Pan NatureTurtles for sale in a wildlife market in Vietnam, October 2019
HANOI—Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has signed a new directive that bans wildlife imports and closes illegal wildlife markets, a move applauded by Humane Society International/Vietnam. This directive provides clear instructions to relevant enforcement agencies and authorities to take immediate actions to better control wildlife trade as part of the global response to the threat of zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19 posed by wildlife consumption and trade.
The move follows a letter and recommendations sent to the Prime Minister’s office in February 2020 by 14 wildlife protection organisations, including Pan Nature, Change, Save Vietnam Wildlife, ENV, WCS, WWF Vietnam and Humane Society International/Vietnam, urging the government to shut down wild animal markets and other vendors selling wildlife for human consumption. Additionally, in April, HSI/Vietnam sent an urgent plea and science-based white paper to the Prime Minister’s office and other relevant ministries calling for immediate action to ban wildlife trade, transport and consumption — particularly mammal and bird species, which are known to contract coronaviruses — in order to address the threat they pose to public health in addition to animal welfare and species conservation.
Ms. Phuong Tham, HSI/Vietnam director, said: “Vietnam’s directive clearly shows the government’s commitment to eradicating illegal wildlife trade and consumption. The directive bans wildlife imports with certain exemptions and urges the closure of illegal wildlife markets. It also discourages all citizens from illegally hunting, catching, buying, selling, transporting, slaughtering, consuming, storing and advertising wildlife. These measures combined with strict management of wildlife farming are extremely welcome news in the global efforts to end wildlife exploitation and the grave risks for conservation, animal welfare and human health it poses.
“The existence of wildlife marketsin many locations has been a big problem in Vietnam for a long time, with many Vietnamese people consuming endangered species such as cobra, turtle and pangolin, as well as all manner of monkeys, birds and other unprotected species. Without stronger actions, Vietnam risks eating many of these species into extinction because they can so easily be purchased in markets, from street vendors and even just outside of our national parks. Vietnam’s rapacious appetite for wildlife is endangering not just these species’ survival, but as we have seen with the coronavirus outbreak, it is endangering people’s lives too, so this ban can’t come soon enough.”
Although the exact origins of the current coronavirus are still unknown, it likely originated in a market in Wuhan, China, that was selling and slaughtering live wild animals on site. Multiple infectious disease outbreaks have been tied to the wildlife trade, including SARS, which is believed to have been passed to humans by civets sold in a Chinese wildlife market for meat in 2003. An estimated 75% of emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic (spread from non-human animals to humans).
Teresa Telecky, vice president of wildlife at Humane Society International, said, “The current COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated just how deadly the wildlife trade can be, not just for the wild animals involved, but also for people throughout the world. COVID-19 is a tipping point that governments like that of Vietnam are wise not to ignore. Wildlife markets worldwide are a petri dish for the next global pandemic, so this directive opens a way for Vietnam to end illegal wildlife trade and also help global efforts to prevent the next global pandemic from happening. Furthermore, the temporary ban on wildlife imports will save many endangered and threatened species from exploitation and consumption. Based on this directive, we look forward upcoming actions that Vietnam will to take to prevent wild tigers from being captured and laundered into captive facilities and also prevent the trafficking of tigers and their products and derivatives from captive facilities in the country.”
Last month, the Vietnamese National Assembly ratified a free trade agreement with the European Union that includes provisions to support the Vietnamese government’s efforts to curb the wildlife trade.
BRUSSELS/HANOI—Today’s ratification of the free trade agreement with the European Union by the Vietnamese National Assembly heralds a new era of intergovernmental cooperation on animal welfare and wildlife protection between the two. The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union approved the agreement earlier this year. Humane Society International believes that, if supported with resources, the agreement has significant potential to protect wildlife and increase cooperation on animal welfare.
Dr Joanna Swabe, senior director of public affairs for HSI/Europe, said:
“Humane Society International believes that both Parties should seize the opportunity presented by this historic trade deal to increase their cooperation on animal protection. Although there were very limited animal welfare provisions, it does offer a chance for the EU to provide technical assistance and capacity building to advance farm animal welfare in Vietnam. The 2019 mass culling of pigs to eradicate African swine fever there illustrates just how badly such veterinary assistance is needed. The culling process was extremely inhumane due to lack of the right equipment and skills needed for electrical stunning and killing. Through increased cooperation with the EU, a long-term programme of training, capacity building and assistance could be instituted to teach humane animal-handling techniques and proper equipment use to safeguard the welfare and dignity of animals at the time of killing.”
Phuong Tham, director of HSI/Vietnam, added:
“In addition to sharing much needed knowledge and technical assistance on farm animal welfare, the EU-Vietnam free trade agreement includes provisions that can help support our government’s efforts to curb the trade in wildlife products. Sadly, Vietnam continues to serve as a source, consumer and transit country for the illegal wildlife trade. HSI/Vietnam hopes that, through the proper implementation of this trade deal and development cooperation, we can successfully reduce the demand for wildlife products and increase our government’s enforcement capacity with the training and tools needed to tackle the scourge of wildlife trafficking. The illegal wildlife trade not only poses a threat to biological diversity and natural habitats, but, as the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated, it can also pose a serious threat to public health. It was technically already illegal to sell and consume wild-caught species in Vietnam, but the existing rules were poorly enforced and wet markets selling wildlife have proliferated.”
Once the trade agreement enters into force, both HSI/Europe and HSI/Vietnam intend to apply to join the respective Domestic Advisory Groups that will be established to allow civil society representatives to monitor the implementation of this free trade agreement.
Facts
The EU and Vietnam signed a trade agreement and an investment protection agreement on 30th June 2019. The Council of the European Union approved the agreement on 30th March 2020 after the European Parliament gave its consent on 12th February 2020.
The Cooperation and Capacity Building Chapter of EU-Vietnam FTA states that the “Parties agree to cooperate on animal welfare as necessary, including technical assistance and capacity building for the development of animal welfare standards.”
As of mid-December 2019, 6 million pigs in Vietnam have been culled in an attempt to eradicate African swine fever. The inhumane culling process highlighted the need for better training and equipment.
The Trade and Sustainable Development Chapter of the EU-Vietnam trade agreement includes commitments to the proper implementation and enforcement of multilateral environmental agreements, as well as provisions aiming to protect biodiversity and reduce illegal wildlife trade through information exchange on strategies, policy initiatives, programmes, action plans and consumer awareness campaigns. It also includes a commitment to enhance cooperation to increase species protection through the proposal of new CITES listings. Notably, in 2019, the EU and Vietnam jointly submitted proposals and succeeded in listing various reptile and amphibian species on CITES Appendix II.
Rhino horn is valued in countries like China and Vietnam for purported medicinal benefits, although there is no scientific evidence to back these claims. Horn can be sold for high prices on the black market, but there are indications that the price has fallen recently in Vietnam, thanks in part to a campaign to reduce rhino horn demand launched in 2013 by HSI and the Vietnamese government. The multi-faceted campaign has reached an estimated 37 million people—approximately one-third of the national population.
In 2016, HSI organized the first-ever Pangolin Range States Meeting, co-hosted by the governments of Vietnam and the United States, and attended by over 30 pangolin range states in Vietnam.
With HSI’s support, Vietnam held an event in November 2016 at which, for the first time in the country’s history, over two tons of elephant ivory, 70 kg of rhino horn, and other seized wildlife specimens were destroyed to send a message to the international community that the living animals are valued, rather than the products derived from them.
HSI partnered with the Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Education and Training to implement a ground-breaking project under which millions of schoolchildren in Vietnam received educational lessons on threatened wildlife as part of an effort to tackle illegal trade in rhinos, elephants, pangolins, tigers and more.
40 million dogs and cats killed annually despite rabies risk
Humane Society International / Global
Hoang Xuan ThuyLive dogs being sold by a dog trader in Vietnam May 2020
WASHINGTON—Animal protection groups from around the world have joined forces to urge governments across Asia to act urgently to permanently shut down unsanitary and brutal dog and cat meat markets and trades, amid growing global concern about zoonotic diseases and public health danger zones. Member organisations from the Asia for Animals coalition, including Humane Society International, FOUR PAWS International and Change for Animals Foundation, say the dog and cat meat trades pose a serious danger from the deadly rabies virus and other notifiable diseases, such as cholera, with dogs and cats often traded and slaughtered in the very same wildlife markets as wild animals who are the focus of COVID-19 concern.
Download video & photos (taken April, May 2020) of dogs on sale at markets in China, Vietnam and Indonesia.
An estimated 30 million dogs and 10 million cats are killed every year for the meat trade, mainly in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, India, and Laos. Most of this trade is in dogs and cats stolen from homes and back yards, as well as owned and roaming dogs snatched from the streets, with well-established links to the spread of rabies, cholera and trichinosis.
Kelly O’Meara, vice president of companion animals at Humane Society International, said: “Across the globe, nations are united in a collective response to the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, including calls to close wildlife markets that can act as a petri dish for zoonotic diseases. Within that context, it is only responsible for governments across Asia to also tackle the dog and cat meat trades that, while not connected to COVID-19, undoubtedly pose their own significant human health risks, such as the spread of trichinosis, cholera and rabies that kill tens of thousands of people every year. With hundreds of dogs at a time crammed onto trucks and driven across provincial and even international borders to filthy slaughterhouses and markets where these highly stressed animals are then displayed and slaughtered alongside myriad wild and domestic species, it’s easy to see how this trade is not only utterly brutal, but also the perfect breeding ground for the next serious public health disaster. New pathogens could jump to humans in a number of ways – a dog trader wounded during the day’s slaughter, a local consumer eating cross-contaminated dog meat bought at a nearly stall, or a tourist breathing in microscopic blood droplets as they sight-see in the market. This is no time for complacency or turning a blind eye; the dog and cat meat trades need to be shut down with urgency.”
The rabies virus has been found in brain specimens of dogs traded for human consumption in China, Vietnam and Indonesia. Not only is there a risk in handling the dogs, and in the extremely unsanitary slaughter and butchery process, but there is also some reason for concern surrounding consumption itself, likely through contamination due to unhygienic conditions. The cholera bacterium has also been found in samples of dog meat, equipment and waste-water released from slaughterhouses in Hanoi, Vietnam. There have also been historical reports in Vietnam and the Philippines of patients with signs of rabies infection who had been involved in preparing and eating dogs and cats who may have been infected.
In a statement to the Dog Meat Free Indonesia coalition, the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed, “There are reports that dog-meat markets have a higher rate of rabies than the general dog population, as people often sell dogs to the markets when they act sick; some of these sick dogs have rabies.… Furthermore, there are at least three published reports of humans acquiring rabies from activities associated with the dog meat market, emphasizing that the risk is very real.”
In many countries, the trade in dogs and cats for meat is largely fueled by criminal activity. Lola Webber, from the Change for Animals Foundation, says: “The dog and cat meat trades in Indonesia rely on criminal activity and there is increasing frustration among pet owners at the lack of action by law enforcement to deter or punish armed thieves who terrorise neighbourhoods and steal people’s dogs and cats. Once stolen, the animals are sold to slaughterhouses, markets and restaurants, kept in squalid conditions often alongside many other species of animals from various sources. The slaughter of dogs and cats is brutal, they are bludgeoned in the streets and then blowtorched, often whilst still alive. The streets are covered in pools of blood and the remains of other slaughtered animals. The cruelty alone is horrifying, but the risk of disease transmission is huge for anyone trading, slaughtering, butchering or even visiting these live animal markets. The Indonesian Government pledged it would ban the trade in August 2018, but we’ve seen very little commitment for action from provincial or central government. If COVID-19 isn’t a wake-up call, I don’t know what will be. If you told me tomorrow that there was a disease outbreak originating in one of the markets in North Sulawesi, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised, and with the number of tourists visiting these places, the result could be terrifying.”
In Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, China and parts of India, it is not unusual to see dogs and cats sold and slaughtered alongside other species including wildlife such as bats, snakes and rats, as well as other animals such as chickens and ducks. With growing global concern regarding the emergence of novel and deadly viruses from markets where multiple species are sold, the campaign groups are urging governments to take action. These markets provide an ideal environment for viral recombination and transmission between species, with potentially deadly results.
Cambodia’s government is being urged to publicly dispel myths that dog meat has medicinal benefits, including the belief it can ward off viruses including the one that causes COVID-19. Veterinarian Katherine Polak with FOUR PAWS in Southeast Asia, says: “The proliferation of completely unfounded, unscientific misinformation about dog meat is really worrying, with physicians even recommending dog meat to patients to treat various ailments. While we completely appreciate that cultures and habits are not easily changed, the government has a responsibility to safeguard the health of the nation as well as comply with global animal welfare standards. In Cambodia, dogs are being bludgeoned and drowned in fetid drowning pits, with total disregard for rabies which is endemic across Asia, while the government continues to do very little to protect people or animals.”
Asia overview
Vietnam: An estimated 5 million dogs and 1 million cats are killed every year despite laws and regulations being in place to make it illegal. Implementation is extremely poor, with traders having a total disregard for law enforcement. In 2018, Hanoi government officials called for an end to the dog meat industry, citing health and public image concerns. A pledge to phase out the slaughtering and trading of dogs for meat by 2021 is yet to be actioned, but a nationwide crackdown is needed to avoid the trade simply shifting elsewhere.
India: The cruel transport and slaughter of dogs violates several provisions of India’s Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and the consumption of dogs is illegal under the Food Safety and Standard Regulations in India, and yet in the north-eastern states of Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura and others, an estimated ten thousand dogs a year continue to be brutally bludgeoned to death in ‘killing pits’. Dogs are also smuggled from across Assam, West Bengal within India and Bangladesh and Myanmar from outside of India.
Indonesia: An estimated 2 million dogs and significant number of cats are killed a year, with many hotspots trading tens of thousands of dogs every month. In addition to slaughterhouses and dog meat-selling restaurants operating throughout most provinces of Indonesia, in dog meat-eating hotspots such as North Sulawesi, live dogs and cats are sold and slaughtered in live animal markets, where conditions are incredibly unsanitary, and domestic and wildlife animals and meats are sold alongside each other. The Dog Meat Free Indonesia (DMFI) coalition has conducted nationwide investigations documenting the inherent cruelty, illegality and dangers of the dog and cat meat trades.
China: An estimated 10+ million dogs and 4 million cats are killed for the meat trade annually, the vast majority of whom are stolen pets. There is no nationwide animal protection legislation in China, however in recent weeks the Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Zhuhai have introduced city-wide bans on dog and cat meat consumption, and the national government also publicly stated that dogs are considered companions not livestock. This distinction could inspire other cities in mainland China to follow this lead and introduce bans.
South Korea: Up to 2 million dogs a year are intensively reared on farms, without veterinary treatment or basic welfare such as water provision. Humane Society International works co-operatively with the growing number of dog farmers seeking an exit from the trade, to close dog farms and rescue dogs. Many dogs HSI encounters on these farms are former pets abandoned at the farm gates, or dogs originally bred for the pet trade.
Cambodia: Up to 3 million dogs are killed each year in the Kingdom, with an unknown number exported into Vietnam for consumption. According to a market research study conducted by FOUR PAWS, a total of 53.6% of respondents indicated that they have eaten dog meat at some time in their lives (72.4% of men and 34.8% of women), however the practice remains controversial among Khmer people. Supplying the demand, dogs are routinely snatched from the streets, stolen from homes, or traded for aluminium pots and pans and trafficked across the country to slaughterhouses and restaurants. There are more than 100 dog meat restaurants in the capital city of Phnom Penh alone, most having opened in the last 2-3 years.
Lao PDR: The consumption of dogs in Laos remains relatively undocumented. However, reports of theft and trafficking of dogs for consumption are common. Laos lacks any animal welfare laws, including those that would prohibit killing dogs for consumption.
Download video & photos (taken April, May 2020) of dogs on sale at markets in China, Vietnam and Indonesia.
ENDS
Media contact: Wendy Higgins, Director of International Media: whiggins@hsi.org
Humane Society International says wildlife markets worldwide are a petri dish for the next global pandemic
Humane Society International / Global
Jayne Russell/ZUMA Wire/Alamy Live News
WASHINGTON — Governments across the globe have today received an urgent plea and science-based white paper from Humane Society International calling for immediate action to ban wildlife trade, transport and consumption – particularly mammals and birds which are known to contract coronaviruses – in order to address the threat they pose to public health in addition to animal welfare and species conservation.
Although the exact origins of the current coronavirus are still unknown, it likely originated in a market in Wuhan, China, selling and slaughtering live wild animals on site. Multiple infectious disease outbreaks have been tied to the wildlife trade including SARS in 2003 which is believed to have been passed to humans by civets sold for meat. An estimated 75% of emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic (spread from non-human animals to humans).
Teresa Telecky, vice president of wildlife at Humane Society International, said, “The current COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated just how deadly the wildlife trade can be, not just for the wild animals involved, but also for people throughout the world. COVID-19 has killed thousands of people and will likely have lasting negative impacts on local and global economies. It is a tipping point that governments globally must not ignore. Wildlife markets worldwide are a petri dish for the next global pandemic, so governments across the globe must do everything they can to prevent this from happening again, and that means banning this dangerous trade and helping those traders involved find alternative livelihoods as quickly as possible.”
To facilitate the global ban, HSI also urges governments to actively transition citizens who rely economically on the wildlife trade into alternative livelihoods, and to provide more resources for educating the public on the health risks of the wildlife trade.
China introduced a temporary ban on the sale of wild animals for food in early March, but has yet to codify it into law, and wild animals used for other purposes such as traditional medicine are notably excluded from the prohibition, as are some “farmed” wildlife. This month the Chinese city of Shenzhen took an enlightened step further by permanently banning all trade and consumption of wild animals, plus dogs and cats. However, globally, and especially in other parts of Asia, thousands of similar markets of the type linked to both SARS and COVID-19, still exist and pose a continued threat to human health. Typically in such markets a variety of wild species are crowded together in unhygienic and stressful conditions, and frequently slaughtered on the premises or offered live as exotic pets, providing ideal circumstances for the spread of zoonoses.
“Temporary bans on the wildlife trade are a good start but in order to fully address potential future outbreaks, it is imperative that countries permanently ban the wildlife trade and include wildlife used for any purpose including for medicine, fur, pets and others. With the stakes so high for global human health and wildlife protection, there is no place for complacency or half measures,” Telecky explains.
Global concern
Wild bird markets in Vietnam have been implicated in the spread of the highly pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI H5N1) virus;
Past surveys of wildlife markets in Lao PDR have identified mammals on sale known to be capable of hosting 36 zoonotic pathogens;
A recent literature analysis using TRAFFIC survey data from wild meat restaurants, roadside stalls and markets in Malaysia, identified 51 zoonotic pathogens that could be hosted by wild species found on sale;
HSI also warns that wildlife bans must be comprehensive and apply to the sale and consumption of all wild mammal and bird species, or risk missing the potential intermediate host for the next epidemic. Bats have been identified as the natural host or reservoir source for a wide range of viruses, including coronaviruses, and are sold as delicacies in East and Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Sub-Saharan Africa. However, coronaviruses from bats need an intermediate host species in order to transform the virus to infect humans, so partial bans won’t fix the problem.
Also on World Health Day, HSI joins with 241 organisations in signing an open letter to the World Health Organization calling for it to exclude the use of wildlife in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
The white paper and cover letter are available in multiple languages here.
ENDS
Media contact:
Wendy Higgins: Director of International Media – whiggins@hsi.org
World’s most illegally trafficked mammal in grave danger of extinction
Humane Society International / United States
Natural History Media/Alamy Stock photo
WASHINGTON— Wildlife conservation groups sued the Trump administration today to force officials to propose Endangered Species Act protections for critically imperiled pangolins.
Today’s lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service notes that pangolins, which inhabit Asia and Africa, are in grave danger of extinction. A massive demand for their scales, erroneously believed to have curative properties in East Asian medicine, and their meat, consumed as a delicacy in some Asian countries, has fueled their decline.
“These odd, adorable animals may look like pinecones with legs, but the massive trafficking in pangolin parts is no joke,” said Sarah Uhlemann, international program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “If poachers keep killing thousands of pangolins a week, they’ll disappear in decades. The Trump administration needs to help protect these unique creatures from exploitation and extinction.”
The world’s only mammal with scales, pangolins are also the world’s most trafficked mammals. Between 2004 and 2014, more than a million were illegally traded — an average of nearly 300 animals killed per day. Despite a 2016 ban on the international commercial trade in pangolin parts, several massive seizures in Singapore, Malaysia and China in 2019, representing tens of thousands of dead pangolins, show rampant illegal trade continues.
“The United States’ delay in listing these species belies its role as a leader in combating poaching worldwide,” said Adam Peyman, programs and operations manager for Humane Society International and co-author of the 2015 listing petition. “The U.S. market for pangolin products feeds poaching and trafficking in the countries where the animals are found. By giving all pangolin species the Endangered Species Act protection they desperately need, the Fish and Wildlife Service will have the tools it needs to stop U.S. trade in pangolin parts.”
While most illegally sourced pangolins are destined for markets in China and Vietnam, the United States also drives demand. At least 26,000 imports of pangolin products were seized in the United States between 2004 and 2013, and a 2015 report by Humane Society International found “medicinal” products containing or likely to contain pangolin parts openly for sale online and at U.S. stores.
“Pangolins cruelly suffer and die for their meat and the so-called medicinal properties of their scales. It is past time for the Fish and Wildlife Service to take action to prevent the illegal trade and eventual extinction of this species,” said Angela Grimes, CEO of Born Free USA.
One pangolin species, the Temminck’s ground pangolin, is already protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. In July 2015 wildlife groups petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service to list the other seven pangolin species. The law required the Service to either propose protections or find protections “not warranted” by July 2016, more than three and a half years ago.
“The Trump administration should get with the program and do its part to save pangolins.” said Elly Pepper, deputy director of international wildlife conservation at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). “With scientists predicting the extinction of over one million species, the time for transformative change is now. We must rein in destructive consumption patterns like those decimating pangolins.”
Today’s suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. If pangolins are protected as endangered, the law would prohibit the import and interstate sale of pangolin parts in the United States, except for scientific or other conservation purposes. Listing would also heighten global awareness about pangolins and their threats and make funding available for anti-trafficking and habitat conservation efforts.
Contacts:
Nancy Hwa, Humane Society International, (202) 676-2337, Nhwa@hsi.org
Brussels – Humane Society International/Europe and Humane Society International/Vietnam have cautiously welcomed the signing of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement in Hanoi on Sunday 30 June. While this trade deal offers little beyond cooperation, technical assistance and capacity building with respect to advancing animal welfare, it does have significant potential to protect wildlife, if resourced adequately.
Dr Joanna Swabe, HSI/Europe’s senior director of public affairs said:
“It is encouraging that the EU has succeeded in negotiating a trade deal that goes beyond the usual boilerplate commitments from the Parties to properly implement and enforce multilateral environmental agreements. The inclusion of provisions that require both the EU and Vietnam to actively take effective measures to reduce illegal wildlife trade, such as awareness raising campaigns, monitoring and enforcement measures, is an incredibly helpful tool to aid the global fight against wildlife trafficking. Likewise, we welcome the explicit commitment in the agreement to enhance cooperation between the Parties to increase species protection through proposing new listings on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) appendices. This move could help protect a variety of species from over-exploitation to supply, for example, the exotic pet trade. In this regard, we applaud the EU and Vietnam for already starting this cooperation by submitting proposals to list various salamander, gecko and newt species on CITES Appendix II at the upcoming COP18 meeting that will be held in Geneva this August.”
Phuong Tham, executive director of HSI/Vietnam added:
“Vietnam used to be one of the top countries rich in biological diversity. Unfortunately, Vietnam is facing “empty/silence forests” due to habitat loss, massive poaching and illegal wildlife trade originating from within or outside of our borders. Recent research indicates that Vietnam continues to serve as a source, consumer and transit country for the illegal wildlife trade (IWT). Limited enforcement capacity, equipment, resources and lack of cooperation among enforcement agencies are some of the key reasons why much wildlife trade goes unregulated and laws enforcement is not strong enough to combat wildlife crime. HSI/Vietnam hopes that, as a result of this trade agreement, the EU can help provide financial support for our government’s efforts to help curb the trade in wildlife products and to assist with demand reduction and enforcement by providing Vietnam with the training and tools it needs through development cooperation.”
Once the EU-Viet Nam trade agreement provisionally enters into force, both HSI/Europe and HSI/Vietnam intend to apply to join the respective Domestic Advisory Groups that will be established to allow civil society representatives to monitor the implementation of this free trade agreement.
Facts
In August 2018, the EU and Vietnam agreed on final texts for the EU-Vietnam trade and investment agreements. The agreement has finally been signed following endorsement by the Council of the European Union. Once the European Parliament has given its consent to the agreement, it can fully enter into force.
The Trade and Sustainable Development Chapter of the EU-Vietnam agreement includes commitments to the proper implementation and enforcement of multilateral environmental agreements, as well as provisions aiming to protect biodiversity and reduce illegal wildlife trade through information exchange on strategies, policy initiatives, programmes, action plans and consumer awareness campaigns, plus a commitment to enhance cooperation to increase species protection through proposing new CITES listings.
The EU and Vietnam have already jointly submitted proposals for the upcoming CITES COP18 meeting to list the follow reptile and amphibian species on CITES Appendix II:
All 13 species of gecko (genus Goniurosaura) distributed in China and Vietnam, including three endemic to Vietnam: G. catbanensis, G. huulienensis and G lichtenfelderi;
13 species of salamander (Paramesotriton) distributed in Vietnam and China, including a famous native species found primarily in Tam Dao national park, Paramesotriton deloustali;
Many species of newts, known as crocodile newts or knobby newts (Tylototriton) distributed in Southeast Asia and China, including one endemic to Vietnam, Tylototriton vietnamensis.
Rhino horn is valued in countries like China and Vietnam for purported medicinal benefits, although there is no scientific evidence to back these claims. Horn can be sold for high prices on the black market, but there are indications that the price has fallen recently in Vietnam, thanks in part to a campaign to reduce rhino horn demand launched in 2013 by HSI and the Vietnamese government.The multi-faceted campaign has reached an estimated 34 million people – approximately one third of the national population.
In 2016, HSI arranged the first-ever Pangolin Range States Meeting, co-hosted by the governments of Vietnam and the United States, and attended by over thirty pangolin range states in Vietnam. In September 2018, HSI in partnership with Forestry Administration of Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development conducted a national consultation to develop one National Action Plan on Pangolin Conservation.
Since early 2019, HSI, in partnership with Dong Nai Forest Protection Department and Department of Forest Protected Areas under Forestry Administration of Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, has been implementing a project in Dong Nai to prevent and mitigate Human Elephant Conflict in a humane manner.
