Wednesday, October 8, 2014

World Marches to Demand an End to Illegal Trade in Wildlife

Human Wrongs Watch The illegal trade in wildlife is the world’s fourth largest illicit trade, topped only by the trade in narcotics, counterfeiting and human trafficking. Photo source UNEP October 4, 2014 – Today, citizens in over 120 cities across the world are campaigning to save the world’s elephant and rhino populations which have fallen victim to an illegal wildlife trade now worth up to US $213 billion each year.* The recent move by many countries to destroy their ivory stockpiles, the landmark 2014 London Declaration, and a recently adopted UN resolution has put the illegal trade in wildlife under a renewed spotlight and high on the agenda of the international community. The Global March for Elephants and Rhinos will carry the voice of an ever-growing number of people on all continents who are calling for further concerted international action to end the senseless slaughter of these two iconic species. The number of killed elephants in Africa is in the range of 20 – 25,000 per year, out of a population of 420,000 – 650,000, and poached African ivory may represent an end-user street value in Asia of an estimated US $165-188 million of raw ivory, in addition to ivory from Asian sources. Rhinos have disappeared entirely from several Asian and African countries in recent years. Rhino poaching has increased by over 7000 per cent in South Africa since 2007, with over 1000 rhinos poached in 2013 alone in South Africa, home to over 80 per cent of Africa’s rhinos, which number around 25,000 in total across the continent.



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