Recently, CBCGDF has released a message, its Secretary-General Dr. Zhou Jinfeng will go to Sochi, Russia, to attend the 70th Meeting of the Standing Committee (SC70) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) from October 1st to 5th. After CBCGDF’s colleagues’ consulting with the organizers of the Meeting, it has been determined that on the local time from 12.30 p.m. to 2.00 p.m. on October 1, 2018, a Side Event of SC70 will be held at the VIP Loge 6 meeting room. The meeting will be hosted by Dr. Zhou, focusing on the CBCGDF’s long road of combating illegal wildlife trade and saving the critically endangered species pangolins.
A meeting invitation is not available worldwide. How to protect critically endangered species, for example, pangolins, the world is standing at a crossroads. CBCGDF’s crucial Side Event of SC70 will discuss this pressing issue.
All eight types of pangolins in the world have been listed on CITES’ Appendix I. However, why is global smuggling poaching pangolins still very rampant? Obviously, it is profitable and driven by interests! Smuggling pangolins from abroad is highly profitable, say, it costs a few hundred yuan to sell at home; One live pangolin values at least one thousand yuan. The pangolin scales are more expensive because of the so-called “medicinal value”. However, the “medicine effect” of pangolins, and their scales has not been scientifically confirmed so far, but they have been made the mammals suffer the most from illegal trade in the world!
On today’s earth, humans are fortunate to live in a closely connected world, but legitimate means of transportation are used by transnational criminals to transfer their smuggled goods and are used by travelers to purchase wild animal products that are illegal or unsustainable. Together with CITES, CBCGDF responds to this trend and keeps pace with the times, inviting people of insight around the world to Sochi to participate in this Side Event.
Through the Side Event, CBCGDF will demonstrate the discovery of unannounced visits to traditional Chinese pangolins consuming provinces by launching of a large number of civil volunteers, the disclosure of cases of smuggling and eating pangolins, and the “prolonged war” and administrative lawsuits with local authorities, and so on. The latest statistical methods using big data will also be released, with detailed data on the background of CBCGDF’s “2018, a Counting Year for Pangolins”, including the consumption of raw materials of pangolin scales approved by forestry authorities in China in the past two years, the pangolin scales data seized by customs at various places in the past two years, and so on.
At the same time, several recommendations for saving pangolins will be presented to CITES, and feedback on the effectiveness of the CBCGDF efforts has been achieved. CITES and its side events have a truly global influence, and the differences in views reflect the high risks of protecting the cause of the conservation of endangered species and the global interest and enthusiasm of the binding force of the Convention. CBCGDF will take the opportunity of the Side Event to express its appeal to the world as a leading eco-friendly NGO. CBCGDF and CITES will jointly share experiences and promote work around the world to make these efforts more effective.
We sincerely invite people from all walks of life to solve the issue of saving endangered species. CBCGDF will explore a path with CITES to clarify the problem of protecting pangolins to ensure that the world’s endangered species survive on this increasingly crowded and intricate planet.
(Photo: CITES)
(Photo: CBCGDF)
Original Chinese article:
http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4937/6278.html
By / Niu Jingmei