Colombia starts biocommerce deals with Asian countries

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Colombia

taps biodiversity to export exotic

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*AFP – Commercial director Vanessa Wilches holds a butterfly at Alas de

Colombia, a company that legally breeds … *

 

*by Cesar Sabogal Cesar Sabogal – Mon Jun 15, 7:08 pm ET*

 

*BOGOTA (AFP) – Colombia, one of the world's most biologically diverse

countries, has begun to cash in on this natural resource by selling rare

species of animals to other countries, a " biocommerce " viewed with unease by

environmentalists.*

 

*The fledgling exports of exotic local fauna -- especially butterflies,

beetles, fish and frogs -- to countries like the United States, Canada,

Japan and the United Arab Emirates is being undertaken by 1,250 small

Colombian companies, according to figures kept by the state-run Export

Promotion Fund.*

 

*But they have competition from illegal traffickers.*

 

* " Tinny, " a trumpet beetle born in a nursery in the central province of

Boyaca, has been a denizen of Kairakuen park in the Japanese city of Mito

for the past two months. Its owner, Keiko Sato, traveled last week to a farm

in rural Tunja, Colombia to find it a mate.*

 

* " These scarabs are very beautiful and symbolic. We have bought more than a

dozen here in recent years to give to our friends' children in Japan, who

turn them into pets that bring good luck, " she told AFP.*

 

*She said she paid no more than four dollars apiece for the beetles.*

 

*Tierra Viva, a company whose name means " live earth, " raises beetles and

sells them alive or dead. German Viasus, its manager, said that after going

through lots of red tape he can now profit from the trade in these

creatures.*

 

* " After decades in which Colombia lost unique species to illegal

trafficking, and in which they were exposed to mistreatment due to the

clandestine nature of the trade, companies like ours began to think about

raising them and exporting them legally, which has turned out to be a good

business, " he said.*

 

* " We export beetles mainly to Japan, where they are admired and treated with

respect and devotion, but we've begun to receive orders from the United Arab

Emirates where one of the sheikhs is a fanatic about these marvellous

exemplars and made an initial order for 1,000, " he said.*

 

*Another sought-after product are butterfly cocoons packed in attractive

transparent urns, that are supposed to be given to a lover or someone

special with photographs of the species and a symbolic manual.*

 

* " The language of love is universal and we find that people in love in any

country are fascinated by colorful butterflies, " said Vanesa Wilches, the

manager of Alas de Colombia, or Wings of Colombia.*

 

* " So, we offer the cocoon so that the lovers can watch the larva grow and

then they can free the butterfly as a symbol that seals their love, " she

said.*

 

*Over the past five years, this company has exported butterflies both live

and preserved to countries like the Netherlands, Britain, the United States

and France with annual sales close to 75,000 dollars.*

 

*Collectors and entrepreneurs from countries of the Far East, like Singapore,

South Korea and China, meanwhile, buy fish from the eastern plains of

Colombia through a fisherman's cooperative, Coopesca, whose manager is Jose

Arturo Gomez.*

 

*For every manta ray they catch in the Orotoy River, local fishermen get no

more than 50 US cents, but in Singapore, Malaysia or Japan it will command a

price of more than 80 dollars, according to Gomez.*

 

*Parallel to the above ground commerce in exotic animals is an illegal

trade, which Maria Sanchez, the coordinator of the Environmental Police,

said is managed by a powerful international network.*

 

*In 2008 alone, Colombian authorities confiscated 54,000 exotic animals

intended for sale both inside and outside the country.*

 

* " Despite campaigns to raise awareness, rural populations continue to sell

species without regard for climate, which results in many of them dying in

captivity, " she said. *

 

* " They are bought and sold in popular markets without any kind of restraint

or control. " *