Category: Business helps wildlife

1. Where wines meet elephants....there's help for conservation

   Posted on 8:00pm Tuesday 13th Mar 2018

   The New Zealand company Elephant Hill will be partnering with Elephant Family, an international charity dedicated to the conservation of the Asian Elephant. The winery is to launch a bespoke series of it’s “Le Phant” wines, initially to be launched in Asia but then made available to other markets around the world.   A percentage of each bottle sold will be donated to the Elephant Family charity. The wines will have tailor-made labels with elephant sculptures from Elephant Parade.   This is a social enterprise that runs an enormous art exhibition of decorated elephant sculptures.  It’s all in aid of elephant conservation, and the sculptures have been shown in over 24 cities worldwide. As it happens, the heart of Asian elephant territory lies equidistant between Elephant Family’s headquarters in London and the New Zealand Elephant Hill’s base in New Zealand, so it’s wonderful that elephants will receive help from this partnership.    After all, they are just a trunk call away! Visit Elephant Family’s website here.   And Elephant Hill here

2. Airline training helps prevent wildlife trafficking

   Posted on 9:00pm Monday 12th Mar 2018

   Air Cargo News report that campaigns to stop wildlife trafficking from Africa have seen two training workshops held in Mozambique and Kenya.   More workshops are planned in Uganda, Malawi, Ethiopia and Malaysia. ROUTES (that’s the USAID Reducing Opportunities for Unlawful Transport of Endangered Species) delivered a workshops for airliner staff on the role they play in preventing wildlife trafficking. A ROUTES report analysing wildlife trafficking in the air transport sector says that Kenya is a significant transit point for poachers and traffickers who supply wildlife products to Asia. Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is the busiest airport in East and Central Africa and so is a target for wildlife trafficking, especially ivory.   Kenyan authorities often seize illegal products at the airport.  Empowering staff to identify and report suspicious activities linked to wildlife trafficking is essential to stop the trade. There was also a training workshop in Mapoto for staff such as cabin crew, ground handlers, cargo processors and other staff.  They found out how to detect and stop smugglers carrying wildlife products out of Mozambique, a hotspot for ivory and rhino horn going to Asia. It’s thought that as airline staff spend more time with passengers and their baggage, and cargo shipments, than customs officers, they can be a key source of intelligence in the battle to stop the wildlife trafficking trade.  Good luck ROUTES with your on-going workshops!

    

3. Big technology companies unite to fight wildlife crime online

   Posted on 9:00pm Monday 12th Mar 2018

   The illegal wildlife trade has increasingly moved online.   It’s very difficult to stop the smuggling there, due to anonymity and the vast number of for sale postings and the ease with which smugglers and sellers can just switch from one online site to another. So it’s great news that WWF, TRAFFIC and IFAW are launching the Global Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking online. The launch brings together technology, e-commerce and social media companies.   Law enforcement can’t do it all – so the technology businesses are a good place to start;  they can take down ads before they are even put up. Animals are sold every day online, pushing many species towards extinction.   Rhino horn is carved into bowls and trinkets, and used in tradition medicine.  Ivory becomes statuettes, chopsticks, jewellery and more. The launch of this initiative is very exciting. Companies will address the various problems in tackling online wildlife trafficking in various ways, using their expertise.  Algorithms using maching learning to detect keyword and flag posts before they go up online will be a start. WWF is helping to train companies’ teams to evaluate posts individually.  Users can become the ears and eyes of the company, and report anything which slips through the net. Companies will share knowledge about trends and best practices to develop priorities and prevent loopholes. It’s very heart-warming to see the way in which these technology giants are willing to help.   The founding coalition are: Alibaba, Baidu, Baixing, e-Bay, Etsy, Facebook, Google, Huaxia Collection, Instagram, Kuaishou, Mall for Africa, Microsoft, Pininterest, Qyer, Ruby Lane, Shengshi Collection, Tencent, W3en Wan Tian Zia, Zhongyikupai, Zhuanzhuan and 58 Group. WWF says, "The companies have committed to bringing down the online illegal trade in threatened species by 80 per cent by 2020." A big well done to everyone for getting this off the ground.  Elephants, pangolins, rhinos, marine turtles, tigers - these are just a few endangered species who need our help Your company can join in and help stop wildlife trafficking and help endangered species.   Find out how here

4. Conservation benefits from ecotourism payments for more wildlife sightings in Laos

   Posted on 8:00pm Thursday 8th Mar 2018

   A project in a protected area in Laos established a connection between higher payments for wildlife sightings and improved protections for wildlife. During the 4 year study, sightings of common wildlife went up by over 60%.  The payments were funded by entry fees, paid by tourists, and were put into village development funds – these would finance projects such as school construction and healthcare.  The project was carried out with the Wildlife Conservation Society and Foundations of Success.  It shows that linking cash payments with results such as the number of animals seen could be sufficient to discourage practices which are detrimental to wildlife such as hunting.  This is an important direct link, and it’s believed to be a key to success. Wildlife managers and scientists set up a scheme to pay villages on the edge of the protected are based on the species and number of animals that tourists saw when they visited the park. The park is home to animals such as sambar deer, macaques and deer.   Unfortunately, a demand for wildlife parts, and access to weapons, led to a surge in illegal hunting even in this protected area. The villages’ development funds got a set amount of money for every tourist visiting the park.  But if certain animals were spotted, the funds would receive a bonus.  So a civet or porcupine would get little more than $1 whilst a tiger spot would have meant $225.  (No tigers were spotted during the research period.) If anyone from the communities was caught breaking the law, the community was penalised by the project.  By the end of the study, there were 63% more sightings of the common animals (or evidence of them, such as their tracks) than at the start. The research wanted to measure how effective incentives to protect wildlife could be at changing their behaviour.   The researchers estimate that it did.   The authors argue that the paper the project produced is laying out a method for measuring the impacts of other projects such as this. Laos travel guide from Lonely Planet

    

5. Lacoste produces limited-edition polo shirts for Save our Species campaign

   Posted on 7:00pm Wednesday 7th Mar 2018

   Lacoste produced a line-up of polo shirts with the images of 10 endangered species, replacing its iconic crocodile logo. The 1,175 shirts have sold out, but the good thing is that the campaign brought attention to the Save our Species campaign.   The number of shirts corresponded to the remaining population sizes of each endangered animal in the wild, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.    The 10 species represented and numbers of shirts produced were: Vaquita (Gulf of California porposie) - 30 Burmese roofed turtle - 40 Northern sportive lemur - 50 Javan rhino - 67 Cao-vit gibbon (ape) - 150 Kakapo (parrot) - 157 California condor - 231 Saola (herbivore) - 250 Sumatran tiger - 350 Anegada ground iguana - 450   The shirts were launched during Paris Fashion Week, and the proceeds went to the IUCN. The good news is that you can still donate to the Save our Species campaign here.