(IN): Tiger trade: India says no to China

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Link: http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070012558

 

Tiger trade: India says no to China

 

Prachi Bhuchar

Saturday, May 19, 2007 (New Delhi)

India has said that they did not support lifting of China tiger trade

ban, as this would in the long run endanger our already dwindling

tiger population.

 

China has been lobbying hard for support to lift the 1993 ban on

domestic tiger trade.

 

The Ministry of Environment, sent out a very short and clear message

to the visiting Chinese delegation, 'We will do all we can to save our

tigers.'

 

Recently an eight-member Chinese delegation met officials of the

Ministry of Environment and Forests asking for support.

 

But India strongly objected to China's plans of lifting the ban on

domestic trade of tigers as well as its plans to breed tigers in

captivity to sell body parts in a growing Chinese market.

 

Indian officials said that such a move would encourage tiger trade and

cross-border poaching and harm tigers across continents.

 

Biggest looser

 

India has the most to lose in such a scenario.

 

Of the seven tiger range states in the world, India is the only one

with over a 1000 tigers.

 

Already over the past decade 40 per cent of India's tigers have

disappeared.

 

In China, a rampant trade has reduced the tiger population from 5,000

to 50 in the past five decades.

 

''We have made our stand very clear to the Chinese delegation. It

could have far reaching consequences for India, if trade opened up

even within China. So, we expressed our views to the reps from

China,'' said Sujoy Sen, Species Director, World Wildlife Fund.

 

Aggressive lobbying

 

The Chinese are aggressively lobbying other tiger range states for

support.

 

They've already visited Thailand and are hoping for some kind of

resolution at the next Convention on International Trade in Endangered

Species or CITES meet in Rotterdam in June.

 

China though may have trouble going ahead with its plans most CITES

countries are not in favour of lifting the ban on domestic tiger trade.

 

Conservationists now say that there is some hope for country's Tigers.