A United Nations conference agreed Friday to ban commercial trade in the rare Irrawaddy dolphin, a move environmentalists said was needed to save the threatened species.
“Most legitimate zoos and aquariums already refuse to display Irrawaddy dolphins because of their endangered status,” said Karen Steuer, a senior policy adviser to conservation group WWF International. “But there remains an active trade in them for dolphin shows and water parks across Asia.”
The decision by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species places the Irrawaddy dolphin on its Appendix I listing, which also includes highly endangered tigers and great apes and permits commercial trade only in exceptional circumstances.
The Irrawaddy’s numbers are not known exactly, but the WWF said there were probably fewer than 1,000. The small Asian dolphin can live in both fresh and salt water, inhabiting shallows near shore as well as rivers.
Drowning in fishing nets is the biggest threat to the species, but that is compounded by the aquarium trade. WWF said at least 50 individuals have been caught for displaying them publicly since 1974.
Delegates also:
- Adopted a Chinese and United States proposal to put Asian yew trees, which provide the compound for one of the world’s top-selling chemotherapy drugs, in the same appendix. That will give added protection to plants which could save untold human lives while earning billions of dollars for big drug companies.
- Approved a proposal by African countries to control trade in a rare plant sought hungrily by drug companies for its appetite-suppressing properties.
The proposals will be raised again during the plenary session next week, but are almost certain to pass because they have strong support.
Pharmaceutical plant
The hoodia cactus in question has been used for thousands of years by southern Africa’s San Bushmen to dampen their appetites during long treks through the harsh Kalahari desert and holds the key to potentially lucrative anti-obesity drugs.
CITES listed the hoodia plant in its Appendix II -- which will regulate global trade in the species -- at the behest of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.
South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has patented the chemical entity extracted from hoodia and licensed British drugs-from-plants firm Phytopharm to develop the plant’s commercial potential.
Phytopharm said in July it welcomed moves to protect hoodia from illegal cultivation.
“We’re very pleased it went through,” said John Donaldson of the South African delegation, saying it would help ensure that hoodia is used in a sustainable manner.
“We would like pharmaceutical companies to produce finished products in the three countries,” he said, adding that there were structures in place to ensure that the San Bushmen derived benefits from the product.
Yew tree and cancer
In the case of yew trees, Chinese herbalists have long used them to treat common ailments.
In the late 1960s, scientists in North Carolina found that extract of yew bark fought tumors. In the early 1990s, the U.S. government approved the use of paclitaxel, also known as taxol, by drug company Bristol-Myers Squibb for chemotherapy.
Taxol, whose patent expired in the United States in 2001, is one of the best-selling drugs for treating a variety of cancers.
In 2003, drug firms sold more than $4 billion worth of products with taxol and other drugs derived from yew trees known as taxanes.
But conservationists say the various taxus species are under threat from illegal harvesting and habitat destruction in China.
“This is a win for conservation as well as for trade,” Craig Manson, the head of the U.S. delegation, told Reuters.
“It ensures the products come from legal and sustainable resources. And it’s important to preserve the species because it has a great impact on the lives of many people,” he said.
CITES also agreed to regulate global trade in around 30 species of ramin, a tropical hardwood in huge demand for furniture production.
Illegal harvesting and over-exploitation of the species is one of many threats to one of humanity’s closest living relatives, the highly endangered orangutan.