Iata, together with members airlines including SAA and Air France, have clamped down on the transportation of wildlife products with a view to reducing illegal trade in wildlife and their products. However, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has warned that the ban could do more harm than good.
This week, Iata and CITES signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on reducing illegal trade in wildlife and their products and ensuring safe and secure transport of legally traded wildlife.
John E Scanlon, the Secretary-General of CITES, said at the Iata Annual General Meeting: “Iata and its member airlines can play a critical role in assisting customs and other enforcement agencies by gathering valuable intelligence of suspicious activities and raising awareness among customers, passengers, and staff of the devastating impacts of this illegal trade.”
The MoU comes in the wake of SAA implementing an embargo on the transportation of rhino, elephant, lion and tiger trophies on their all carriers worldwide. The airline’s decision was prompted by a shipment of elephant tusks that were wrongly declared as machinery.
Other airlines, including Emirates Airline and Lufthansa Cargo, felt pressure from the tourism sector to implement similar embargoes. Australia also banned the import of all trophy-hunted lions, while the European Union adopted stronger restrictions on trophy imports for a number of big mammals.
Speaking to Tourism Update, WWF said: “Blanket bans on the transport of hunting trophies could harm conservation efforts and local communities.”
In response to the airlines’ decision, WWF said: “We would prefer that airlines take decisions on a case by case basis as blanket bans hurt countries and conservation programmes where trophy hunting is making a positive contribution to incentivising the uptake of wildlife as a sustainable land-use option.”
WWF also noted CITES provisions for allowing the import and export of hunting trophies, subject to certain conditions and agrees that hunting trophies “should not be used for any other purpose and should not enter commercial trade,” added WWF.
According to the organisation, airlines should at a minimum insist on the documentation required under CITES and do not carry specimens of CITES listed species where such documentation is absent.
“We urge airlines to take all appropriate steps to ensure compliance with relevant wildlife conservation laws,” added WWF.
Earlier this week, the Professional Hunter’s Association of South Africa (Phasa) responded to the airline ban and with a statement calling for a reversal.
Phasa Chief Executive, Adri Kitshoff, has been in negotiations with SAA to reverse the position on the shipment of trophies. She said: “Legal, responsible trophy hunting has been a cornerstone of South Africa’s flourishing wildlife industry and the headcount of game under private ownership now exceeds that of all the state parks combined by a ratio of three to one.”
Kitshoff, however, did raise concerns over various airlines’ decisions to stop the transport of hunting trophies. She said these may have unintended consequences for conservation projects throughout Africa.
“There is a clear distinction between illegal wildlife products, such as poached rhino horn or ivory, and legitimate hunting trophies. The export of trophies is strictly regulated by both the country of origin, the country of import and, where applicable, CITES. No trophy may be exported without a relevant permit and while abuses of the system may happen, these are extremely rare.”
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