Harsh action urged
Source: Agencies |
March 4, 2013, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE world must clamp down on the illegal global wildlife trade, the head of the United Nations environment agency warned yesterday, calling it a multibillion-dollar criminal business that is threatening to wipe out some of the planet's most iconic species.
Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, made the call during the opening meeting of the 178-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, in Bangkok. He cited the massive upsurge in poaching of Africa's endangered elephants and rhinos, whose slaughter is being driven by rising demand in Asia for their tusks and horns.
"The backdrop against which this meeting takes place should be a very serious wakeup call for all of us," Steiner said.
Wildlife trafficking "has become a trade and a business - a billion-dollar trade in wildlife species that is analogous to that of the trade in drugs and arms," Steiner said.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
