CITES - Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species

1. CITES - Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species • International agreement with aim to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. • Created at 1963 meeting of IUCN; designates three categories with associated rules and licensing • Appendix I - species threatened with extinction. Trade in specimens of these species is permitted only in exceptional circumstances. • Appendix II - species not necessarily threatened with extinction, but in which trade must be controlled • Appendix III - species that are protected in at least one country, which has asked other CITES Parties for assistance in controlling trade.

2. Lacey Act (U.S) • Originally authored in 1900 but amended several times. • Beginning with revisions in 1981, refocused attention on illegal international trafficking in flora and fauna • CITES lacks enforcement; the Lacey Act allows federal and state wildlife officials to prosecute US citizens if they violate international wildlife laws

3. IUCN Red list(International Union for Conservation of Nature) • Comprehensive, global database detailing the conservation status of plant and animal species. • Plays role in guiding conservation activities of governments, NGOs and scientific institutions.

4. Bengal tigers

5. Bengal tigers • Found in India with smaller populations in Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, China and Myanmar. I • Most numerous of all tiger subspecies with fewer than 2,500 left in the wild. • Classified as endangered by the IUCN Red List

6. IUCN Red list

8. Tigers in India • India is home to approximately 60 per cent of the world's remaining wild tigers • Large scale hunting of Bengal tigers by Mughal rulers 500 years ago • British tiger hunts during colonial era from 1850’s until 1947.

10. http://vimeo.com/7586728

11. “Tigers also represented for the British all that was wild and untamed in the Indian natural world. Thus, the curious late Victorian and Edwardian spectacle of British royals and other dignitaries being photographed standing aside dead tiger carcasses depicted the staging of the successful conquest of Indian nature by "virile imperialists". More generally, tiger hunting was an important symbol in the construction of British imperial and masculine identities during the nineteenth century. Precisely because tigers were dangerous and powerful beasts, tiger hunting represented a struggle with fearsome nature that needed to be resolutely faced "like a Briton“. Only by successfully vanquishing tigers would Britons prove their manliness and their fitness to rule over Indians.

14. Tigers in India • 10,000 – 20,000 tigers at start of 20th century • Project Tiger • Began in 1973 when census revealed only 2000 tigers • Prohibitions on hunting, poaching • Set up tiger reserves • Started with 9 tiger reserves in an area of 16,339 sq km and 268 tigers. • At present 27 tiger reserves over 37,761 sq km and 1500 tigers. • ‘Core-buffer' strategy • The core areas were freed from all sorts of human activities and the buffer areas were subjected to 'conservation oriented land use'.

15. India’s tiger reserves

16. Impacts of reserves on tiger genetics • Red flag of extinction • Small isolated populations • Lack of variability in DNA of historical tigers • Local populations becoming genetically distinctive • Increased mortality, immune deficiency

18. Poaching in tiger reserves • Up to 4,000 tigers in the wild in India during the 1990s • Declined steeply to about 1,400 in 2006. • Related to entry of China into global economy

19. Ranthambhore National Park • Crown jewel of India’s reserves • In 2003 – 2004 poachers killed half of all the tigers in the park with at least negligence of forestry and government officials. • Prominent controversy and has occurred in other reserves • Indian Supreme Court banned tiger tourism in core areas of reserve but has been slowly opening them back up

20. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn-Gas0DNwI

21. Neocolonialism? • Tigers bring in money for international conservation organizations that can exert considerable influence. • Indian tiger census has been manipulated to encourage more financial support.

22. Neocolonialism? • Pro-tiger (and lion) sentiments strong in rich countries where tigers never roamed. • Who bears the burden of living with large predators?

23. Human-tiger conflicts • Conservation areas increase tiger populations and likelihood of attacks on livestock and humans • Recovery goals may bring about more conflict

24. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20Epvf_fNuo

25. Sundarbans of India and Pakistan

26. Can locals play a role in tiger management? • The Forest Rights Act (2006) • Recognizes the rights of some forest dwelling communities to access forest areas. • Viewed as problematic by some in that poaching may increase with more forest access • Supporters say this is a limited perspective that overlooks the reality of human-tiger coexistence, and the role of local people (rather than government or conservation groups) to assume some management of tiger populations

27. .

28. A movie script worth of conflict and motivations? • Vigilante defender of tigers • Wealthy American tourist • Dying overseas WWF donor • Semi-nomadic lower caste forest dwellers • Corrupt park official • Amoral poacher from out of town • Laid off tour guide with a family to feed • Nationalistic director of tourism

29. A common dilemma • Like tigers many other large animals face similar dilemmas: • Fence animals in and humans out to conserve habitat and species? • Integrate animals with humans and develop coexistence strategies and market incentives to protect wildlife? • Farm? • No single solution for all animals and countries

32. Other emerging factors to consider • Rewilding • Deextinction • Assurance colonies • Reevaluation of international treaties and laws

33. Rewilding the South China Tiger • 60 individuals all caged in zoos • Existing population is extremely inbred, with high mortality and low fertility. • Many are likely hybrids. • No official or biologist has seen a wild South China tiger since the early 1970s • Rewilding project underway • More South China tigers identified in zoos

34. Pleistocene Park

35. Deextinction

36. Exotic pet trade • Pet trade dealers consult scientific literature to find the next rare species. • After a study defined the Roti Island snake-necked turtle and Chinese leopard gecko as rare, their prices boomed. Both species are now nearly extinct in the wild. Strictly Reptiles

37. Allee effects

39. Assurance colonies • Collections held by citizens and professional collectors for some future date when organisms can be released • Rationale • Zoos don’t have space and are often constrained as to how many animals they have • Culling and sterilization done at zoos

40. Asian turtle crisis http://www.turtlesurvival.org/storage/documents/magazines/tsa_magazine_2012.pdf

41. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/28/science/zoos-bitter-choice-to-save-some-species-letting-others-die.html?emc=eta1&_r=0http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/28/science/zoos-bitter-choice-to-save-some-species-letting-others-die.html?emc=eta1&_r=0

44. The Anthropocene does not represent the failure of environmentalism • We should accept reality of humanity’s reshaping of the environment and the organisms in it • We should continue to pursue solutions to the declining numbers of wildlife without giving in to despair • But first we have to give up on the idea of pristine and that all is lost and ruined, although we will lose some things. • The Anthropocene does not represent the failure of environmentalism. It is the stage on which a new and forward-looking environmentalism can be built. • We have a duty, however presumptious it may be, to manage the earth we have modified