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Can the Law Prevent Extinction? |
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By Nohelia González and Edin Hernández*
In Guatemala, Nicaragua and
Costa Rica talk is under way about the effectiveness of the ban
on trade in rare animals.
MANAGUA/GUATEMALA CITY - Trade in the Morelet
crocodile, the yellow-naped parrot or the leatherback sea turtle
is banned in Central America. These animals are protected by the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
Fauna and Flora (CITES).
But the three species continue on the path
towards extinction, leading to debate in Guatemala, Nicaragua and
Costa Rica on the effectiveness of national and international laws
against trade in certain animals and plants.
Since 1975, when CITES entered into force,
more than 30,000 species of flora and fauna have been incorporated
into the Convention under different protection categories: Appendix
I, which bans all trade, and Appendix II, which allows controlled
sales of species or their products.
But each time the addition of a new species
to the CITES lists is proposed, ecologists and entrepreneurs begin
another bartering battle.
"The CITES measures work, but overly strict
regulations hurt international trade," Pablo Soto, owner of
a crocodile and iguana farm in Guatemala, commented in a conversation
with Tierramérica.
"In eight years I have not been able to
export one Morelet crocodile (Crocodylus moreleti), and that won't
change until the third generation of this species is born, because
it now suffers genetic contamination" due to inbreeding, Soto
said.
The Morelet crocodile, highly prized for its
skin, was added to CITES Appendix I in the 1990s. In Guatemala it
lives in the wild in the departments of El Petén, Alta Verapaz
and Quiché, though no reliable population figures are available.
Soto did not give a total for the lost sales
of 153 crocodiles raised on his farm, but he criticized the state-run
Protected Areas Council (CONAP), which bans the release of the crocodiles
born in captivity as a means to regenerate the species' gene pool.
"CITES is necessary, but the Guatemalan
authorities are obstructing scientific research and reproduction
in captivity," complains Manuel Acevedo, an expert from the
Natural History Museum.
Due to lack of resources, CONAP has not been
able to control the trafficking of animals and the depredation caused
by the consumption of wild animal meat and over-exploitation of
traditional medicinal plants, Migdalia García, former CITES
representative at CONAP, told Tierramérica.
In November, CITES delegates voted to move
the yellow-naped parrot (Amazona auropalliata) from Appendix II
to Appendix I, thus banning all sales of the bird. This sparked
an intense controversy in Nicaragua between exporters and the Ministry
of Environment, which supported the stricter protection proposed
by Costa Rica.
The measure was adopted without informing the
affected parties with 330 days notice, as stipulated by law, complained
the Wildlife Ranchers and Exporters Association of Nicaragua.
Furthermore, says association president Juan
José Quezada Peralta, "the decision was taken without
scientific assessment to back it."
In the opinion of José Morales, a former
CITES scientific official, there are other "logical and sensible"
alternatives for protecting the yellow-naped parrot, such as raising
them in captivity.
The experience in Nicaragua and internationally
with respect to the bird and Appendix I rules has been negative,
because "the prohibition on legal trade tends to foment contraband,"
notes Morales.
According to the exporters, Nicaragua is home
to more than 204,000 of these parrots.
Although previously they were allowed to export
up to five percent of that population, the 13 export companies included
in the association say they sold an average of just 650 of these
birds each year.
Nicaraguan scientist Jean-Michel Maes says
the wild animal exporters are lobbying against the trade ban because
the parrot species represents important revenues.
Maes told Tierramérica that the plundering
of the nests of the yellow-naped parrot contributed to the fact
that the population plummeted 48 percent between 1995 and 1999.
For every parrot exported, five to nine birds
are taken from their habitat, and two to five are sold through contraband,
said the expert.
The leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)
is another important case in the CITES debate. The species is prehistoric,
dating back 110 million years, but an unsustainable model for tourism
development has been enough to push towards extinction a turtle
that co-existed on Earth with the mammoth.
The inclusion of this and other sea turtles
in the CITES Appendix I "mitigates but does not solve the problems
confronting the species," Jorge Gamboa, technical advisor to
Costa Rica's Ministry of Environment and Energy, told Tierramérica.
In 2001, only 65 leatherbacks laid eggs on
Costa Rica's Playa Grande, the species' main nesting area on the
Pacific coast. In 1988, more than 1,300 turtles nested on that beach.
The International Convention on the Conservation
and Protection of the Sea Turtle "is just beginning the process
of drafting a policy to fight the threats to the species, which
include the plundering of their eggs and killing by the commercial
fishing practices," Gamboa said.
"CITES provides the guidelines, but each
country is responsible for establishing and applying their own policies
to protect wildlife," he explained.
"Unregulated tourism development has affected
the sea turtle nesting beaches, where things like artificial lighting
are harmful because it disorients the hatchlings as they try to
make their way to the sea," added Gamboa.
Worldwide, none of the species protected
by CITES has become extinct as a result of trading practices.
* Nohelia González and Edin Hernández
are Tierramérica contributors.
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