A seminar sponsored by the Convention of International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), entitled "Silk
Road CITES Enforcement Seminar," opened on Monday in Urumqi,
capital city of northwest China’s Xinjiang
Uygur Autonomous Region.
Law enforcement officials from the 12 CITES Asian member
countries, including China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, India and
Pakistan, attended the meeting. They will discuss the
intensification of a coordinated response to cross-border smuggling
of high-nose antelopes, Tibetan antelopes, big catamounts and
hunting hawks. The seminar ends on August 25.
The meeting is the first one to be held by CITES' Asian member
countries on the legal enforcement aspect of the convention since
it was signed in 1973.
Zhao Xuemin, deputy director of the State Forestry
Administration, said at the meeting yesterday that China has set up
2,200 nature reserves covering 140 million hectares or 14.8 percent
of its territorial coverage. Zhao said that China is a party to all
of the more than 40 global pacts on environmental protection and
resources conservation. These include the Stockholm Convention on
Persistent Organic Pollutants, and the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change.
CITES Senior Enforcement Officer John Seller said that the
increasing number of cross-border smuggling of endangered wild
species demands greater efforts of law enforcement from CITES
members.
Seller affirmed China's cross-sectoral moves targeting
anti-poaching activities, and recognized that China has made
efforts in wildlife protection after it joined CITES in 1981.
(Xinhua News Agency August 23, 2005)