EIA Investigator - Spring 2013 by Environmental Investigation Agency

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EIA Investigator Spring 13

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rosewoods 07 Endangered get international protection

Putting the ‘con’ in conservation: we expose China’s clandestine tiger trade

Google targeted over whale meat & ivory adverts

EU report calls for widespread bans on HFCs

EIA Investigator Spring 13 www.eia-international.org

A message from our Executive Director, Mary Rice AFTER a manic start to 2013, three months of high velocity activity and exhausting effort to stem the relentless demand on wildlife and forests to satisfy proliferating and unsustainable markets, the EIA team has a moment to pause for breath and take stock. Unquestionably, the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP16) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has dominated all our efforts. But what is CITES? And does it work? This is a question that is asked repeatedly; it also highlights how little understanding there is of what CITES can – and, more importantly, cannot – do. CITES, celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, aims to regulate trade in wild flora and fauna (trees, plants and animals). With 177 countries signed on and committed (some more than others) to ensure that trade in endangered species does not drive them to extinction, it provides a platform for governments, scientists, non-government organisations, enforcement agencies and civil society to inform decisions on the future of critically endangered and threatened species. The decision-making process is increasingly complicated and can be convoluted; the CoPs which take place every three years are a logistical nightmare for the organiser, the CITES Secretariat, which is in turn increasingly called upon to do more, and take on more work between the CoPs. But while it sometimes feels a bit pedestrian, particularly when there is universal acknowledgement that elephants, rhinos and tigers are in crisis, CITES does have muscle and it will be interesting to see how that muscle will be exercised in the next 18 months when the CITES Standing Committee meets in July to assess where we are with the work plan endorsed at CoP16. So, depending on who you listen to, CoP16 was the best CoP ever. And, indeed, it was a good meeting for sharks, manta rays, rosewood and Siam crocodiles. It wasn’t a bad meeting for transparency, with many countries voluntarily declaring their voting positions in response to increasing calls for secret ballots. EIA’s efforts paid off in many ways, and there were some positive decisions on tigers, elephants and rhinos, although the action taken for elephants was far short of what was expected from this meeting. But for now, EIA’s challenge is to tackle the problems outside – as well as inside – the CITES arena, from pushing governments towards better decisionmaking and implementation of existing requirements, to working with stakeholders on the ground to expose environmental crime. For that, we need all the help we can get. Mary Rice Executive Director

Contents Written and edited by EIA Designed by: designflavour (www.designflavour.com) Printed by: Emmerson Press (www.emmersonpress.co.uk) Cover main image copyright Elliott Neep / www.neepimages. com, small images © EIA & Architecte All images © EIA unless otherwise shown Printed on 100% recycled paper

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China’s double standard puts the ‘con’ into tiger conservation

Tiger meeting warned not to overlook other Asian big cats

Tiger trade: let’s leave the guilty with no place to hide

EU now has law to ban stolen timber from its markets

Protection gives hope for end to the ‘rosewood wars’

EIA complaint against company bulldozing Muara Tae upheld

China is world’s largest consumer of illegal timber

10 Google ads promoted products from whales and elephants 11

CITES falls far short of what elephants need for viable future

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12 European Parliament report calls for widespread bans on HFCs

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13 Why should it matter what environmental criminals think?

China’s double standard puts the ‘con’ into tiger conservation IN February, EIA released a major new report exposing China’s blatant conservation lie to the world – even as it signs up to global initiatives to protect wild tigers, Government departments have been quietly stimulating a growing domestic markets for skins and body parts. It is estimated as few as 3,500 tigers survive in the wild; Hidden in Plain Sight: China’s Clandestine Tiger Trade reported that more than 5,000 captive-bred tigers are held in up to 200 Chinese ‘farms’ and ‘zoos’, facilities with zero conservation value. EIA investigations have frequently uncovered a legalised trade in China for the skins of captive-bred tigers, sold as luxury home décor – a trade which stimulates the poaching of wild tigers and other Asian big cats to provide consumers with cheaper alternatives. In addition, alarming new evidence suggests a ‘secret’ Government notification on the use of the bones of captive-bred tigers is being used to justify the manufacture of ‘tonic’ wines. The report accused China of defying the will of the international community and called on more senior levels of its Government to take control and put their house in order by amending laws to facilitate the destruction of stockpiles of all tiger parts and the phasing out of tiger farms.

We also urged the Government to send a clear message to all breeders, consumers and the industry that official policy is to end all demand and trade.

soaked in wine but is not listed as an ingredient and is returned to the stockpile to be available for audit and inspection.

Debbie Banks, head of EIA’s Tiger Campaign, said: “The stark contradiction between China’s international posture supporting efforts to save the wild tiger and its inward-facing domestic policies which stimulate demand and ultimately drive the poaching of wild tigers represents one of the biggest cons ever perpetrated in the history of tiger conservation.”

The release of Hidden in Plain Sight got substantial international media coverage and even drew forth an official if disingenuous Government response, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying insisting China had enacted laws and taken other steps to protect endangered species.

She added that pro-tiger trade policies are championed by just a handful of officials in a couple of Government departments. As a Party to the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), China is subject to its requirements, which include a strict ban on international commercial trade in tiger parts and derivatives. CITES also calls for domestic trade prohibitions, the consolidation and destruction of stockpiles of tiger parts and products, assurance that tiger parts and derivatives from captive tigers do not enter illegal trade from captive-breeding facilities, and assurance that tigers are not bred for trade in their parts and derivatives. A 1993 State Council order in China banned the use of tiger bone for medicinal purposes, but EIA investigators found evidence of a company using a ‘secret’ Government notification issued in 2005 to justify producing “real tiger wine” – the tiger bone is

“The Chinese Government attaches great importance to the protection of endangered wildlife, including tigers,” she told a Beijing news conference.

The stark contradiction ... represents one of the biggest cons ever perpetrated in the history of tiger conservation

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Tiger meeting warned not to overlook other Asian big cats WITH so much international attention focused on the plight of wild tigers, EIA took time in October to warn that Asia’s other big cats are in danger of being forgotten.

EIA analysis shows at least 5,000 Asian big cats – including 4,156 leopards – have died for the trans-Himalayan trade since 2000. This trade is specifically between India, Nepal and China, with evidence suggesting the majority are destined for markets in China.

Our Tiger Campaign issued a special briefing outlining its concerns to the 2nd Asian Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation, held under the auspices of the Global Tiger Initiative, as it met in the mountain Kingdom of Bhutan.

In addition to seizures, our undercover investigators have documented the sale of skins and other body parts of hundreds more Asian big cats throughout western and central China.

Snow Leopards in Illegal Trade – Asia’s Forgotten Cats cautioned delegates that with the key focus on wild tigers, leopards and other big cats are not getting proper consideration despite continuing to be hammered by poachers. “The tiger is very much a symbol of the rampant demand and trade threatening the survival of other Asian big cats,” said Tiger Campaign head Debbie Banks. “But we know that for every tiger taken, about six leopards are being killed.”

Snow leopards are in particular are under serious threat, with a global population estimated to be fewer than 6,000; EIA investigators have recorded 100 snow leopard skins in China since 2005, with a further 151 seized across the animals’ range. “The skins seized and those uncovered by our investigators are just the tip of the iceberg,” warned Debbie. “Many more are getting through.”

Tiger, leopard and snow leopard skins are in demand in China for use in taxidermy, luxury home décor and clothing, with a secondary market in their bones for medicinal uses. Asian big cat range states (countries in which these animals are naturally found) are required to report to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) on the status of the illegal trade in these species and efforts taken to prevent it. To date no country has reported on the status of the snow leopard, and only two have reported on the leopard. “Tigers remain at serious risk because of demand,” added Debbie. “So too do the other Asian big cats. At the very least, leopard and snow leopard range states need to be reporting what actions they are taking to protect these wonderful animals from the illegal trade in their body parts and derivatives.”

As a general INTERPOL rule of thumb, seized contraband is deemed to represent 10 per cent of the actual volume of contraband being trafficked.

The tiger is very much a symbol of the rampant demand and trade threatening the survival of other Asian big cats but we know that for every tiger taken, about six leopards are being killed A shop owner Linxia, China shows off a snow leopard skin to undercover EIA investigators in 2009 © EIA

Tiger trade: let’s leave the guilty with no place to hide “KICKING the can down the road” is a phrase that comes to mind contemplating tiger issues at the 16th Conference of the Parties to CITES in Bangkok. When it comes to Asian big cats, let’s first of all say “well done” to the CITES Secretariat, the UK, EU, USA, India, Laos and the majority of voting Parties! They insisted on bringing forward the deadline by which the Secretariat should undertake a proactive review of trade in Asian big cats, including trade in farmed tiger parts and products. China, Indonesia, Thailand, Nepal, Malaysia, Cambodia and Bhutan wanted the deadline to be deferred until the 2016 meeting, some claiming they are overburdened with reporting to the Global Tiger Recovery Programme. What the CITES collective was essentially saying is that a severe lack of proactive and honest reporting by many range states on CITES-specific matters, over the past three years, has created a huge gap in

‘official’ knowledge of where we are with the tiger trade crisis. EIA has consistently provided CITES, INTERPOL and the Parties with evidence of the ongoing illegal trade in skins, bones, teeth and claws of Asian big cats in China for over a decade, so we know there is still a massive enforcement problem. We also know how fluid and dynamic the trade and the criminals involved are, and how enforcement efforts are still a long way from being as nimble. On day two of CITES, EIA presented our new report Hidden in Plain Sight (see page 3); NGO and government allies gave us the thumbs-up for boldly saying what no-one else dared. Although the presentation was open to all, nobody from the Chinese Government attended, so instead we held a meeting with the head of the Chinese delegation. There was no denial of our findings, just an excuse that the skins of captive-bred tigers are only supposed to be sold to universities and museums. The delegation head was unable to say how many permits had been issued for tiger skin rugs to be

sold; conveniently, that’s the responsibility of the Wildlife Conservation Division, which has consistently ignored our every letter, verbal and face-to-face approach for years! We hoped we would be able to raise this lack of transparency from the conference floor but, with other endangered species dominating the agenda over the 10 days, tigers and other Asian big cats were squeezed into a mere 15 minutes on day nine. Interventions were restricted to governments only, with no time for NGOs to speak. India made reference to the lack of action to implement the CITES decisions relating to tiger farms, but otherwise there was no substantive discussion about trade in Asian big cats, or tiger farming, at all. While the final outcome – the proactive review – is what we worked for, we were disappointed there was no time to properly air the threats facing Asian big cats; what message does this send to the countries where there are problems with trade and tiger farms are expanding?

While the final outcome – the proactive review – is what we worked for, we were disappointed there was no time to properly air the threats facing Asian big cats

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EU now has law to ban stolen timber from its markets “AS the gun slammed down on the table and I heard the chilling words ‘I can shoot you now and I may go to prison but I will still be alive, but you, you will be dead’, I realised we were in serious trouble,” writes EIA Forests Campaign head Faith Doherty. “Ten years ago, after a series of EIA investigations exposing illegal logging in Indonesia’s Tanjung Puting National Park, I was kidnapped by a local timber baron. It was chaos in Indonesia’s forests. “It was after this experience and further investigations that we realised combating illegal logging was going to take a lot more than documentation and naming names in forest countries.” Serious efforts to address the forests chaos began at a Ministerial conference on illegal logging in Bali, with the Forest Law Enforcement Governance (FLEG) initiative addressing producer countries; the meeting ended with the European delegation adding the letter

‘T’ for ‘trade’ and the campaign to bring legislation to Europe got under way. After a decade of persuading decision-makers in the EU and timber producer countries in east Asia to legislate against the import and sale of illegally sourced timber and wood products, the European Union Timber Regulation came into force on March 3, 2013. There is now a prohibition against the placing of illegally sourced timber and products derived from this crime in the EU. Further, timber traders based in the EU are now required to exercise due diligence and must keep information about their suppliers and those who buy in order to help trace the original source of timber. As regular readers of Investigator will know, EIA first started to campaign for legislation back in early 2000, and we asked you when purchasing timber or wood products such as furniture or flooring to ask your supplier where the wood came from. Many of you wrote to tell us that even when given an answer, there was no way of proving the source. Well, now you can ask and, by law, your supplier must know.

The due diligence required under this legislation means timber traders and suppliers have to exercise ‘risk management’; they must have information from the country where the timber extraction first took place, including timber concessions (if relevant), the species and quantity, and proof that they have abided by national legislation. This helps to ensure a risk assessment has been taken and should help the timber trader avoid buying from unscrupulous sources operating in high risk countries. Throughout our investigations, it has become clear to anyone working in this industry just where those high risk countries are, even if they are beginning to try to combat illegal logging and the associated illegal trade. It takes more than a certificate to seriously address the core issue of corruption and this will take time for those just starting to try to combat illegality within the timber sector. For Europe-based operators, it is now extremely risky and stupid to just accept a piece of paper without checking on the information given.

It takes more than a certificate to seriously address the core issue of corruption and this will take time for those just starting to try to combat illegality within the timber sector Illegally logged timber in Tanjung Puting National Park in 1999 © EIA

Protection gives hope for end to the ‘rosewood wars’ FOR some time, EIA has been supporting the efforts of the Thai and Vietnamese governments to secure listing for Siam rosewood (Dalbergia cochinchinensis) on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). On March 12, the 16th Conference of Parties (CoP16) meeting in Bangkok agreed to the listing by consensus. Since 1989, Thailand has had a logging ban in place on this and other precious woods but the growing demand for Siam rosewood from Chinese consumers for antique-style ‘hongmu’ furniture has created an evergrowing crisis for the rosewood forests in Thailand. The listing on Appendix II means Thailand and the range states of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam must comply across borders on the restrictions of Siam rosewood, and export permits have to be issued before the timber can be distributed to any country. After a decade of investigations into illegal logging, EIA knows that any regulation such as this is only as good as the enforcement supporting it. In this case, in order to seriously address the illegal trade in rosewood, Thailand and the range states will have to address the core issue of corruption helping to facilitate the illegal trade to China. This will take political will from all governments, which should also ensure resources are targeted in the right direction. Meanwhile, China, for its part, needs to ensure its importers of this precious wood are aware of the new restrictions that have now been agreed by over 177 countries.

Rosewood and ebony from Belize and Madagascar were also listed on Appendix II, making this the largest amount of timber species ever listed at a CITES meeting. All countries are going to have to work hard to ensure identification guides are distributed to Customs officials, along with knowledge of smuggling practices. China is the main consumer of these precious woods and, without any legislation in place within the country, other states have in desperation turned to CITES and the international community to help. The price for Siam rosewood in Thailand is up to $6,000 per cubic meter, while international traders are paying as much as US$50,000 per cubic metre; the penalties in the range states are extremely low. Enforcement officials need political support from the various parliaments to raise penalties and ensure proper resources are released to those on the front line of the ‘rosewood wars’. EIA will continue to monitor the illegal trade from Thailand, and we are also committed to working with consumers in China.

It is our hope that by listing Siam rosewood, the violence associated with the illegal trade from Thailand and into the range states will be curbed and the last remaining rosewood forests preserved.

The first step is to ensure that Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam start to enforce their own laws and adhere to this listing. EIA Forests Campaign head Faith Doherty was in Bangkok to see the proposal approved and addressed the meeting, stating: “EIA congratulates Thailand and Vietnam for the listing of Siam rosewood Dalbergia Cochinchinensis ... EIA looks forward to working with these countries, in particular China, on ensuring that CITES controls are successfully implemented.” Laos rosewood stockpiled in Vietnam, July 2012 © EIA

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EIA complaint against company bulldozing Muara Tae upheld IN October last year, EIA took the step of formally engaging, for the first time, with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) over the fate of the community of Muara Tae. The RSPO brings together oil palm producers, buyers and NGOs in an effort to stem some of the worst vices of the industry – particularly the wanton destruction of biodiversity and the abrogation of the rights of poor people.

that First Resources, while systematically ignoring the rights of the Dayak Benuaq, was attempting to greenwash its image through the RSPO. The RSPO has established Principles and Criteria (P&C) that its members must abide by and which govern, among other things, the clearing of areas rich in biodiversity and respecting the rights of local communities. The P&C are imperfect, particularly in their failure to address the use of carbon-rich peatland. But, broadly speaking, the P&C are positive.

The jury is out on the efficacy of the RSPO and its role in a long-term solution to these problems, and that’s a discussion for another time. Our engagement stemmed from evidence we had gathered that one of the RSPO’s member companies, First Resources Ltd, was violating the rights of the people of Muara Tae in clear breach of the RSPO’s statutes.

In particular, a core element of the P&C is the recognition of the customary rights of communities. Indigenous communities across Indonesia, from Kalimantan and Sumatra to Papua, have governed land rights through a system of adat or customary law for centuries. This distinct, unwritten form of governance predates the system of governance exercised by the state.

For the past two years or so, EIA has consistently fought on behalf of this small indigenous community in East Kalimantan, an Indonesian province on the island of Borneo. The Dayak Benuaq of Muara Tae have been under the cosh from land-grabbing palm oil and mining firms for two decades. Last year it emerged

Unfortunately, most adat rights in Indonesia go unrecognised by the state, in part due to reasons expedient to the patronage networks and corruption that rewards those in positions of authority; it is far easier to allocate land to large companies when its occupants are regarded as

squatters, without legal title. As a consequence, the RSPO’s recognition of customary or adat rights as distinct from legal titles issued by the state has huge implications for communities such as Muara Tae. Although Indonesian law and the rules governing land acquisition fail to protect their rights, RSPO members must recognise and respect adat rights. First Resources knew very well the Dayak Benuaq didn’t want to hand over their forests for oil palm cultivation but began clearing them anyway and subsequently claimed, in documents submitted to the RSPO, that all local people consented. This formed the basis of a complaint EIA submitted to the RSPO. Not without some prompting, the RSPO eventually upheld our complaint and has commissioned an ostensibly independent review of First Resources’ operations in the concession. We await the outcome for a clearer indication as to whether or not the RSPO has the ability and will to uphold its principles and respect the rights and wishes of the Dayak Benuaq. Watch this space.

First Resources knew very well the Dayak Benuaq didn’t want to hand over their forests for oil palm cultivation but began clearing them anyway and subsequently claimed ... that all local people consented

China is world’s largest consumer of illegal timber OUR Forests Campaign made a major international splash in November with the release of a groundbreaking new report on China’s pivotal role in the illegal timber trade. Appetite for Destruction: China’s Trade in Illegal Timber was launched with a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of China in Beijing – the first time EIA has released a report in China itself – and within hours the story was picked up by all major news wires and fed around the world. In 2011, China imported at least 18.5 million cubic metres of illegal logs and sawn timber, worth $3.7 billion and sufficient to fill Beijing’s Olympic stadium more than six times. Amid the buzz created by the report, we were particularly pleased to see what appeared to be a cautiously positive response from the Chinese Government, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei telling journalists that China was working to halt the importation of illicit wood.

Elsewhere in the world, significant progress has been made to protect threatened forests from the devastating impacts of illegal logging, with the USA, European Union and Australia all bringing in laws to ban stolen timber from their markets. The report also summarised the fieldwork of EIA investigators into flows of illicit timber since 2004 in China, Indonesia, Laos, Madagascar, Mozambique, Myanmar, the Russian Far East and Vietnam, looking at the extent and impacts on these countries of China’s voracious consumption. “China is now effectively exporting deforestation around the world,” concluded Faith Doherty, head of EIA’s Forests Campaign. “Any further meaningful progress to safeguard the forests of the world is being undermined unless the Chinese Government acts swiftly and decisively to significantly strengthen its enforcement and ensure that illegal timber is barred from its markets.”

“We resolutely oppose and crack down on the illegal felling of timber and relevant trading behavior,” he told a press briefing.

Report makes political waves in Mozambique AFTER being showcased as a case study in Appetite for Destruction, our Mozambique investigation went on to make big waves in February. The detailed follow-up report First Class Connections: Log Smuggling, Illegal Logging and Corruption in Mozambique revealed about half of all timber flowing from Mozambique to China was illegal, costing the world’s fourth least developed country a fortune in lost tax taxes – US$29m in 2012 alone. Highlighting the biggest culprits, it exposed the smuggling techniques along with the political patronage and corruption facilitating them. “Our investigation uncovered how high-level politicians, in league with unscrupulous Chinese traders, continue to not only breach Mozambique’s export and forest laws but are now putting pressure on the sustainable yield of Mozambique’s forests,” said EIA forests campaigner Chris Moye. The report caused a storm in the Mozambican press, with a constant stream of articles and discussions on live television programs; EIA investigators even participated in a popular political TV debate to discuss the report.

Our report revealed how China has become the single largest international consumer of illegal timber, importing wood stolen by organised criminal syndicates on a massive scale.

It also resulted in the Public Prosecutor announcing an investigation into all of our allegations. The ExMinister of Agriculture, named in the report, stepped down from his role as a Parliamentarian, following the approval of a law which banned public officials from having two incomes.

Although it has taken commendable steps to protect and re-grow its own forests, it has simultaneously nurtured a huge wood processing industry reliant on importing most raw materials. Truck carrying logs from Kachin to Zizhi, Yunnan, April 2012 © EIA

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Google ads promoted products from whales and elephants FOLLOWING our successful campaign in February last year to pressure internet shopping giant Amazon to stop selling whale and dolphin products via Amazon Japan, in March we turned our sights on Google with an appeal to remove thousands of advertisements for products made from endangered whale and elephant species. First, EIA President Allan Thornton wrote to Google CEO Larry Page to request the immediate removal of more than 1,400 ads promoting whale products and as many as 10,000 ads promoting ivory products on Google Japan’s Shopping site. The ads were contrary to Google’s own stated policies on restricted goods, prohibitions which also apply to the company’s wholly owned Japanese site. When an appropriate period had elapsed and we’d not heard anything back from Google, we put out a press release to the international media which got wide coverage and also urged our supporters and social media followers to pressure Google to take positive action. “Google has laudable policies that prohibit the promotion of endangered wildlife products including whale, dolphin and elephant ivory, but sadly these are not being enforced and that’s devastating for whales and elephants,” said Allan. “While elephants are being mass-slaughtered across

Africa to produce ivory trinkets, it is shocking to discover that Google, with the massive resources it has at its disposal, is failing to enforce its own policies designed to help protect endangered elephants and whales.” About 80 per cent of the elephant ivory ads were for ‘hanko’, Japanese name seals used to affix signatures to documents. Hanko sales, a major demand-driver for elephant ivory, have contributed to the wide-scale resumption of elephant poaching across Africa, with an estimated 35,000 African elephants being illegally killed for their tusks each year. EIA Cetaceans Campaign head Clare Perry added: “Google Japan Shopping is promoting the sale of a huge variety of products from threatened and endangered whale species. These range from endangered fin whales killed in Iceland to products taken from animals killed off Taiji, where the infamous dolphin kills featured in the Oscar-winning film The Cove take place. Google must immediately eliminate all such trade.”

Yahoo! Japan whale sales update AFTER returning in June to our ongoing campaign to urge Yahoo! to ban cetacean meat sales via Yahoo! Japan, we relaunched the campaign via social media in November to urge recently appointed Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer to act. Our rallying call met with astonishing success as thousands of people and organisations around the world got directly involved. In less than a week, our news alerts and updates on Facebook had received scores of comments and hundreds of shares, and our Tweets on the issue were reTweeted to hundreds of thousands of people around the world, demonstrating the immediacy and vitality of social media as a key form of campaigning. Despite the positive example set by Amazon, Yahoo! continued to maintain an unresponsive silence.

Other products promoted on the Google Japan Shopping site were from sperm, Bryde’s, sei, minke and pilot whales. Google failed to make any formal response to us, and to media inquiries would only confirm its policies regarding prohibited products. However, within a few days the vast majority of ads for cetacean and ivory products were taken down; we are now awaiting formal confirmation that they will stay that way.

Screengrab of Google whale product ads found on February 22, 2013

CITES falls far short of what elephants need for viable future GIVEN that the elephant poaching crisis was at the forefront of the minds of all at the recently concluded 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP16) to CITES, what was actually done at CITES to stop the killing of elephants across Africa? The outcome fell far short of what was expected and, indeed, what was needed to secure a future for elephants in the wild. Despite an official assessment presented to CITES that “any future decline in illicit trade in ivory will depend upon the actions taken by China and Thailand to deal with outstanding problematic issues in their ivory markets”, there were no calls from governments to shut down the legal domestic markets for ivory in both China and Thailand. This blatant lack of pressure from the international community on these two countries is particularly appalling. The flourishing ‘legal’ market in China for African elephant ivory was enabled by CITES Parties

themselves when they decided in 2008 to allow certain African countries to sell ivory to China in a “one-off” sale that has had devastating impacts on African elephants. Also, Thailand has for several years been making promises to CITES about changing its domestic legislation to tackle illicit ivory trade, although such action has not been forthcoming. In addition, Parties at CoP16 proceeded to the next step in the establishment of a decision-making mechanism for “a process of trade in ivory” that is expected to be adopted at the next Conference of the Parties in 2016. This will pave the way for adopting criteria and processes for future international trade in ivory. During the official proceedings, EIA Executive Director Mary Rice made a formal intervention to provide a reality check and warned that “the continued discussion on developing a decisionmaking mechanism for trade in ivory is entirely irresponsible as it does not take stock of the crisis currently being faced by elephants across Africa and bears the risk of further stimulating demand for ivory and increasing poaching of already declining elephant populations.”

She urged CITES to be extremely cautious in proceeding and identified some of the key conditions to be fulfilled for this process to go forward. In the end, how did CITES address the role of China and Thailand in ivory trafficking? It simply asked them to decide what they would like to do and then submit reports on it. China and Thailand were bundled in along with six other countries and they were all asked to submit “national ivory action plans” by May 15 this year, aimed at reducing illegal trade in ivory, and to report on implementation of these plans in July 2014 to the 65th meeting of the CITES Standing Committee in Geneva. The danger here, however, is that these decisions do not articulate what goes into the plans, whether they will be made public, or whether there is anything CITES can do if the Parties submit meaningless documents as such plans. Looking ahead, we face a tough battle for the elephants and EIA clearly has its work cut out.

In the end, how did CITES address the role of China and Thailand in ivory trafficking? It simply asked them to decide what they would like to do ... Mary Rice makes an intervention at CITES CoP16

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European Parliament report calls for widespread bans on HFCs

WE’RE only a few months into 2013 and the year is already shaping up to be a tremendously busy one for EIA’s Global Environment team. At the end of January, we bade a fond farewell to our colleague Alasdair Cameron, who has worked as a campaigner at EIA since 2008. He is already sorely missed, as much for his intellect, passion & commitment as for his excellent sense of humour (a key requirement in the high-pressured world of campaigning!). Although he’s decided to move on to pastures new, we’ve made him promise to come and visit us regularly! A new team member will be arriving soon – watch this space for more details. There’ll certainly be a lot on our plate in the months ahead, what with the ongoing review of the EU’s F-Gas Regulation, and some important milestones at international level. We’ve already been back and forth to Brussels several times since the beginning of the year for meetings with European parliamentarians (MEPs) and EU Member State representatives. As you may recall, last November the European Commission finally published its

revision of the F-Gas Regulation in the shape of a legislative proposal which is now being examined by the European Parliament and Member States. At the beginning of March, the Parliament’s rapporteur on the F-Gas Regulation, Bas Eickhout, put out a report on the Commission proposal calling for widespread bans on the use of fluorinated greenhouse gases in the European Union. This is much closer to EIA’s recommendations on hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and makes sense, not just from a climate perspective but also from the perspective of small European businesses that stand to gain from being at the forefront of climatefriendly refrigeration technologies. The centrepiece of the current European Commission’s proposal is an economy-wide phase-down of HFCs. As EIA has documented, an earlier leaked draft of the Commission’s proposal had included bans in commercial and industrial refrigeration but these were dropped after intensive lobbying by chemical manufacturers, disinclined to give up their stranglehold on a highly lucrative market for their HFCs.

A coalition of green groups led by EIA has concerns that a phase-down on its own, even if considerably tightened, will essentially lead to business as usual for the HFC industry ...

A coalition of green groups led by EIA has concerns that a phase-down on its own, even if considerably tightened, will essentially lead to business as usual for the HFC industry, which will simply move from chemicals with a very high global warming potential to slightly less harmful ones. This is a big worry when you consider the useful lifetime of most refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment is usually about 10-15 years (and, in many cases, far longer). In addition to more bans on new refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment containing HFCs, Mr Eickhout’s amendments include strengthened containment and recovery measures, which essentially means tightening up leaky systems and making sure operators don’t just vent HFCs from equipment at the end of its useful life. Once MEPs from the European Parliament’s other political groups have had a chance to submit their own amendments to Mr Eickhout’s report, there will be a debate, followed by a vote in the Parliament’s Environment Committee before the summer recess. A plenary vote will follow sometime in the autumn.

EIA Campaigner Alasdair Cameron © EIA

Wildlife crime campaigns news

Why should it matter what environmental criminals think?

It’s time to stop stimulating demand! IN March, EIA unveiled its new campaigning message at the 16th Conference of Parties to CITES in Bangkok, urging international organisations and decision-makers to Stop Stimulating Demand. At the heart of the message is the premise that wildlife trade bans do work – but only if they are not sabotaged. Bans reduce demand because most consumers are law-abiding, and ongoing efforts to reduce residual demand ensure a ban’s conservation success. Conversely, rekindling and stimulating demand effectively sabotages bans, endangering the species they were meant to protect. This is what has happened to the bans that had started to bring back elephants, rhinos and tigers in the wild. Bans on trade in parts and products from wild elephants, rhinos and tigers did work and would have continued working if the dying demand for their parts and products had not been revived and stimulated by streams of legal trade which have served only to confuse consumers, thwart law enforcement and open opportunities for criminals and wealthy speculators who are banking on extinction.

BECAUSE of the unique way EIA works undercover, we are one of the few organisations able to get information directly from the people involved in environmental crime. Talking to traders involved in all forms of environmental crime means EIA gets the inside story on demand, supply and tricks of the trade such as smuggling methods. It also gives us insights into criminals’ views on corruption, the judicial system and what ‘legalised trade’ decisions at CITES mean for business. There are many groups with an interest in understanding and combating environmental crime: enforcement agencies, academics and researchers, NGOs, journalists, crime prevention practitioners and policy- and decision-makers; if you want to combat crime, what and how criminals think should matter.

We know that ivory traders in demand countries actually pay attention to what goes on in forums such as CITES. In 2000, ivory traders in China told our undercover investigators that legal trade decisions at CITES would mean their business would “bloom vastly”. CITES needs to understand its decisions don’t exist in a vacuum – the criminals are listening. When people start listening back, it means they’ll also get to know what stops criminals from committing crime. Knowing this is crucial to having an effective criminal justice response. So it does matter what criminals think. It can be used to combat crime, secure the right kind of effective action across the whole criminal justice system, and highlight where legal trade is going so badly wrong.

Arrest interviews, covert investigations and prison interviews are just a few opportunities that can be used by the authorities and researchers to better understand what motivates criminals and what drives illegal activity. This is currently a hugely under-exploited resource. Our new report The Inside Story: Environmental

criminals’ perceptions of crime, corruption and CITES, by Crime Analyst Charlotte Davies, looks at how the rich resource of criminal perceptions can be used in many ways by these groups.

EIA undercover investigators are offered illegal ivory in Guangzhou, 2010; black market traders such as this man pay close attention to the activities and decisions of bodies such as CITES © EIA

The report uses examples of what traders have said during ivory investigations to identify how corruption helps crime, how ivory is sourced and smuggled, and who’s buying it.

Meet the Team Name: Paul Redman

Age: 36

Hometown: Born in Cape Town, South Africa but my teens were spent in Bridgwater, Somerset – so, home is a hot climate and the smell of tiled floors or mini packs of Maltesers and tea on a winter day at my grandparents’. Education: A degree in film and video but nowadays I would advise against it – buy a camera and do it yourself, it’s a lot cheaper. Specialism: All things video and a great deal of training of activists in farflung places. What first interested you in environmental issues?: Finding gecko eggs in our letterbox at home or running about barefoot in the pine forests of Ceres. David Attenborough got me into documentaries, and many family walks in the countryside got me thinking. The issues came later when I discovered the politics behind my carefree upbringing in South Africa, forcing me to reevaluate my childhood. Environmental issues follow similar patterns of denial or innocence and then re-evaluation.

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What is your most memorable experience at EIA?: Having worked at EIA for 13 years, there have been many fulfilling memories of hair-raising moments, jaw-dropping evidence and successful campaigns, but my abiding memory will always be of people. From Indonesia to Tanzania and to our offices in London, the people I have been able to help and who have helped me will remain embedded in my memory. I work in an organisation where my colleagues are close friends who despite, or because of, all we have been through can understand each other in a glance and share a joke just as easily. It is rare to find a group of people so compassionate and so open to experience – I will always keep these many memories with me.

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Comms team pays lip service to fundraising! EIA’s Communications team put aside its safety razors and shavers for November to nurture facial hair as part of national ‘Movember’ activities. With a little sleight of hand (Paul Newman already had a beard so just let it go for the month, while Emma Clark had to resort to a variety of false moustaches), the team raised £153 for men’s health charities.

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11th Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture ONCE again, EIA and Save the Rhino International were the beneficiaries of the annual lecture held in memory of Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series and a conservation enthusiast. This year’s lecture at the Royal Geographical Society in March featured Dr Adam Rutherford, scientist, writer and BBC presenter, who spoke about Creation: the origin and the future of life; MC for the evening was comedian Stephen Mangan.

A BIG thank-you to long-term supporter and serial challenge participant Iain Tenquist, who has once again put himself through the mill for EIA. Having previously scaled Mount Kilimanjaro for us, this time he tackled the Chester Marathon in October, coming in at a very respectable 4h 45m and raising £935.

The Big Give Christmas Challenge 2012 OUR gratitude to everybody who supported EIA in last year’s Big Give Christmas Challenge, helping us to raise more than £20,000 in just three days towards our tiger campaign in 2013. Watch this space for information on EIA’s involvement in the Big Give Christmas Challenge 2013; hopefully, it will provide another opportunity for us to access new funding and secure financial support for another important facet of our work.

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Supporter profile – Lynne Davies Working with EIA has long been a dream of Lynne Dav mine and when the opportunity for an Events & ies Fundraising internship came up, I jumped at the chance. I was over the moon when I found out I was to become a part of this amazing organisation! My first day in the office was straight to business helping to organise Tiger Tracks, the world’s largest tiger event. From the get-go, I knew this was a team absolutely dedicated to everything they do and we were determined to live up to the title of this event. I was assigned the role of Volunteer Co-ordinator, which proved to be a huge task in itself as I would be responsible for recruiting, scheduling and managing a group of volunteers for the full three weeks of Tiger Tracks. This opportunity has opened my eyes to the potential such a group of dedicated people has to make a difference in the world. I thank not only all my lovely Tiger Tracks volunteers but also all the amazing staff at EIA for their support and for making me a real part of the team. I’m just grateful to have been a part of such an important initiative and I hope I can continue making a difference, no matter how big or small. .

CONGRATULATIONS to our EIA Winter Raffle 2012 prize winners! The first prize went to Mr Patenall, second to Mrs Tarry and third to Mrs Drobott. Would you like the chance to win £1,000 in this year’s Summer Raffle, as well as helping to fund the tireless work of EIA? You can buy and sell tickets to be in with a chance of winning some great prizes, and there’s a £50 prize for whoever sells the most tickets. If there are no raffle tickets enclosed with your Investigator but you would like to receive some, please contact Ben Stallworthy on benstallworthy@eia-international.org or 020 7354 7968. Best of luck!

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Z NE TIGER Tracks, the world’s largest tiger event, roared into London’s St Pancras International Station from March 1-21.

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EIA’s hard-working fundraising team gives thanks to everyone who came down to support us in this monumental venture, particularly to the 100-plus volunteers at the station who made Tiger Tracks such a success with their passion and cheeriness in the face of unseasonable freezing conditions and to our fantastic office volunteers, Charlotte and Lynne, who showed such commitment and unflappable composure during a frantic three weeks!

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The event climaxed with a gala dinner at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, attended by celebrities, ambassadors and conservationists. It was a glamorous end to what had been an exhausting 21 days, but what a fantastic fundraising event it was, not to mention the incredible exposure afforded to this species in peril.

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Another highlight was the kids’ weekend Tiny Tigers, with activities including celebrity book readings, face-painting, balloon animals, arts and crafts, dance workshops and much more.

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With a weekly footfall of one million people providing great exposure, the response was even better than we’d anticipated and we managed to chat with thousands of individuals about the stark reality facing the world’s remaining wild tiger populations. Tiger Tracks got off to a vibrant start on March 1 with a live performance in the station by Brian May and Kerry Ellis.

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Organised by the Save Wild Tigers initiative to raise awareness of the issue and funds for EIA and Born Free, displays around the station included sponsor Veolia’s recycled tiger made from over 300 plastic milk bottles, the Metropolitan Police Wildlife Crime Unit’s exhibition of tiger products seized in London, some magnificent art pieces and a variety of dance and musical performances.

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If you fancy taking on a personal challenge, big or small, to raise funds in support of EIA, get in touch with the fundraising team on fundraising@eia-international.org.

Comedienne Ronni is serious about spreading word of EIA WE were delighted to be able to spread word of EIA and our work to a potentially huge new audience in April thanks to a Radio 4 charity appeal broadcast.

A consummate professional, Ronni delivered the script with heartfelt conviction during a session at the BBC’s recording studios in March. So, our deepest thanks to the BBC for giving us the opportunity, and to Ronni for putting across our case with such sincerity and passion.

For Head of Fundraising Janet Fereday, the challenge was how to begin to condense the complex and diverse work of EIA into a compelling script of just three minutes. “I decided to focus on just one aspect of our work – a real crisis and one that’s very topical at the moment – the ivory trade,” she said. The next step was to find somebody who felt strongly about both EIA and elephants to present the appeal on our behalf, and we were very pleased that long-standing supporter, actress and comedienne Ronni Ancona stepped up to help us out with so much enthusiasm.

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I’m totally impassioned about the EIA’s work and what they’ve achieved. They really, truly work on the front line, they’re so extraordinarily brave Ronni Ancona