Anne Chaon Yahoo News 18 Mar 10;
DOHA (AFP) – Polar bears, the global mascot in the fight against climate change, were denied a reprieve Thursday when a UN body shot down a US proposal to ban cross-border trade in the animals or their parts.
In a vote at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), meeting in Doha through March 25, the measure fell far short of the required two-thirds majority.
The United States had called for a "precautionary approach," noting the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies the animal as "vulnerable," with their numbers down by 30 percent in the past 45 years.
"The current level of trade has a detrimental impact ... and may further stimulate the international market in countries that allow it, such as Russia," said Jane Lyder, head of the US delegation at the Doha talks.
Recent data showed that as many as 700 of the bears may be killed illegally each year, especially in Russia, she told journalists.
But opponents of the ban argued that the main threat facing the snow-white carnivore, the largest of the bear family, is climate change, not poaching or over-exploitation.
There are currently 20,000 to 25,000 in the wild across Canada, Greenland, Russia, Alaska and Norway, and about 600 are legally harvested each year by indigenous peoples, especially the Inuit.
Only Canada -- home to 65 percent of the global population -- allows exports, which are limited to about 300 specimens a year.
They are killed mainly for their fur, teeth and bones, or sought as hunting trophies.
Several states invoked the rights of aboriginal peoples for whom hunting the bears is a way of life and an economic lifeline.
"Polar bears are a valuable source of food, and an important contribution to our livelihood," said an Inuit member of the Canadian delegation.
"We have a lot to lose if polar bear trade doesn't exist any more," he told journalists.
The polar bear has been registered since 1975 in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which allows controlled trade.
Inclusion in Appendix I, as requested by the United States, would have totally banned exports.
In 2008, Washington listed polar bears under the Endangered Species Act, ending importation to the US of trophies killed by sports hunters. Greenland imposed a total ban on exports the same year.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) decried the outcome in Doha as a "death knell" for the bears.
"This is a missed opportunity, a final chance to respond to threats" facing the bear, said Jeff Flocken, director of conservation group the Global Fund for Animal Welfare.
Other environmental groups, however, said hunting for export is limited and well-managed, and that the ban would not boost the animal's chances for survival.
"The polar bear does not meet any of the biological criteria for inclusion in Appendix I. Trade is not a significant threat to the species," said TRAFFIC, an NGO that monitors wildlife trade.
Several NGOs said the drive to uplist the animal was largely "emotional."
The final tally was 48 votes in favour of the Appendix I listing, 62 against and 11 abstentions, according to IFAW.
The 175-nation CITES will vote on dozens of measures affecting trade in tuna, ivory, sharks and coral, among other plants and animals.
Polar Bear, Bluefin Tuna Trade Bans Rejected
Deborah Zabarenko, PlanetArk 19 Mar 10;
Polar Bear, Bluefin Tuna Trade Bans Rejected Photo: Issei Kato
One-year-old polar bear Ikor plays at Sapporo Maruyama Zoo in Sapporo, northern Japan, January 18, 2010. The male cubs were born on December 9, 2008.
Photo: Issei Kato
Proposed international trade bans on polar bears and Atlantic bluefin tuna failed to pass on Thursday at a 175-nation meeting aimed at protecting endangered species.
The United States favored both bans and was disappointed in the vote, but held out hope for passage of a resolution that would make climate change a factor in future decisions by the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, known as CITES.
The meeting of CITES in Doha, Qatar, will consider the climate change resolution along with trade protection for about 40 species -- including sharks, coral and elephants -- during its two-week conference ending on March 25.
Polar bears are under pressure from the melting of their icy Arctic habitat, and are listed by the United States as a threatened species for that reason. The primary exporter of polar bears is Canada, which has recently scaled back the number of hunting permits for the bear.
While CITES uses trade restrictions to protect species at risk, Tom Strickland, assistant U.S. Interior secretary, said that climate change will have to be taken into account and that polar bears are the first species to need this consideration.
"The polar bear was the first canary in the coal mine," Strickland said of the climate change impact on the animal.
"I think we're going to find at every CITES meeting from here on out that we'll be looking at species and their vulnerability in terms of the effect that climate change has had on them, whether it's drought or rising sea levels" or other ecosystem changes, he said.
"CATASTROPHIC DECLINE"
Andrew Wetzler of the Natural Resources Defense Council said the CITES vote is not the end of the story for the bear.
"The ironic thing is that all the countries of the conference acknowledge that global warming is posing a huge challenge for this species," Wetzler said. "When you have a species threatened by global warming, it only makes sense to reduce all the other stresses, including hunting."
Strickland blamed the failure to pass a trade ban on Atlantic bluefin tuna on pressure from commercial interests in Japan and inaction by other regulatory bodies, notably the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).
"The science is compelling, the statistics are dramatic, that this species is in a catastrophic decline," Strickland said at a telephone news briefing from Washington.
Stocks of Atlantic bluefin tuna, prized as a delicacy in Japan, have plunged more than 80 percent since 1970, according to CITES. Japan imports about 80 percent of the catch.
A single fish can weigh up to 1,430 pounds (650 kg) and fetch more than $100,000. The fish is found in the north Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Mexico.
"The abject failure of governments here at CITES to protect Atlantic bluefin tuna spells disaster for its future and sets the species on a pathway to extinction," said Greenpeace International Oceans Campaigner Oliver Knowles.
France, Italy and Spain catch most of the tuna consumed by the global market.
In 2009, a quota of 19,950 tons of tuna was set by ICCAT, but many fish are caught live in nets, transferred to farms and fattened before slaughter.
"The market for this fish is just too lucrative and the pressure from fishing interests too great, for enough governments to support a truly sustainable future for the fish," said Susan Lieberman, director of international policy for the Pew Environment Group.
(Editing by Xavier Briand)
