Special Feature

Wildlife Conservation Day 2012

December 4, 2012

Combating Wildlife Trafficking: Respect and Protect

Tuesday, December 4 is Wildlife Conservation Day. Combating wildlife crime is a global challenge spanning continents and crossing oceans. By working together as governments, organizations, and individuals, those committed to saving the earth’s endangered wildlife can make a huge difference in stopping the illicit wildlife trade and the criminal networks that profit from it.

Illicit trade in threatened and endangered species is a multibillion-dollar business, and the increasingly intense demand for products derived from Africa’s and South Asia’s iconic land animals — elephants, rhinoceroses and tigers — threatens peace and security in both regions.

Loss of biodiversity affects freshwater supplies and food production, and it robs local communities of economic resources. In developing countries, rural families often depend on local wild animals and plants for economic needs. Tourism revenue, for example, may be lost if developing nations cannot depend on their unique species to draw visitors.

High demand, combined with difficult enforcement issues, attracts transnational criminal networks also involved in money laundering and trafficking in arms and narcotics. High prices for wildlife products breed corruption, threatening the rule of law and thwarting economic development in supply countries.

While it is impossible to precisely track these animal populations, illicit killings are reaching crisis proportions. There are only about 25,000 rhinos on earth, down from 600,000 in the mid 20th century. In South Africa, where most rhinos live, a rhino is killed every 13 hours for its horn. There are roughly 600,000 elephants in Africa, one-third the number a few decades ago. Experts estimate that 25,000 African elephants were killed in 2011 for their ivory. (There are no reliable numbers on elephants in South Asia.) Fewer tigers are being killed, yet there is a conservation crisis. Today roughly 3,200 tigers remain in the wild, 3 percent of the number a century ago. Tigers have become extinct in 11 out of the 24 Asian countries where they once thrived. [Full Article]

U.S. GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS

[Video - 1'34"] Secretary Clinton’s Wildlife Conservation Day Call to Action Remarks – Wildlife Conservation Day

December 4th, 2012, will be the first-ever Wildlife Conservation Day. Our goal is to inform more people about this global conservation crisis. Attacks on rhinos and elephants are multiplying at an alarming rate. [Source: U.S. Department of State] »
U.S. Department of State Hosts Television's Animal Planet Host at the State Department

The U.S. State Department will host a December 4 event to mark Wildlife Conservation Day featuring renowned conservationist and television personality Jeff Corwin, in the Department’s Ralph Bunche Library from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. [Source: U.S. Department of State] »
U.S. Department of State Marks Wildlife Conservation Day

U.S. missions around the globe will mark Wildlife Conservation Day on December 4 with programs including speaking engagements at local schools, film presentations, roundtables, an appearance by Animal Planet’s Jeff Corwin at the U.S. Department of State, and a videotaped call to action by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. [Source: U.S. Department of State] »
Trees Sustain Wildlife

Scientists are debating how fast species are going extinct, but they all agree that the ongoing loss of habitats, and of forests in particular, threatens biodiversity. This, they say, will ultimately affect everyone living on Earth. Ninety percent of animals and plants living on land make their home in or around trees. Such places can be filled with life that often goes undetected to the human eye. Scientists in Peru, amazingly, found no fewer than 43 ant species living in a single tree. [Source: IIP Digital] »
A Timeline of Environmental Treaties

This list of key environmental treaties shows how nations are working together, politically and scientifically, to safeguard our planet and respond to a global threat. The United States, whose pollution control laws serve as models for other nations, remains a leader in identifying, mitigating and remediating environmental hazards. [Source: IIP Digital] »

PUBLICATIONS

Go Wild! Coming Together for Conservation

Every year, thousands of animal species become extinct. Animals that once roamed the Earth in abundance are permanently disappearing from our planet at a heart-stopping pace. Scientists estimate that the current rate of extinction is 1,000 times greater than it would normally be because of one factor. What has caused this rapid rise in extinctions? The alarmingly simple answer: humans. [Source: IIP Digital] »
Growing Up Green

Youth are leading the way to a sustainable future by creating innovative solutions to global problems. Read about some of their amazing accomplishments and ambitious plans for the future in this issue of eJournal USA. [Source: IIP Digital] »
Climate Action Goes Local

Learn how governments, businesses and communities in Central America, East Asia, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the United States are partnering to leverage their resources to combat climate change. [Source: IIP Digital] »
Global Water Issues

This book demonstrates the United States’ commitment to the challenging issue of water security and the unrelenting pursuit of effective solutions. As water becomes a scarce commodity, our success depends on mutual dialogue, cooperation and discipline in conserving this precious resource. [Source: IIP Digital] »
Rachel Carson: Pen against Poison

Rachel Carson was a quiet woman who stirred extraordinary controversy that persists decades after her death. Her 1962 book Silent Spring brought worldwide attention to the harm to human health and the environment wrought by mishandling of a powerful pesticide, fomenting the environmental movement. In the 100th anniversary year of Carson's birth, this publication examines how occasionally in history a book with a powerful idea can bring about peaceful but dramatic change in a democratic society. [Source: IIP Digital] »