AFP 4 Oct 13;
Jakarta — Environmentalists on Friday hailed measures including tough anti-poaching initiatives to help boost the dwindling population of Asian rhinos agreed at an international conference in Indonesia.
Officials from Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Nepal held a two-day meeting this week on Indonesia's western Sumatra island to discuss the plight of the animals.
Two out of three Asian rhino species -- the Sumatran and Javan rhinos -- are critically endangered, and the third, the greater one-horned rhino, is classified as vulnerable.
The populations have dwindled rapidly as poachers hunt the animal for its horn which is highly valued for use in traditional Chinese medicine, and the WWF says only around 3,500 rhinos remain in the wild in Asia.
At the meeting of Asian countries with rhino populations in the city of Bandar Lampung, the participants agreed to try and increase the populations of Asian rhinos by at least three percent annually by 2020.
The agreement set out steps to increase the populations, such as improving biological monitoring and management and carrying out tough anti-poaching operations.
Protection group the International Union for Conservation of Nature hailed the agreement as a "major step towards Asian rhino recovery".
"The number of surviving Asian rhinos, especially of Javan and Sumatran rhinos, is currently so low that maintaining their populations is not enough to secure their survival," said Simon Stuart, chair of the IUCN's species survival commission.
"What we need to see is the recovery of these species and a steady increase of their populations."
The WWF hailed the agreement made at the conference, which concluded Thursday, but urged governments to follow through with concrete action.
"Now is the time for action, to implement these methods where they are needed most," said Dr. Christy Williams, from the WWF's Asian rhino and elephant programme.
The IUCN said there could be fewer than 100 Sumatran rhinos, and there were only an estimated 50 Javan rhinos, remaining in the wild.
There are around 3,300 greater one-horned rhinos mainly in India and Nepal, the IUCN said.
As well as their horns, other rhino parts are also valued in traditional medicine and fetch a high price on the black market.
Asia’s first Rhino Range States meeting secures government-level agreement to bolster conservation efforts
WWF Indonesia, 4 Oct 13;
WWF applauds the world’s first meeting of Asian Rhino Range States, but warns that at-risk rhino populations in Asia will continue to drift towards extinction unless proven methodologies for boosting rhino numbers are more broadly implemented. Moreover, the momentum of past successes must be maintained in the face of growing pressure from poaching.
The Asian Rhino Range States Meeting, hosted by Indonesia, concluded with consensus among the government representatives from Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Nepal that maintaining populations and preventing extinction is not enough --- the species needs to recover. Endorsing the plan to raise the numbers of the greater one-horned Java and Sumatran rhinos, WWF also emphasized to the meeting participants that while consensus is valuable, the species needs action more than words. “We have outstanding success stories across Asia. Nepal and India have both successfully expanded their rhino populations,” explained Dr. Christy Williams, WWF Asian Rhino and Elephant Programme, “Their methods have been shared with the region. Now is the time for action, to implement these methods where they are needed most.”
The international community has paid significant attention to the plight of the black rhinoceros and white rhinoceros across Africa, but relatively little focus has been given to the Asian species. However; there are far fewer rhinos remaining in Asia: as of March 2013 there were only 3,500 rhinos in Asia (compared to over 25,000 across Africa). Some species remain by a thread, in single populations numbering less than 50 animals.
However, there are proven examples of rhino populations bouncing back from similar numbers. Committed action by governments has resulted in the rhino population more than doubling in numbers in the Indian State of West Bengal over the last 13 years. Strong actions against poaching of rhinos in Nepal and India have seen rhino numbers recover. Noted Anwar Purwoto, Forest Freshwater and Terrestrial Species Programme Director of WWF-Indonesia, “these success stories are highly heartening for bringing Indonesia’s rhinos back from the brink.”
“In India, we faced a situation where rhinos were hunted and poached almost to the brink of extinction”, said Dr. Dipankar Ghose, Director, Species and Landscapes, WWF-India. “With increased protection, monitoring and conservation efforts by the government and civil society, India greatly strengthened the number of rhinos over the course of four decades. However, the recent rise in cases of rhino poaching with sophisticated weapons indicate the involvement of organized crime syndicates and is a cause of serious concern."
Implementing these conservation techniques, and maintaining the momentum where they are in play, is now more critical than ever as the three Asian rhino species: the greater one-horned rhinoceros, the Javan rhinoceros, and the Sumatran rhinoceros remain on the IUCN Red List of threatened species; the greater one-horned as Vulnerable and the Sumatran and Javan rhinos as Critically Endangered.
Building on the meeting’s call to fight poaching, WWF emphasized the need for key rhino horn consuming countries to commit to key measures in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Added Anwar Purwoto, “Indonesia has taken an important step by hosting this conference; and now we have in our hands proven, effective conservation measures. What comes next, and what we are confident on seeing from the Indonesia government, is political will to achieve the national rhino population targets.”
Indonesia kicked off the conference on a high note, announcing that three months of research --- conducted with WWF-Indonesia as a partner --- has paid off with the first known visual evidence of the Sumatran rhinoceros in the forests of East Kalimantan.
Major step towards Asian rhino recovery
IUCN, 3 Oct 13;
At a meeting of the five Asian Rhino range states - Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Nepal - a common action plan was agreed today with the aim of increasing the populations of Asian Rhino species by at least 3% annually by 2020. This agreement, called the Bandar Lampung Declaration, was reached after two days of negotiations at the Asian Rhino Range States Meeting held in Bandar Lampung, Indonesia, hosted by the government of Indonesia and facilitated by the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC).
“Our decision to host this meeting reflects Indonesia’s determination to do everything we can to save our species of rhino,” says Zulkifli Hasan, Minister of Forestry, Indonesia. “We have found that when a species becomes extremely rare, occurring at a very low density, such as the Sumatran Rhino, we need to take special measures to ensure that the animals can find each other and breed.”
The commitment outlines specific conservation actions that are necessary to secure a steady growth rate of all three Asian Rhino species – Sumatran, Javan and Greater One-horned. These include improving the biological management and monitoring of the species, strengthening the protection of their habitats, performing strict anti-poaching operations, introducing tougher penalties for those that illegally kill Asian Rhinos, and maintaining the ban in the international trade of all rhino products.
“The number of surviving Asian Rhinos, especially of Javan and Sumatran Rhinos, is currently so low that maintaining their populations is not enough to secure their survival,” says Simon Stuart, Chair of IUCN SSC. “What we need to see is the recovery of these species and a steady increase of their populations. Seeing all Asian Rhino range states agree on a common and very specific action plan is a major step towards achieving this goal.”
Pressure from illegal hunting on all species of rhinos has grown seriously in recent years, mainly due to a significant increase in non-traditional use of rhino horn and a rise of rhino horn trade in Asian markets, especially in Viet Nam and China.
The Sumatran Rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) is listed as Critically Endangered on The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ and its total population could be fewer than 100 individuals. An estimated 50 individuals of the Javan Rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus), also listed as Critically Endangered, survive in Java’s Ujung Kulon National Park. The Greater One-horned Rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis), with estimated 3,339 individuals mainly in India and Nepal, is listed as Vulnerable and could easily be lost if current trends in the illicit trade in rhino horn continue.
The agreement was reached based on the latest knowledge on the status and trends of the three species provided by the IUCN SSC Asian Rhino Specialist Group.
