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UPDATE: ASEAN-WEN Pattaya Conference
Suvit Khunkitti, Thailand Minister of Natural Resources and Environment
ASEAN estimates that trafficking of wildlife across Asia is worth more than $10 billion, second only to their estimates of weapons and drug smuggling as a major source of illegal activity in the region.
To address the threat of poaching, the Save The Tiger Fund played a crucial role to convene experts and representatives from 21 countries, 12 intergovernmental organizations, and 29 non-governmental organizations this spring to reduce the threat of poaching that is decimating wild tiger populations in Asia. These important stakeholders came together for two days during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN)-Wildlife Enforcement Network meeting in Pattaya Thailand.
The World Bank, United States Agency for International Development, and Government of Thailand joined STF to sponsor this regional discussion of the importance of environmental
conservation for development. This meeting sought to solidify national efforts and international cooperation to reduce the demand for products derived from endangered species and increasing enforcement mechanisms to halt the decline of biodiversity in Asia.
Experts in the protection of wildlife shared important lessons learnt to reduce wildlife crime and the consumer demand fuelling the trade in products derived from endangered species. Participants analyzed methods for increasing the effectiveness of anti-poaching patrols and protecting natural resources from theft and destruction with a focus on new avenues to disrupt and dismantle organized wildlife crime.
While experts agreed to seek additional resources and commitments from national governments to fight poaching, they also debated whether rural poverty or Asia’s growing middleclass were the primary driver of the illicit international trade. Asia has experience an unprecedented period of growth over the past 40 years and witnessed a meteoric rise in incomes for those that live in the major economic city centers in the region. However, many living in rural areas of Asia have incomes that lag behind and are vulnerable to natural disaster, sickness, and conflicts. In such conditions, some may find the payout of poaching endangered species to be worth the risk.
This meeting is a timely discussion of the strategies available to protect endangered species. More meetings are planned to refine research on such questions and direct future actions for the International Year of the Tiger in 2010.
In the words of Thai Police Major General Prasit Thumdee, the importance of these efforts has never been greater:
“Once wildlife is depleted to certain levels, it does not rebound like the stock market….This is a serious crisis with potentially very long lasting consequences for our region and our planet.”