Scientific Research as a Tool in Combating Illegal Trade of Wild Animals

Balgobin Parsaud
Environmental Protection Agency - Guyana
bparsaud@yahoo.com

INTRODUCTION
  • Profile of Guyana
  • The Wildlife Trade
    • Administration
    • Legislation
    • Species
  • Scientific Activities
    • Surveys
    • Institutional collaboration
  • Illegal Activities
  • Management strategies
  • Conclusion

PROFILE OF GUYANA (2000)

  • Location
    • it is found on the north-eastern seaboard of South America
    • it is a part of the Guiana Shield with a tropical climate
    • it has borders with Suriname, Brazil and Venezuela
  • Area 216,000 km2
  • Population 740,000 (90% along the coast)
  • Pop. growth rate p.a. -0.10%
  • GDP per capita p.a. US$2,500
  • Inflation rate 5.50%
  • Unemployment rate 12%
  • Revenues p.a. US$220 M

PROFILE OF GUYANA cont’d

  • About 75% of the country is forested
  • Area of forest estate 160,000 km2
  • Area of productive forests 135,000 km2
  • There are three main savannas;: Berbice; North Rupununi, and South Rupununi
  • There are four large conservancies which can be regarded as wetlands
  • Legally protected areas
    • Kaieteur National Park: 63,000 ha
    • Iwokrama Reserve: 360,000 ha
    • it is planned that about 10% of the land area would be protected

THE WILDLIFE TRADE - Administration

  • Policy: Natural Resources and Environmental Advisory Committee, Office of the President
  • Strategy: National Biodiversity Action Plan (1999)
  • Administrative agency: Wildlife Division, Environmental Protection Agency
  • Trade office: Office of the President
  • Enforcement:
    • Customs and Excise Department - illegal trade
    • Quarantine Division, Ministry of Agriculture - record of exports
    • Guyana Police Force - internal transportation and crime
    • Wildlife Division - records of exports for quotas - inspection of holding stations

THE WILDLIFE TRADE - Legislation

  • Legislation:
    • Wildlife trade: Species Protection Regulations (1999)
    • National management: Wildlife Management and Conservation Regulations (draft)
  • The following are operational from the Regulations:
    • The Management Authority, and the Scientific Authority
    • Export, Re-export, and Import, Certification
    • Permit holder’s Wildlife Register
    • Management Authority Register
    • Licensing of trappers, transporters (middlemen), and exporters
    • Licensing of holding stations
    • Stipulations for operating holding stations
    • Offences and Penalties

THE WILDLIFE TRADE - Legislation cont’d

  • Species Protection
    • Schedule III of the Regulations lists 12 species threatened with extinction and which must not be trapped:
      • Mammals: 6 species
      • Birds: 4 species
      • Reptiles: 1 species
      • Fish: 1 species
    • Schedule IV of the Regulations lists 23 species requiring protection:
      • Mammals: 8 species
      • Birds: 9 species
      • Reptiles: 5 species
      • Amphibians: 1 species

THE WILDLIFE TRADE - Legislation cont’d

  • Illegal trade
    • Section 69 of the Regulations stipulates that any specimen which is being imported or exported can be marked with an indelible imprint, seal, non-reusable tag, microchip, ring, or other suitable means to prevent imitation to import or export such specimen
  • Shipping
    • Specimens are shipped according to the stipulations of the International Transport Association Live Animal Regulations, and the Guidelines for Transport and Preparation for Shipment for Live Wild Animals and Plants

THE WILDLIFE TRADE - Species

  • Biodiversity data: Country totals Floral species: around 6,400 Faunal species: around 2,300
  • Number of species traded (2000)
    • Mammals: 23 species
    • Birds: 23 species
    • Reptiles: 46 species
    • Amphibians: 15 species
    • Arthropods: 2 species
  • Trade routes
    • specimens are fist flown to the USA, Kennedy or Miami Airports, then to one of about 26 countries over the globe

THE WILDLIFE TRADE - Species

  • Volume traded (2000)
    • Mammals: 31.7 % of 4,396 specimens
    • Birds: 68.8% of 19,622 specimens
    • Reptiles: 51.7% of 122,475 specimens
    • Amphibians: 8.8% of 15,250 specimens
    • Arthropods: 32.5% of 4,000 specimens
  • Revenue (2000)
    • Potential earnings: around US $ 350,000
    • Actual earnings: US$245,361
    • Earning after administrative costs: US $ 204,119
  • Employment
  • The trade employs about 5% of the population of the country

SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES - Surveys

  • Scientific research in Guyana is focussed on conducting surveys, mainly to establish
    • population sizes, indices, and trends
    • taxonomic categories and their natural distributions (ranges)
    • consumption by local peoples, and in some cases, for export
  • Population surveys include the following:
    • parrots (Kratter, 1998)
    • crocodiles (Gorzula and Woolford, 1990)
    • mammals (Emgstrom and Lim, in press)
    • arapaima (Iwokrama, in press)
    • savanna deer (Iwokrama, in press)
    • crocodiles (EPA, Iwokrama and WWF, in progress)

SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES - Surveys cont’d

  • Taxonomic surveys including the following:
    • mammals (Emgstrom and Lim, in press), (Iwokrama, 1999), (Barnett, in press)
    • birds (Braun, Finch, Robbins and Schmidt, 2000)
    • frogs (Cole, in press), (Minter, in progress), (Arjoon, in progress)
    • spiders (Coddington, in press)
    • frogs and fish (Bourne, Bergquist, in press)
    • fish (Breden,Lindholm, Bergquist, in press) (Page, in press)
    • monkeys (Wright, in progress)
    • butterflies (Gillman, in progress), (Fratello, in progress), (Sharkey, in progress)

SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES - Surveys cont’d

    • primates (Breeze, in progress)
    • herps (Noonan, in progress)
    • lizards (Graham and Bourne, in progress)
    • bats (Wilson, in progress)
    • amphibians (Reynolds, in progress)
    • turtles (Pritchard, in progress)
  • The above studies document the taxonomic description of the species, sometimes new to science or the country, and their distributions.
  • Some of the studies are important in clarifying the ranges of species which occur at the borders of the neighboring countries and Guyana

SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES - Surveys cont’d

  • Surveys of local consumption of bush meat, and for export, have not received much attention
  • One survey being conducted presently by the EPA and Iwokrama, and funded by WWF and the GoG deserves special mention:
    • Title: Development of species management plans for wildlife trade in Guyana
    • Objective: Gather data necessary to develop management plans that include acceptable quotas for selected wildlife species in such a way that there is sustainable and equitable use of wildlife in Guyana
    • Method: Data on trapping would be gathered using the catch per unit effort methodology so as to monitor population trends and make prescriptions for management interventions

SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES - Surveys cont’d

    • Outputs: - Establishment of population trends - More precise knowledge of trapping areas by species (GIS database) - Scientific basis for setting export quotas - Tracking leakage (rate of mortality and illegal trade) in the chain of custody - Scientific basis for management and conservation interventions
    • The project is expected to be completed this year, and the mechanisms would be put in place to collect and analyse the data from the trappers, middlemen and exporters in the future, so that trends can be obtained.

SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES - Institutional Collaboration

  • Guyana has limited expertise in conducting the surveys and monitoring the wildlife resources, so there is much collaboration with other institutions including:
    • Smithsonian Institution
    • Royal Ontario Museum
    • Philadelphia Museum
    • St. Louis University, Missouri
    • World Wide Fund for Nature
    • Conservation International
    • Iwokrama
    • Guyana Forestry Commission
    • Guyana Marine Turtles Association

ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES

  • The main illegal activities in the wildlife trade in Guyana involve:
    • smuggling of live specimens across borders (Suriname, Brazil and Venezuela
    • intermixing of species in airline shipments
    • non-disclosure of shipments of derivatives
    • secreting narcotics in airline shipments
    • secreting small cage birds in apparels of airline travelers
    • non-disclosure of bush meat in overseas shipments

MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

  • Strategies which can be used to combat these illegal activities include:
    • developing reliable and up-to-date GIS databases on species distributions to clarify vagueness on border species
    • training of customs personnel in proper identification of species, and tagging systems
    • increasing enforcement along the borders and ports
    • using technologically-advanced tagging systems for both animals in the wild, and those destined for shipment
    • increasing public awareness so as to instill a sense of ownership and value of the wildlife resources of the country
  • It is apparent that only bullets 1 and 4 above would warrant more detailed scientific research to combat illegal trade of wild animals in Guyana.

CONCLUSION

  • Guyana is a small country but is a major exporter of wildlife in South America.
  • The revenues do not reflect the true importance of the trade as it supports about 5% of the population of the country.
  • There is strong administration and legislation of the trade.
  • Scientific research has only recently started in Guyana, much of it in collaboration with other institutions, and it is mainly focussed on surveys.
  • The main smuggling activities can be curbed by training and enforcement procedures, although some research can assist with border species and tagging system.