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减少对象牙的需求 保护非洲象群

(2014-09-09 11:30:58)
分类: 环境与能源
2014.09.04
http://photos.state.gov/libraries/america/362513/Week_1/090314_AP636674786221_300.jpg

美国鱼类和野生生物管理局的工作人员在2013年11月的一次行动中销毁6公吨被没收象牙。

以下博文由美国鱼类和野生生物管理局(U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)局长丹·阿什(Dan Ashe)撰写,原于9月2日刊登在该局网站上。

 

大力制止偷猎 增强保护非洲大象的信心

作者:丹·阿什

最近发布的科学研究报告证实了我们最严重的忧虑 -- 2010至2012年,偷猎者在非洲屠杀了约100,000头大象。这种骇人听闻和不可持续的大屠杀导致被杀害的大象每年占总数的近7% -- 超过了大象数量自然增长的速度。

上星期,我们公布了与国家地理(National Geographic)共同制定的公共服务行动计划,目的在于向国内和海外的消费者宣讲非象牙交易对大象造成的破坏性影响。这个计划预定整个9月份在纽约市(New York City)时报广场(Times Square)上的大型电子屏幕上展示有关内容,向美国东海岸非法象牙交易集散地新的群体发出呼吁。

过去5年来,在至少75%的栖息地,大象的数量都开始下降,目前依然如此。

这些象群已陷入危亡的恶性循环。如果我们不扭转这个险恶的趋势,非洲野生大象即使不完全绝迹,其大多数可能在10年内消亡。

这种悲惨的现实来源于偷猎的泛滥,但不是出于基本的人类需求 – 食物、水、住所等。相反,非洲大象被屠杀是出于贪婪和奢华 -- 希望用象牙作为装饰,不论代价如何。

针对这种情况,以美国鱼类和野生生物管理局为首,美国制定了多方面的战略,与国际社会共同打击象牙和其他产品的野生生物贩运行为。

这项战略以在非洲实地数十年的保护工作为基础。这些保护工作从70年代开始,当时第一次为保护大象实施了国际贸易限制。由于1989年通过非洲大象保护法(African Elephant Conservation Act)并建立了非洲大象保护基金(African Elephant Conservation Fund),我们扩大了支持保护大象的工作。

去年,我们销毁了6公吨被查获的非法象牙,向全世界宣告美国绝不允许非法贩运和偷猎的象牙产品进入市场。我们加强了管制,限制进入和过境美国的非法象牙数量。

我们正继续帮助非洲国家的执法和狩猎管理机构加强保护大象和打击走私团伙的能力和训练。

但执法工作只能到此为止。除非我们能在需求旺盛的地区减少对象牙的需求,我们就无法保证大象的未来。

正是因为这个原因,这个新的行动计划显得如此重要。这不仅关系到在非洲打击罪恶的偷猎团伙,还可以帮助人们认识到作为消费者作出的选择可直接影响到对象牙的需求。

我们正在亚洲和其他象牙消费需求量大的地区为解决消费需求的问题进行工作。美国是全世界这类产品最大的市场之一。

为了挽救这个物种,我们的机会之窗正在迅速关闭。但仍然有时间采取行动。

我们都可以发挥作用。我希望你们都能对这项行动有所了解,为大象发出你们的最强音。



Read more: http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/chinese/article/2014/09/20140904307496.html#ixzz3CmmTOrnS

To Protect African Elephants, Kill Demand for Ivory

03 September 2014
http://photos.state.gov/libraries/america/362513/Week_1/090314_AP636674786221_300.jpg

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents carry confiscated ivory to a crusher during a November 2013 event that destroyed 6 tons of the material.

This blog post by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Director Dan Ashe originally ran on the USFWS website on September 2.

 

Bad News on Poaching Must Strengthen Our Resolve to Protect African Elephants
By Dan Ashe

A scientific study released recently confirms our worst fears — poachers slaughtered about 100,000 elephants in Africa between 2010 and 2012. This horrific and unsustainable carnage amounts to nearly 7 percent of the population per year — a level that exceeds the natural growth rate of elephant populations.

Last week we unveiled a public service campaign developed with National Geographic designed to educate consumers here and abroad about the devastating impact of the illegal ivory trade on elephants. It will be showing on a giant electronic billboard in New York City’s Times Square during September, sending the message to new audiences in the epicenter of U.S. illegal ivory trade on the East Coast.

Over the past five years, elephant numbers have begun to decline at more than 75 percent of the sites where they still occur.

These populations are in a death spiral. Unless we reverse these appalling trends, most, if not all elephants may vanish from the wild in Africa within a decade.

The real tragedy is that this poaching epidemic is not driven by a need for basic human requirements — food, water, shelter. Instead, African elephants are being massacred in the name of greed and vanity — the desire to have an ivory trinket, no matter the cost.

In response, the United States, led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has developed a multi-prong strategy to work with the international community to fight illegal wildlife trafficking in elephant ivory and other products.

This strategy builds on decades of conservation work on the ground in Africa that began in the 1970s, when international trade restrictions were first implemented to protect elephants. In 1989, we expanded our efforts to support elephant conservation when the African Elephant Conservation Act was passed and the African Elephant Conservation Fund established.

Last year, we crushed six tons of seized illegal ivory to let the world know that the United States will not allow the illegal products of ivory trafficking and poaching to reach the market. And we tightened regulations to limit the amount of illegal ivory coming into and being funneled through the United States.

We’re continuing to help build the capacity and training of law enforcement and game management agencies in African countries to protect their elephant populations and crack down on smuggling rings.

But law enforcement can only take us so far. We can’t ensure the future of elephants unless we can reduce demand for ivory where it is popular.

That’s why this new campaign is so critical. It’s not just about cracking down on criminal gangs of poachers in Africa. It’s about helping people understand that the choices they make as consumers have a direct impact on the demand for ivory.

We’re working in Asia and other large ivory consuming areas to address consumer demand. And the United States is one of the world’s largest markets for these products.

Our window of opportunity to save this species is rapidly closing. But there is still time to act.

We all have a role to play. I hope you’ll check out this campaign and raise your voice for elephants.

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