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West Africa becoming transit point for illegal wildlife products

By
Eunice Hilda Ampomah/Grace Princess Tarwo, GNA

Accra, Nov.11, GNA –
 West Africa is increasingly becoming a
transit point for illegal wildlife products 
from Central and East Africa, Mr Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie, the Chief
Executive of the Forestry Commission, has cautioned.

The region is also
serving as a source for many of illegally traded species, including
chimpanzees, gray parrots, pangolins and rosewood.

Mr Owusu-Afriyie
gave the caution in a speech, read on his behalf, at the opening of a six-day training
programme, in Accra, to build the capacity of stakeholders to halt the
trafficking of wildlife or illegal trade of wildlife.

His deputy, Mr John
Allotey read the speech.

Mr Owusu-Afriyie
explained that the illegal trade was the result of inadequate law enforcement,
weak border controls and the perception of high profit and less risk.

The Wildlife
Division of the Forestry Commission is organising the programme for
stakeholders, including Customs Officials from Ghana, Cape Verde and
Guinea-Bissau.

They would be
equipped with skills on the implementation of the “Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora” (CITES) to train related
environment protection institutions in their respective countries.

Putting a stop to
wildlife trafficking is necessary because the practice poses a threat to the
sustenance of the natural resource base.

CITES is a
legally-binding international agreement among 183 states to regulate the
planet’s animals and plants and ensure that they are traded in a manner that is
legal, sustainable and traceable for their survival.

Mr Owusu-Afriyie
stated since 1970s, Ghana’s forest and wildlife resources had been subjected to
various impacts and pressures, threatening both sustainability of timber resources
and wildlife.

Habitat decline, he
said, was the primary cause of endangerment of most species.

However,
uncontrolled wildlife trade was a major cause of decline for some group of
animals and plants.

He, therefore, urged
Environmental and Natural Resource Managers and experts to halt environmental
degradation, poaching and trafficking in wildlife and respond to their impact
to ensure the social-economic development of people.

Mr Michael Balinga,
a Biodiversity Conservation Specialist with West Africa Biodiversity and
Climate Change (WA BiCC), a USAID funded project, said, Africa ran a risk of
losing its natural resources, if biodiversity was not protected.

“We run a risk of
our children and grandchildren not having the resources that we have now as
plant and animal species are disappearing as a result of how we handle our
environment.”

He called on
stakeholders within the forest reserve and environmental protection agencies,
including the security services, to work together to guard against the threats
to biodiversity.

Mr Balinga said
efforts to eradicate biodiversity trafficking and illegal trading of wildlife
would yield the requisite results with the necessary commitment.

He, therefore,
commended Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission, the United States
Administration for Ocean and Atmospheric Affairs (NOAA), and WA BiCC for
putting the programme together.

He said it would
respond to elements of wildlife strategy that ECOWAS was finalising and also
support governments in their implementation of projects to protect
biodiversity.

GNA

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