IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
| Knapp, A. | |
| A review of the European Union's import policies for hunting trophies | |
| 2007 Full Book | |
CITES - the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora aims to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival and recognizes the principle of sustainable use. Trophy hunting is a form of consumptive use of wildlife, which, if well-managed, may benefit conservation of threatened species. IUCN-The World Conservation Union, for example, "accepts that well-managed recreational hunting has a role in the managed sustainable consumptive use of wildlife populations". Trophy hunting has the potential to generate higher revenue per tourist than many other forms of tourism and can thus raise substantial sums of money for conservation, as well as provide economic benefits to local people. There have been increasing attempts to consider trophy hunting in integrated programmes with the aim to use it as a conservation tool, inclusive of local communities. Objections to trophy hunting are raised on various grounds including concern about the inequitable distribution of hunting revenues, inadequate involvement of communities, corruption, lack of transparency of the hunting industry and concern that the biological effects of hunting are still not completely understood. A number of initiatives, including codes of conduct and guidelines, have been developed at national, regional and international levels to try and ensure the sustainability of trophy hunting (as well as hunting more generally) and to maximise the benefits which trophy hunting can bring to conservation. At the global level, the trade in trophies from species listed in the Appendices of CITES is regulated through a system of permits and certificates. Both CITES and the European Community (EC) Wildlife Trade Regulations, which implement CITES in European Union (EU) Member States1, contain special provisions for hunting trophies, whereby, based on the belief that well-managed trophy hunting programmes can benefit conservation, the trade in trophies is subject to less strict permit requirements than for other specimens listed in the same CITES Appendix or EU Annex. This reports aims to provide an assessment of the EU's trade in hunting trophies, noting trends, quantity, origin and destination of trophies imported into the EU through analysis of CITES trade data for the years 2000 to 2004. This study also aims to examine current practices for assessing applications for import of trophies into the EU with a focus on imports of Annex A-listed specimens, through review of SRG discussions and decisions as well as consultation with CITES Authorities from EU Member States. In addition, a number of case studies are included in the report, in order to illustrate some of the benefits which imports of trophies may lead to, as well as some of the difficulties faced by EU Member States when assessing import applications for trophies. Based on this, recommendations regarding regulation of trade in trophies, and policies towards the import of trophies into the EU, are put forward. A wide range of published literature and resources on the internet dealing with trophy hunting, as well as national and international experts were consulted. In addition, available SRG meeting documents and correspondence were used. CITES trade data on trophy imports to the EU for mammals, reptiles and birds were extracted from the CITES Trade Database for the period 2000 to 2004 and analysed. The majority of the analysis focused on EU imports of bodies, skins, skulls and trophies from wildsourced animals. In order to obtain information about the trophy import practices of different EU Member States, and to determine whether Member States have any concerns with current EU imports of hunting trophies, the Scientific Authorities and/or Management Authorities of selected EU Member States, including the Member States with the largest number of trophy imports, were contacted. |
|
 |
PDF files are only accessible to Friends of the Cat Group. Joining Friends of the Cat Group gives you unlimited access and downloads in the Cat SG Library for one year, and allows you to receive our newsletter Cat News (2 regular issues per year plus special issues). More information how to join here |
(c) IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group ( IUCN - The World Conservation Union) |