Trophy Hunting
Can the U.S. take action to control trophy hunting in Africa? It will be a
challenge, but this report provides a great starting point for a discussion of
the real (positive or negative) impact of trophy hunting on conservation.
“You can’t make the
assumption that these countries are using the funds for conservation. You have
to have the proof,” said Matt Strickland, a member of the committee’s
Democratic staff. “U.S. hunters are responsible for taking a lot of animal
trophies from Africa and we want to make sure the Fish and Wildlife Service is
doing its job in permitting trophy imports and Americans aren’t contributing to
the decline of certain species.”
Alligators Are Ingrates
Saving an apex predator from extinction was an environment
success, then we decide to move into their neighborhood. The results are occasionally bad for humans,
but disastrous for the gators.
The American alligator once neared
extinction. By the 1950s, demand for hides and uncontrolled hunting in the
southeastern United States had almost wiped out the species after a 200
million-year run on planet Earth.
Three decades later, alligator populations
were fully recovered, “making it one of the first endangered species success
stories,” according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The reemergence of the alligator came at the
same time the human population also grew, both in size and sprawl, creating a
dynamic with an unavoidable outcome: human and predator interaction.
Saving the Amazon
Critical to reducing the impact of climate change. Just a beginning here, not a binding agreement.
The declaration, with
7 objectives, was signed by scientists, conservationists, government officials,
academics and development specialists attending the conference. Some of the
signatories included: The Ministry of Environment of Peru; Amazonas State
Environment Secretariat of Brazil; the Loreto Region Direction of Production,
the fisheries authority in Peru; the Wildlife Conservation Society; and several
others. Key to the declaration is its assurance that it aims to work toward
international agreements in which the interests of all and the sovereignty of
each country are respected, and the integrity of the environmental system,
particularly in the Amazon Basin, is protected.
The objectives of the
declaration include: to expand the integrated river basin ecosystem management
approach; to promote interdisciplinary and intercultural research agendas; to
strengthen fisheries management at adequate scales; to ensure the proper
management of Amazon Basin wetlands; to understand better the potential
environmental impacts of development investments on the terrestrial and aquatic
ecosystems of the Amazon Basin; to build an informed, committed, and empowered
constituency for the conservation of the Amazon Basin; and to cooperate in good
faith and with a spirit of solidarity in the implementation and further
development of the objectives.
Going after deforestation in the Amazon by going after those
who really gain from it. This is how you
save the environment. Follow the money….
That was when Azeredo
had an idea that even the staunchest ruralist opponents have recognized as
brilliant. The state of Pará has about 250,000 ranches, and there are hundreds
of supermarket chains with more than 80,000 stores spread across the country.
But the link between those cattle ranches and the supermarkets is formed by
just a few dozen medium and large slaughterhouse operators that are responsible
for butchering the cattle and distributing the resulting “cattle products” –
companies such as JBS, Bertin (later bought by JBS), Marfrig, and Minerva.
Azeredo’s plan was to
turn those slaughterhouse operators into guardians against deforestation.
Prosecutor Daniel
Azeredo’s idea was simple and effective. The MPF had caught slaughterhouses
buying deforestation cattle and applied fines totaling two billion Brazilian
real (about $500 million). But an even more powerful instrument of pressure was
the fear that buying illegal beef provoked in large supermarkets, such as Pão
de Açucar and Walmart. With the possibility of being sued, they would rather
avoid beef from Pará, which would be perhaps a fatal blow to the state’s
slaughterhouses.
Azeredo and the MPF’s
quest to stop illegal deforestation for cattle ranching also benefited from the
pressure that Greenpeace was putting on multinational brands such as Adidas and
McDonald’s in Europe, companies that bought large quantities of leather and
beef. The Greenpeace campaign, called “Farra do Boi,” warned against the use of
raw materials from deforestation cattle coming from the Amazon. The fear of the
damage that this could cause to their reputations made these brands threaten to
stop buying cattle products from sources in the region. So when Azeredo offered
the agreement known as the “Beef Agreement,” the large slaughterhouses signed
it – and thereby became responsible for the supervision of the farmers who were
their suppliers.
20% of Plants In Danger
Climate change creating stress. Disease and damaging
insects more prevalent.
Climate change might
not be the primary cause of a plant dieback event, but it certainly can tee up
such events by putting plants under environmental stress. A mild winter might
allow a damaging beetle to survive in much higher numbers, and if there is even
moderate drought, then stress along with the primary cause of damage could
trigger massive landscape-scale plant death so great that it is easily seen
from space, Prof McElwain says.
Just Save One
Amir Rahim was on a tuna fishing boat about
180 nautical miles off the coast of Karachi, Pakistan, when he saw an olive
ridley sea turtle trapped in a polypropylene woven bag, the Huffington Post
reported. The turtle was struggling to swim with the bag dragging behind it.
Rahim jumped into the water fully clothed to
help the turtle. He wasn’t able to free the turtle while in the water so his
crew mates helped him bring the turtle on board. They cut the bag off of the
turtle and released it back into the water.
Rahim is a trained observer for the World Wide
Fund for Nature—Pakistan. The Huffington Post reported he had “seen plenty of
turtles entangle in floating fishing nets,” but had never seen one trapped in a
floating bag.
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