World Wildlife Fund

Poor governance, lack of enforcement capacity and ineffective controls are a challenge in the fight against illegal wildlife trade. To address this, TRAFFIC North America is currently working to stop illegal trade entirely for certain species, establish more effective trade regulations and enforcement, better understand trade dynamics, and improve stockpile management  three strategic objectives

Highlights of recent activities by TRAFFIC North America include:

• Conducted an in-depth analysis of the scale and diversity of wildlife trade from four WWF priority areas – the Amazon Basin, Congo Basin, Greater Mekong and the Coral Triangle – to assess the impact of U.S. consumption.

• TRAFFIC NA ha been working with other international NGOs to educate policymakers on the issues relating to illegal logging and deforestation through uncontrolled imports of illegally-logged timber.

• Produced a report on the international trade of the endangered Kaiser’s spotted newt, an endemic Iranian species, and the impact of trade on the conservation of the species. Trade in the species is both illegal, no permits have been issued by Iranian authorities for more than ten years, and unsustainable, as the current level of trade will rapidly drive the species to extinction.

• In September 2005, TRAFFIC and PROFEPA (Mexico’s Attorney General for the Protection of the Environment) signed an  agreement to improve the ability of Mexican officials to address illegal wildlife trade. Since then TRAFFIC NA has provided wildlife inspectors with materials on inspection techniques, and finalized five training modules on priority topics in Mexico’s wildlife trade. The work has generated interest by governments in South and Central America, several of which have approached TRAFFIC about replicating the capacity building model in their countries

• Undertook the first systematic survey on reptile species being sold in two of the main wildlife markets in Mexico City, which act as key distribution sites for the entire country. Information was gathered on species in trade, including identifying those of particular conservation concern, trends in their trade, and links of these animals to the regions from which the specimens are being extracted.

• Participated in CITES CoP14 in The Hague, Netherlands in June 2007. More than 1,200 representatives from CITES parties and intergovernmental, international and national organizations attended. Highlights of CITES CoP14:

• • Elephants and Ivory: Elephants dominated much of the CoP, with negotiations carrying on throughout its duration. A deal was eventually reached, with African elephant range states agreeing to a nine-year suspension of ivory trading (after the completion of a one-off sale that was agreed ten years ago at CoP12). South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe were given permission to sell some legally registered stocks of ivory in the one-off sale. All revenues from the sale will be reinvested in elephant conservation and community development. TRAFFIC again presented its findings to the CoP and the media showing that China is a key destination country for ivory. As a result, China’s request to be considered as an ivory trading partner was not granted. 

• • Spiny Dogfish: TRAFFIC produced a report and briefing paper on the unsustainable harvest of the Spiny Dogfish, a small shark found off the Atlantic coast of the U.S. and Europe. Through dialogue and sound science the proposal was supported and the US government is a strong advocate for listing the species in Appendix II.