to Japan’s ITOCHU Group for its generous contribution.

“These funds are vital for the restoration of a high priority landscape and long-term viability for orangutans. Healthy forest ecosystems are a priority for the three country Heart of Borneo initiative, and Sabah is providing a strong leadership example of working with the international community to realize this goal”

"ITOCHU's support is a clear sign of Japanese interest in the Heart of Borneo and as host of the 2010 UN Convention on Biological Diversity conference we look forward to profiling this growing partnership between governments and private sector," Mr Tomasek said.

Nepal expands critical tiger habitat

2009-10-27

Kathmandu, Nepal - The Government of Nepal announced today an expansion of Bardia National Park in the Terai Arc Landscape by 900 sq km, which will increase critical habitat for tigers.

WWF welcomes the announcement, which was made at the inaugural session of the Kathmandu Global Tiger Workshop.

Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal also stated that the government would establish a National Tiger Conservation Authority as well as a Wildlife Crime Control Committee saying, “The solutions will be area specific, but the future of conservation will depend upon how we act now and how we make tiger conservation and overall biodiversity much more valuable to the livelihoods of local communities.”

“This is indeed a great conservation initiative, which will certainly help in curbing illegal wildlife trade and poaching in Nepal,” said Anil Manandhar, Country Representative of WWF Nepal. “We are confident that by embracing innovative conservation strategies Nepal will succeed in doubling its number of endangered tigers.”

Earlier this year the first ever nation-wide estimate of the tiger population revealed the presence of 121 adult tigers in the wild within four protected areas of Nepal. In order to ensure that these tiger numbers remain stable and start to increase, WWF and its partners called on the government to increase anti-poaching activities and habitat protection.

“In making these commitments at a global forum before the 12 other tiger range countries, the Government of Nepal has set an important precedent for others to follow,” said Mike Baltzer, Leader of WWF’s Tiger Initiative. “The next three days of the workshop are vital as countries and tiger experts band together to create a game-changing plan to save tigers in the wild.”

The Kathmandu Global Tiger Workshop is the first in a series of political negotiation meetings occurring throughout the year and leading up to a final Heads of State Tiger Summit in September 2010, which is the Year of the Tiger.

The workshop is hosted by the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Government of Nepal, co-organized and co-sponsored by the CITES Secretariat, Global Tiger Forum, Global Tiger Initiative, Save The Tiger Fund, World Bank.

Genetic tuna tracking opens new options in race to save fish and fisheries

2009-10-27

Madrid, Spain – A new method that uses gene sequencing to accurately distinguish between tuna species has the potential to support fisheries management and possible trade restrictions for endangered tuna species.

The new method, revealed in a paper published today in PLoS ONE, the online open-access scientific journal, can make an identification from any kind of processed tuna tissue.

The true tunas – from the genus Thunnus – are among the most economically valuable fish in the world and are also among the most endangered of all commercially exploited fish . They are not to be confused with the tuna most commonly tinned, which comes from related families such as mackerel.

The paper, ‘A Validated Methodology for Genetic Identification of Tuna Species (Genus Thunnus)’, co-authored by Dr Jordi Viñas, a fish genetics specialist at Girona University in Spain and Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries of WWF Mediterranean, proposes for the first time ever a genetic method for the precise identification of all eight recognized species of tuna.

Northern, southern and Pacific bluefin tuna are among the most stressed fish populations in the world, with the Principality of Monaco having lodged an application before the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) for a trade ban on the Atlantic (Northern) bluefin tuna where several fisheries have collapsed and failed to recover and the Mediterranean bluefin fishery is exhibiting advanced signals of impending collapse in the face of overfishing and decades of poor management.

The other tuna species are yellowfin, blackfin, longtail, bigeye and albacore tuna. Identification of traded forms of the fish, which can be dressed, gilled and gutted, or loin and belly meat, and either fresh or frozen – is a highly complex process, which has hampered conservation efforts and was a potential limitation to the imposition of trade controls.

The analysis of the DNA sequence variability of two unlinked genetic markers, one a hypervariable segment of the mitochondrial genome and the other a nuclear gene, enables full discrimination between all the tuna species.

"..findings are particularly relevant"

“This methodology will allow the identification of tuna species of any kind of tissue or type or presentation – including sushi and sashimi,” said Dr Jordi Viñas of Girona University. “The differentiation between different tunas, even those with highly similar genes, is now possible.”

“Our findings are particularly relevant for the highly overfished, overtraded – and hence endangered Atlantic bluefin tuna, for which there is a growing campaign to impose a temporary ban on international commercial trade,” added co-author Dr Sergi Tudela of WWF. “There will now be no trace of doubt when seeking to identify chilled or frozen tuna flesh at port or point of sale.”

The paper will remain available to download for free from the website of PLoS ONE and will be submitted to the relevant tuna fishing and trade management and control authorities.

(PLoS ONE is the first journal of primary research from all areas of science to employ a combination of peer review and post-publication rating and commenting, to maximize the impact of every report it publishes. PLoS ONE is published by the Public Library of Science (PLoS), the open-access publisher whose goal is to make the world’s scientific and medical literature a public resource.)

Treaty parties learn of 40 proposed wildlife trade rule changes

2009-10-26

Gland, Switzerland - Proposals for tighter trade controls for species such as the Atlantic Blue Fin tuna, sharks and corals have been submitted for the next meeting of parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES).

The meeting, which will have changes to trade rules for an unusual proportion of marine species on its agenda, will be held in Quatar in March. Controversy is also expected over conflicting proposals concerning elephants.

WWF especially welcomes the proposal by the Principality of Monaco to list Atlantic bluefin tuna on Appendix I to the convention, which would ban international trade for commercial purposes and was submitted as Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks are declining dramatically because of uncontrolled overfishing.

“An Appendix I listing for Atlantic Bluefin Tuna has become imperative if we are to save the species,” said Amanda Nickson, Director of the WWF International Species Programme.

“If we act now we can secure the future of this species and guarantee that fishing can be resumed in the future, but at a sustainable level.”

WWF was also encouraged to see that proposals to list several shark species on Appendix II, which allows for international trade but imposes strict regulations and requires proof that trade is sustainable and legal, were submitted. Threats such as bycatch and shark finning and illegal fishing and overfishing have caused serious declines in shark populations.

Also proposed for an Appendix II listing were red and pink coral, which are used to make jewellery. Red and pink corals are found throughout the world’s tropical and temperate seas but the absence of effective international trade controls has led to overharvesting.

Elephant debate expected to be controversial

Elephants, one of WWF’s priority species, will be a topic of debate at the CITES meeting as potentially conflicting proposals were submitted for elephants. Kenya submitted a proposal – together with a group of west African countries - that would impose a 19 year ban on other countries seeking permission for one-off ivory sales, such as the one that took place under CITES supervision in 2008, and that would suspend the legal sale of ivory souvenirs in Namibia and Zimbabwe.

One the other hand, Zambia and Tanzania submitted proposals that would have elephant populations within their borders moved from Appendix I to Appendix II in order to ease the permitting rules for trophy hunting and allow for the sale of government-owned ivory stockpiles.

“WWF recognizes that some southern African Elephant range States have successfully demonstrated that their populations should be placed on Appendix II," said Nickson.

"However, Tanzania and Zambia have yet to prove their case by demonstrating that their management of ivory stockpiles is adequate enough to prevent laundering of poached ivory.

“And while we acknowledge the concerns that have motivated Kenya’s proposal, we must focus not forget to address what WWF sees as the main issue driving elephant poaching – that is, unregulated domestic markets in central and West Africa.”

Two other of WWF’s priority species that were not the subject of listing proposals but that will be discussed at the meeting are tigers and rhinos, which are both critically endangered and are being poached in order to feed the illegal market for their parts and derivatives. Tiger numbers could now be as low as 3,200 and rhino poaching has reached a 15 year high according to new research released this summer.

WWF will now engage with its partners TRAFFIC and IUCN, which will do a full analyses of the proposals in order to assess whether or not they meet the criteria required for a species to be listed in the CITES appendices. WWF will formulate its position on each proposal based on this analysis.

“WWF looks forward to the CITES meeting,” said Ms Nickson. “There has never been a meeting where marine animals featured so prominently. Now is an opportunity to show that CITES has the capacity to address the pressing issues concerning the trade in these species.”

Southern Bluefin quota cuts could be “too little, too late”

2009-10-23

Jeju Island, South Korea, 23 October - A 20 percent cut in the Southern Bluefin Tuna take could still be too little, too late for the species which is on the brink of collapse, WWF and the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC warned today.

Speaking at the conclusion of the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin (CCSBT) Tuna meeting in Jeju Island, South Korea, TRAFFIC’s Global Marine Programme Leader Glenn Sant said that even under a best case scenario, the Southern Bluefin Tuna populations would not recover for many years.

“The members agree it is a crisis with the breeding stock being somewhere between three and eight per cent of its original level,” said Sant.

“A 20 per cent cut is a step towards resolving the terribly low level of Southern Bluefin Tuna Stock, with the scientific assessment of the scenario saying there could be recovery, but only after many years.”

WWF and TRAFFIC had asked for a temporary closure of the fishery, while Australia had requested a 50 per cent cut in catches.

On the other side of the world, the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna has been proposed for an international trade ban under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), with WWF also to press a forthcoming meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas for a moratorium on the fishery.

Both fisheries are plagued with illegal and over-fishing.

“Our biggest concern is the need to reduce illegal catches and ensure that members stick to their quotas so that we don’t have some members withdrawing from the bank while others bank recovery for the future,” said Sant.

“Some members have been burnt by this situation in the past when a member in effect overcaught its quota by some 200,000 tonnes over 20 years, in effect withdrawing all the stock recovery banked by others.”

At the end of two years the members will agree a management procedure that will more effectively advise them on what changes need to be made.

If this cannot be agreed in 2011 the catch will be further reduced to 50% of its current catch and an emergency rule has been agreed that if there are signs recruitment of juvenile fish to the population falls below historical lows the fishery will be shut.

“In theory this is all positive, but with the tuna stock at the lowest level it has ever been fished to, there is concern it may not recover,” said Sant.

Expedition observes hundreds of marine creatures in oil slick

2009-10-23

The area affected by the Montara oil spill off the Kimberley coast contains a huge amount of marine life, including some of the most iconic and threatened species in the ocean, according to a marine wildlife survey conducted by WWF.

Dolphins, migratory sea birds and sea snakes were found in abundance in the area, in addition to marine turtles, and many of these species were recorded swimming through the toxic oil affected area during WWF's recent expedition to Timor Sea.

The survey report released today paints a picture of a rich marine community under threat of toxicity from the Montara oil leak which has been ongoing for more than two months.

"We recorded hundreds of dolphins and sea birds in the oil slick area, as well as sea snakes and threatened hawksbill and flatback turtles," said WWF-Australia’s Director of Conservation Dr Gilly Llewellyn, who led the team of ecologists.

"It's a stark contrast to comments made this week by the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) that claimed our survey found no evidence of harm to marine life. This is clearly a false representation of our results and appears to be an attempt to sweep this environmental disaster under the carpet," Dr Llewellyn said.

Overall the expedition recorded 17 species of seabird, four species of cetacean and five marine reptiles including two species of marine turtle. At least eleven of the species were listed migratory and two - hawksbill and flatback turtles - are listed as threatened with extinction under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

On Wednesday, PTTEP, the company responsible for the oil slick, reported high levels of mortality among oil- affected seabirds.

"Clearly, wildlife is dying and hundreds if not thousands of dolphins, seabirds and sea-snakes are being exposed to toxic oil. The critical issue is the long term impact of this slick on a rich marine ecosystem, taking into consideration the magnitude, extent and duration of the event," said Dr Llewellyn.

"We know that oil can be a slow and silent killer. Impacts from the Exxon Valdez disaster are still being seen 20 years later, so we can expect this environmental disaster will continue to unfold for years to come."

WWF is aware of a second sea-based survey team that has been to the area and collected data on impacts on marine life and calls on all evidence and observations to be made publically available.

"The public needs to have all available information concerning what has been observed and reported, including findings from Ashmore Reef, and from the vessels and platforms in the area." Dr Llewellyn said.

"There is global concern about this oil spill and its effects on marine wildlife. More surveys are urgently needed as every piece of information helps build a more complete picture."

Alaska critical habitat for polar bear declared

2009-10-23

In a move applauded by WWF, the US Department of the Interior has announced the proposed designation of almost 52 million hectares of key polar bear habitat across Alaska. The requirement for the identification of 'critical habitat' was triggered by the listing of polar bears as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act in 2008.

"Designation of critical habitat affords important protections to the polar bear, a species imperiled by dramatic changes in its sea ice environment," says Geoff York, senior program officer for Polar Bear Conservation at WWF.

"As sea ice habitat shrinks, it becomes increasingly important to protect areas that are crucial for the bears' survival."

The critical habitat proposal announced today identifies habitat in three separate areas or units: barrier island habitat, sea ice habitat and terrestrial denning habitat. The total area proposed for designation would cover almost 52 million hectares (200,541 square miles).

Barrier island habitat includes coastal barrier islands and spits along Alaska's coast, and is used for denning, refuge from human disturbances, access to maternal dens and feeding habitat, as well as travel along the coast. Sea ice habitat is located over the continental shelf, and includes water 300m and less in depth. Terrestrial denning habitat includes lands within 32 km (about 20 miles) of the northern coast of Alaska between the Canadian border and the Kavik River and within 8 km (about 5 miles) between the Kavik River and Barrow.

WWF works around the Arctic with local communities, scientists and governments to enhance polar bear conservation, protect their habitat, and ensure sustainable populations. WWF encourages the Department of the Interior to ensure that the views of local people are incorporated in the designation of critical habitat areas.

The world's top scientific experts on polar bears, the Polar Bear Specialist Group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), recently concluded that the IUCN Red List classification of the polar bear should be upgraded from 'Least Concern' to 'Vulnerable'. That was based on the likelihood of an overall decline in the size of the total population of more than 30% within the next 35 to 50 years.. The principal cause of this decline is climatic warming as it melts away the polar bears' important sea ice habitat.

At the Polar Bear Specialist Group Meeting this summer, the experts concluded that eight polar bear population groups are now in decline, up from five in 2005.

"Polar bears are not land animals - they evolved over thousands of years to be sea ice specialists. They need the ice to hunt for seals, their primary food. Take away the ice and you take away the bears," added York.

In recent years, science has documented a decline in the condition and cub survival rate of some of the most southerly bear populations, and most recently significant increases in polar bear movements and home ranges as animals are forced to migrate longer distances in search of food or habitat.

"The changes we are witnessing in the Arctic do not just raise concerns about the fate of iconic species such as polar bear - our own future is at stake," said York.

"The planet is changing in dangerous ways and the longer we wait to address the climate crisis the costlier it will be. While designation of critical habitat for polar bear is a positive step, it remains critical that the U.S. Senate pass a climate bill this year, moving us closer to reaching a global agreement in Copenhagen this December."

Land of Leopard in Flames

2009-10-12

Primorye, Russia - Satellite monitoring of the worst fire season since 1996 in key biodiversity areas of the southernmost part of the Russian Far East has pinpointed a need to make landholders and state authorities take greater responsibility for fires on their land.

The monitoring showed that in the autumn spring fire season of 2008-2009, one third of south-west Primorye – the maritime province bordering China and North Korea - was lost in fires. Among significant wildlife areas affected was the Leopardovyi federal wildlife refuge where 15 forest fires covering 11% of its entire area were registered.

The 169,000 hectare refuge created in 2008 is vital habitat for the Far Eastern leopard (also known as the Amur leopard) which has the dubious distinction of being the world’s most endangered large cat. The area is also home to Siberian tigers

“This year we decided to define not only borders of burnt plots but also exact location of fire sources,” said Denis Smirnov, head of the Forest Programme at WWF-Russia’s Amur branch.

“We then overlapped this data on land users’ map and indentified persons and organizations responsible either for fire ignition or for not taking appropriate actions to combat fires”.

Results have shown that fires did not only break out in vacant state reserve land or undistributed agricultural lands. More than half of monitored fires broke out on owned or leased land.

For instance, In Leopardovyi refuge significant fires broke out in lands of Agro Khasan Ltd., the largest land owner across Khasanskii district, as well as on army forestry lands.

“To stop further degradation of vital leopard’s habitat we are suggesting some priority actions for the provincial and district administrations,” Smirnov said.

“First, they need to appoint responsible persons or bodies for fire prevention and suppression on state reserve lands and agricultural lands, and provide funding for these activities. Second, they need to rest responsibility on land owners and leaseholders for combating forest fires on their plots.”

The results of satellite monitoring conducted by WWF in cooperation with the non-profit partnership Transparent World were presented earlier this month to the Khasanskii district administration, at a preparatory consultation for the fire season this fall.

The research forms part of a broader WWF project on forest restoration in the leopard’s habitats.

Loophole looms for illegal loggers ravaging Madagascar

2009-10-07

Antananarivo, Madagascar – An exceptional authorisation from the Malagasy transitional government for the export of raw and semi-processed precious woods risks opening a loophole for the legal export of illegally cut timber and encouraging further assaults on Madagascar's endangered forests and wildlife, conservation groups active on the island have said.

"It legalises the sale of illegally cut and collected wood onto the market (...) and constitutes a legal incentive for further corruption in the forestry sector. " said a communique published locally by WWF, Conservation International (CI) and the World Conservation Society (WCS).

The communique follows a Reuters report quoting Prime minister Monja Roindefo denying that the transitional government was legalising the plundering of forests, but refusing to rule out issuing future licences.

Niall O’Connor, Regional Representative for WWF Madagascar and West Indian Ocean Programm Office in Antananarivo says "We condem the impact of the plundering of Madagascar’s forests, particularly the protected areas, on biodiversity and the loss of livelihood options for the local population."

No forest containing precious woods is safe

A study entitled "Evaluation of rosewood and ebony stocks in two communities in the North East and in the middle-west of the country“, commissioned by WWF Madagascar in August 2009 revealed shocking details about the professional exploitation of precious woods such as the above mentioned in Madagascar.

In Andranopasy, a community in western Madagascar, only 6 of 15 species of rosewood survive. No rosewood trees with a trunk diameter of more than 30cm have been found. Three species of rosewood are very unlikely to regenerate. Another species, Diospyros perrieri, is no longer regenerating.

"This can be explained by the abusive commercial exploitation of the forest by foreign economic players. Even more, the local population cannot benefit from the precious woods in their forest for their very survival. Wood workers are paid the equivilent of 2 Euros a day while rosewood sells at 8.5 Euros per kilogramm." says the study.

Another statement, signed by 15 Madagascar and international conservation groups including WWF, said that “Precious woods are being extracted from forests by roving and sometimes violent gangs of lumbermen and sold to a few powerful businessmen for export. . . . Those exploiting the trees are also trapping endangered lemurs for food, and the forests themselves are being degraded as trees are felled, processed and dragged to adjacent rivers or roads for transport to the coast.

“No forest that contains precious woods is safe, and the country’s most prestigious nature reserves and favoured tourist destinations, such as the Marojejy and Masoala World Heritage Sites and the Mananara Biosphere Reserve, have been the focus of intensive exploitation. Currently thousands of rosewood and ebony logs, none of them legally exploited, are stored in Madagascar’s east coast ports, Vohémar, Antalaha, and Toamasina. The most recent decree will allow their export and surely encourage a further wave of environmental pillaging.”

WWF Madagascar is investigating whether rosewood can be registered as an endangered species according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). This will increase and tighten regulations on both import and export.

Madagascar is home to abundant unique fauna and flora and one of the top biodiversity hotspots in the world, with a developing industry in sustainable eco-tourism.

The world-famous lemurs are a key symbol of the island – lemurs going into cooking pots to feed illegal loggers of rare woods is a different symbol entirely.

Flying Turkmen leopards to bring species back to Caucasus

2009-09-23

Sochi, Russia: Two leopards from Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan are recovering after a long flight and car ride to their new homes in a Russian national park, as part of efforts to reintroduce the species into the Caucasus region.

The leopards were moved into spacious pens in Sochi National Park in southwestern Russia as part of a species reintroduction programme implemented by WWF and the Russian government.

They travelled more than 1,000 kilometers by plane and then by car, and are in good health despite the long trip and the effects of anaesthetic.

Upon arrival, the leopards were met by WWF, park staff and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Sochi on Saturday and then released into large pens inside a special centre created for them in the park.

The big cats (Panthera pardus saxicolor) will take part in the Programme for Persian Leopard Reintroduction, developed by experts from WWF and the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, and approved by the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology.

“There are very few leopards in the whole of Caucasus, only a few dozen,” said Igor Chestin, WWF-Russia CEO. “They exist with the help of some inflow from Iran, which has several hundreds remaining. We want to create a new, Northern-based nucleus of the population, so that together with the Southern nucleus in Iran it can guarantee sustainability for the leopard population both in the Russian Caucasus and neighboring countries.”

The leopards are already actively moving around. They drink a lot of water, which is normal after anaesthesia, and on Sunday one of them ate a slab of meat given to him by veterinarians. Both leopards are males.

“They will have time to adapt to the new conditions and start to feel ownership of the territory by the time females arrive ”, said Umar Semyonov, deputy director of the Sochi national park. “And it will be easier for females to adapt with support from males.”

The leopards from Turkmenistan will live in the Centre for breeding and rehabilitation in the Sochi national park. Only their descendants will be released into the wild in the Caucasus strict nature reserve.

“Areas for future release were carefully chosen to resemble as much as possible leopards’ habitat in Turkmenistan, both in terms of relief and prey,” said Professor Anatoly Kudaktin, programme scientific supervisor. “Conditions in the Caucasus will be even more comfortable in some ways than in Turkmenistan, and ungulate density is higher here.”

These types of leopards are endangered because most of their habitat was lost in the last century due to transformation. Migration routes between remaining isolated populations are cut off due to infrastructure development, which has led to small fragmented populations that cannot easily breed.

Financially, the Programme is supported by WWF-Russia, “Rosa Khutor” Company, VympelCom Group, and Russian government.

New species discovered in the Greater Mekong at risk of extinction due to climate change

2009-09-22

Greater Mekong - A bird eating fanged frog, a gecko that looks like it’s from another planet and a bird which would rather walk than fly, are among the 163 new species discovered in the Greater Mekong region last year that are now at risk of extinction due to climate change, says a new report launched by WWF ahead of UN climate talks in Bangkok.

During 2008 alone, scientists identified these rare and unique species within the jungles and rivers of the Greater Mekong, including a bird eating fanged frog that lies in streams waiting for prey, one of only four new species of musk shrew to be described in recent times, and a leopard gecko whose “other world” appearance – orange eyes, spindly limbs and technicolour skin – inspired the report’s title Close Encounters.

Such is the immense biodiversity of this region that some discoveries such as the tiger-striped pitviper were made by accident.

“We were engrossed in trying to catch a new species of gecko when my son pointed out that my hand was on a rock mere inches away from the head of a pitviper! We caught the snake and the gecko and they both proved to be new species,” said Dr Lee Grismer of La Sierra University in California.

Close Encounters spotlights species newly identified by science including 100 plants, 28 fish, 18 reptiles, 14 amphibians, 2 mammals and a bird, all discovered in 2008 within the Greater Mekong region of Southeast Asia that spans Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the south-western Chinese province of Yunnan.

The reluctant flyer, Nonggang babbler, was observed walking longer distances than flying. It would only use its wings when frightened.

“After millennia in hiding these species are now finally in the spotlight, and there are clearly more waiting to be discovered,” said Stuart Chapman, Director of the WWF Greater Mekong Programme.

But no sooner are these new species discovered than their survival is threatened by the devastating impacts of climate change, the report warns.

Recent studies show the climate of the Greater Mekong region is already changing. Models suggest continued warming, increased variability and more frequent and damaging extreme climate events.

Rising seas and saltwater intrusion will cause major coastal impacts especially in the Mekong River delta, which is one of the three most vulnerable deltas on Earth, according to the most recent International Panel on Climate Change report.

“Some species will be able to adapt to climate change, many will not, potentially resulting in massive extinctions,” said Chapman.

“Rare, endangered and endemic species like those newly discovered are especially vulnerable because climate change will further shrink their already restricted habitats,” he said.

Often these newly discovered species are highly dependent on a limited number of species for their survival. If they respond to climate change in a way that disrupts this closely evolved relationship it puts them at greater risk of extinction.

Over the next two weeks, government delegates will meet in Bangkok, Thailand, for the next round of UN climate change talks in the lead up to the Copenhagen Climate Summit this December, where the world is scheduled to agree on a new global climate treaty.

“The treasures of nature are in trouble if governments fail to agree a fair, ambitious and binding treaty that will prevent runaway climate change,” said Kathrin Gutmann, Head of Policy and Advocacy at the WWF Global Climate Initiative.

“Protecting endangered species and vulnerable communities in the Greater Mekong and elsewhere around the world depends on fast progress at the UN talks in Bangkok - a hugely important conference that can lay the groundwork for success at the Copenhagen Climate Summit this December.”