Pick-upau - Panorama Ambiental

From medicine to musical instruments and from fashion and beauty products to delicacies, wildlife items in trade must be properly regulated to ensure the continued survival of animals and plants in the wild. Unep/Photo

Wildlife trade regulation needed more than ever

This is the main message coming from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which celebrates its 35th anniversary on 1 July 2010. "While not a single one of some 34,000 CITES-listed species has become extinct as a result of international trade until now, growing pressures on biological resources make regulating global wildlife trade even more relevant today than it was in 1975 when countries brought this unprecedented global treaty into force", said CITES Secretary-General John Scanlon.

Migratory species such as turtles and whales are exceptionally vulnerable to climate change, according to preliminary findings from a forthcoming United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report;Climate Change Vulnerability of Migratory Species. Unep/Photo.

Climate change a threat to migratory species

These preliminary findings and the actions that need to be taken to avert disaster for migratory species will be discussed today in a series of talks at the launch of a new book by journalist, environmentalist and CMS ambassador Stanley Johnson and co-author Robert Vagg. Survival: Saving Endangered Migratory Species,, published by Stacey International, is an account of the status of the world's migratory species and the threats facing them.