In 2019, the illegal wildlife trade reached staggering levels. Pangolin scales and ivory were being trafficked in massive quantities from Africa to Asia, exposing a network of crime syndicates operating at an industrial scale. The sheer volume of these shipments marked a disturbing milestone, one that revealed the global reach …
With Vietnam slowly opening up to Western scientists in the last decade, numerous organisations have been vying with each other to study the country's flora and fauna. After Ho Chi Minh ousted the French in 1954, Vietnam's leaders closed the country and its forests were effectively locked to outsiders. Even …
Ornamental fish breeding has expanded recently in Hanoi because of rising incomes. Increased incomes and a liberalised foreign trade is also taking a heavy toll of orchids and rhododendrons. Ethnic minorities collect rhododendron plants in large quantities in the high mountains and bring them regularly for sale in the cities, …
The 72 million litres of herbicides sprayed by US forces in Vietnam during the war will continue to plague several generations of post-war populations with a high rate of reproductive abnormalities. Some 40 million litres of Agent Orange were sprayed; the herbicide contained 170 kg of dioxin, which is the …
The threat to deforestation comes from several basic reasons: the nature of the country's economy; its high population growth rate; firewood demand; shifting cultivation and fire damage; economic liberalisation; and, the pressure on the country to earn foreign exchange through biomass exports like wood and rice. The per capita income …
Afforestation : In 1993, a 10-year programme was initiated to regreen the barren lands of Vietnam. But as one diplomat in Hanoi pointed out, the government went about the task of greening the land "in a militaristic manner', and planted eucalyptus and other exotic species over large stretches of the …
what makes Vietnam particularly worthy from a biodiversity point of view is also its very rich base of traditional medicine. This means Vietnam has the potential to make a worthwhile contribution to the global food and health sectors. Says Nguyen Duc Tao of the Vietnam Pharmaceutical Corporation, which is trying …
About 89 per cent of the Vietnamese population consists of lowland Kinhs and the Muong people, who occupy the two agricultural deltas of the Red River and the Mekong river, besides the narrow coastal strip. The remaining 11 per cent consists of ethnic minorities, most of whom live in the …
Vietnam has an Association of Herbal Traditional Doctors with a nationwide membership of about 20,000, which is recognised by the government. But the association is starved of funds. These traditional doctors often offer their services free and are usually very poor. Berit Richter, a Danish activist working in Hanoi, is …
The Delhi High Court recently upheld the countrywide ban imposed by the Central government on trade of ivory and snakeskin while dismissing several petitions filed by hundreds of traders. The court clarified that if any trade in any article damages the ecology, then it could be held as a trade …
NEW YORK has pipped Taiwan, Hong Kong and other Southeast Asian countries in carrying out illegal trade in tiger parts. A major undercover survey of Chinese supermarkets and pharmacies by the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has revealed that more than 80 per cent of stores sold products claiming to …
A taste for exotic dishes has nearly wiped out some of the rare species such as soft-nosed turtles, snakes and rare scaley anteaters known as pangolins. The government is implementing strict measures to protect these species. Recently, officials from a municipal agency protecting animal resources seized rare animals, meant to …
launching a major offensive against illegal trade of wildlife products, traffic -India, a division of the World Wide Fund for Nature-India, recently started a campaign called
DOCS the use of ivory tusks of the prehistoric mammoth, whose fossils were excavated some 10 years ago, defy the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972? This is the question facing the Delhi High Court which reserved its judgement on the curious case in a hearing on January 2& The case …
In this century alone, three sub-species of tiger were driven into extinction, the Bali, Javan and Caspian. Tragically, the other five sub-species are at risk of meeting the same fate. The tiger faces on onslaught of illegal killing throughout its range, and its forest habitat is disappearing at an alarming …
Three sub-species of tigers have become extinct this century - without a whisper - and only five remain. As India is home to two thirds of the world population of tigers, this report stands as a plea to act to reverse the rapid loss of India's wildlife and forests.
Notorious poacher and animal skin smuggler Sansar Chandiumped bail for the umpteenth time in a bloody career spanning 2 decades. He was arrested redhanded for the first time on July 17 this year in Delhi lugging forbidden tiger skins. The astoundingly low bail amount of Rs 5,000 left wildlife lovers …
YOU might as well declare it open season for the anachronistic remnants of royal gamehunters and lowly poachers. Conventional laws against the illegal trade in wildlife are so porous that they left officials from the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) grousing about their Indian counterparts. A frantic …
Two months ago, customs and wildlife authorities had announced one of the largest hauls of poached tiger bones -- 162 kg -- in India when they arrested Pema Thinley in Delhi. Recent information leaked from the Union home ministry suggests that Thinley may have been an agent for the national …
CONSERVATION authorities from 126 nations are sorting out differences over which endangered flora and fauna need protection, and the modus operandi at the ninth meeting of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (cites), in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The conference, attended by officials, representatives of conservation organisations and traders, …
