A looming trade agreement on tropical timber involving the European Union and Vietnam is being resisted by a civil society group, which insists that the Southeast Asian country must first clean up its act.

Though Vietnam has banned logging in its own forests, Vietnamese loggers are allegedly crossing the border and plundering national parks in Cambodia.

Amid reported growing opposition to the deal among members of the European Parliament, the EU International Trade Committee will on Tuesday, February 19, 2019 debate the agreement, and the European Parliament will be voting on it in March.

The campaigners insist that the EU must not conclude a trade agreement with Vietnam if Vietnamese traffickers are laundering illegal timber from Cambodia.

“The EU is working on a trade deal that would effectively let Vietnam launder the timber it has been stealing from Cambodia and export it to Europe unhindered,” says Reinhard Behrend of the Rainforest Rescue, a not-for-profit outfit.

“We want EU policymakers to know that countless Europeans don’t want timber from Vietnam and Cambodia,” he adds.

The EU is one of the largest markets for tropical timber and wood products. It has been estimated that more than half of that timber has been felled illegally.

In 2003, the EU drew up the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan. A part of FLEGT is the EU Timber Regulation. Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPA), which are concluded between individual countries and the EU, are a central pillar of FLEGT.

VPAs essentially stipulate that source countries guarantee that the timber they export has been legally sourced. The EU, in turn, eliminates import inspections.

This requires source countries to revise their forest laws, put monitoring in place, strengthen forest management and fight corruption. The VPA negotiations include representatives of NGOs and local communities.

The EU is currently negotiating with numerous countries. Negotiations with nine countries are still in early stages, while talks with Ghana, Liberia, Cameroon, the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo have progressed rather far. At present, Indonesia is the only country to issue FLEGT licenses.

But, according to environmentalists, the FLEGT Action Plan and VPAs have serious flaws.

“’Legal’ timber is not necessarily legitimate. Legal logging is often devastating for rainforests and violates the rights of indigenous people. Many experts do not consider logging in the tropics to be sustainable in any form, and therefore advocate a ban on tropical timber imports.

“The exporting nations see the trade agreements as a means to sell more timber and wood products to the EU, thus increasing pressure on their forests. A thriving market can also create incentives for criminals.

“FLEGT and VPAs govern trade only with the EU, not with third countries. While many countries, including the US, Canada, Australia and China, are taking action against illegal logging and timber trafficking, criminals are still finding plenty of wiggle room,” states Behrend. The Rainforest Rescue has meanwhile taken up a campaign against an EU seal for timber trade with Vietnam.

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says that more than $900 million worth of Pangolin for illicit trading were seized in Nigeria in 2018.

Asst. Comptroller Mutalib Sule of the NCS, Federal Operations Unit, Zone A, Ikeja, Lagos, made the disclosure at an event to mark the 2019 World Pangolin Day on Wednesday, February 13, 2019 in Lagos.

The event, which was organised by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, Lekki, Lagos, in collaboration with the Pangolin Conservation Guild of Nigeria had “Pangolins and Politics’’ as its theme.

Pangolin is an endangered African and Asian mammal with body covered with horny overlapping scales. It has a small head with an elongated snout.

It has a long sticky tongue for catching ants and termites and a tapering tail; it also has large protective keratin scales covering the skin. Pangolin is the only known mammals with this feature.

“The summary of Pangolin seizure by the FOU Zone A under my superintendent in the year 2018 is 14,833 metric tonnes.

“My study across the world revealed that this is the highest seizure of Pangolin in the world.

“Japan came a distant second having made a seizure of 7.100kg of Pangolin in the same year with the estimated value of $450, 000.

“Going by this, Nigeria’s seizure under my watch cannot be less than $900,000,000 million or even more,’’ Sule said.

The assistant comptroller-general of NCS said that people engaged in illicit trade of Pangolins because of the benefits.

“Roasted pangolin scales are believed to cure cancer, relieve palsy and even stimulate breast milk.

“Pangolins are hunted for food, for use in traditional medicines and as fashion accessories; it is considered a delicacy in China, Vietnam and other parts of South East Asia.

“The scales are prized $3,000 per kilogram, while the meat is $300 per kilogram; live pangolin attracts $1,000. Based on current black-market prize, a kilogramme of pangolin is sold at $15,000.

“The mouth-watering price of the illicit trade largely accounted for the business to boom and attract international attention. About 10,000 Pangolins are poached every year.’’

According to Sule, the NCS has been working hard to curtail this act.

“On Feb. 12, 2018, the FOU patrol team led by my humble self went to a building located along Allen Avenue and confiscated 54 sacks of pangolin scale and 218 pieces of elephant tusks.

“The Pangolin weighed 2001kg, while the elephant gave us 343kg; a Chinese citizen was apprehended in connection with it and taken to court by customs for prosecution.

“On March 3, another Chinese was arrested at a location off Toyin Street; 329 sacks of pangolin were discovered and evacuated; the sacks gave us 8.492 metric tonnes.

“A second visit there gave us 78 sacks of pangolin of 1,771 metric tonnes; also, on July 22, 2018, around Lekki area of Lagos, 21 sacks of pangolin and 4 pieces of elephant tusks were found stashed in a shop.

“On Aug. 11 of the same year, we swooped on the den of some Chinese nationals suspected to be engaging in the illicit trade; 10 sacks of pangolin were found and evacuated; these gave us give us 738 metric tonnes,’’ he said.

He noted the need stop the poaching and trading of Pangolins because it will affect the ecosystem and make the animals go into extinction, especially as it is a rare species of mammal.

Sule also highlighted that some of the challenges that the NCS face in its mission to seize and arrest culpable individuals in connection with this highly profitable illicit trade of pangolins.

According to the assistant comptroller general, the challenges include dangerous terrains while making arrests, resistance, attacks, poor reward system and lack of enforcement of laws against trafficking as well as the judicial system.

By Grace Alegba and Vivian Ihechu

Kenya will in November 2019 host the inaugural Pan African Protected Areas Congress to discuss the continent’s protected areas like wildlife sanctuaries, forests, wetlands and marine ecosystem, officials said on Thursday, February 14.

Margaret Mwakima, Principal Secretary in the State Department of Wildlife, said the meeting, which is to be held in Nairobi from November 18 to 23, would be attended by more than 2,000 delegates.

“The congress will be attended by senior government officials, researchers, donors and business leaders and will focus on African-led solutions to challenges facing our biodiversity,” said Mwakima.

She noted that Africa’s biodiversity hotspots are grappling with threats linked to climate change, human encroachment and invasive species, hence undermining their ability to unlock benefits to local communities.

“We are the cradle of biodiversity and wildlife and the November congress will chart a new roadmap to enhance protection of these natural treasures that are the bedrock of our sustainability agenda,” said Mwakima.

She said that delegates would discuss harmonisation of policies and legislation to strengthen the war against illegal trade in wildlife products in Africa.

The principal secretary said that Kenya was keen to tap into expertise from other African countries during the November congress to address conservation challenges like habitat loss.

“As a country, we are losing our large mammals at a high rate and are keen to learn from models that have worked in other African countries to reverse this trend,” said Mwakima.

John Waithaka, Chairman of Kenya Wildlife Service, said that Kenya had developed innovative strategies to reverse loss of marine and terrestrial ecosystems that were key to accelerating green growth.

“The congress will provide an opportunity for us to showcase biodiversity conservation programmes that have worked and can be replicated elsewhere in the continent,” said Waithaka.