Directive to Ban Trade and Consumption of Wildlife

The global Covid-19 pandemic has been linked to human contact with wildlife, prompting ENV to join 13 other nonprofits in Vietnam in an open letter to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc urging for an immediate response to the wildlife trade.

On March 6th, an official response was released stating that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Information and Communication and other relevant agencies are working together to draft a directive to ban trade and consumption of wildlife as soon as possible. 

This international news story created the opportunity for ENV to talk to The Guardian about the new directive. The article explains legislative complications for wildlife in Vietnam and how ENV will utilize the current momentum to work with Vietnamese lawmakers to ensure the new directive effectively ends the wildlife trade.

Marine turtle enforcement statistics report 2010- Sept 30, 2019

MRT enforcement report 2010-2019 Oct 17 2019

Summary of Tiger Trade Investigation Finding Vietnam 2010

In 2009, Education for Nature – Vietnam (ENV) initiated a 12 month investigation in Vietnam aimed at examining links between tiger farming and illegal trade. In addition, we sought to develop a better understanding of the illegal trade networks and the key individuals who are responsible for the bulk of the illegal tiger trade in Vietnam.

During the investigation, ENV worked closely with key partners in the National Environmental Police, provincial police agencies and Forest Protection Departments, as well as independent investigators.

This interim briefing is intended to highlight some of the key findings of the investigation to date. Later in 2010, a comprehensive, confidential report will be produced for law enforcement agencies and key government representatives detailing the findings thus far.

Tiger_trade_ summary_2010

Pangolin Trade Synopsis June 2011

There are two species of pangolin native to Vietnam, the Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) and the Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica). The Chinese pangolin inhabits the northern regions of the country, whereas the Sunda pangolin is found in the south. Both of these species are listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List, with wild populations suspected of undergoing sharp declines due to hunting and trade.

A brief analysis of the pangolin trade was conducted by ENV in 2011 reviewing cases documented on ENV’s Wildlife Crime Database over the past six years (since January 2005). The purpose of the analysis was to assess the volume of pangolin trade as documented by ENV over this period, and provide reliable information on the average weight of a pangolin in trade so that quantities of animals could be more accurately determined from gross-weight seizures.

Pangolin_trade_summary_Sept_29_2011

Summary of tiger seizures 2006-2013

The following summary of tiger seizures for the period January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2013 was compiled by Education for Nature – Vietnam (ENV), in order to ensure that accurate data for Vietnam is made available for use in addressing tiger trade enforcement issues regionally.

ENV_Summary_of_Tiger_seizures_2006_2013

CAGED ASSETS: TIGER FARMING AND TRADE (July 2014)

The following analysis is based upon records available to the SSN Big Cat Working Group and ENV which indicate that since the start of 2000, at least 5,786 Asian big cats have been identified in trade globally, of which 22 percent (1,247) were tigers from both wild and captive sources. It is likely that these totals are much higher, for example a new report suggests that as many as 1,590 tigers have been traded since 2000.

CAGED ASSETS: TIGER FARMING AND TRADE (July 2014)

An analysis of Wildlife farming in Vietnam

Commercial wildlife farming is the practice of raising and breeding wildlife species in captivity with the goal of
harvesting animals or animal products for commercial profit (WCS, 2008). There exists a distinction between
farming animals for commercial purposes and breeding wild animals for conservation purposes. 

This report only focuses on commercial wildlife farming. Throughout the report, the terms ‘commercial wildlife farming’
and ‘wildlife farming’ refer to the practice of raising a wildlife species (capable of breeding in captivity) for commercial
profit, and are used interchangeably.

For download and reading more, click below:

Farming Report (Oct 23, 2017)

WCB 2020 – ISSUE 1

Wildlife Crime Bulletin 2020– Issue 1

For download and reading more, click below:

WCB No.1 2020 (Mar. 16, 2020)

PSA – Make bear bile extraction a nightmare of the past

ENV urges Vietnam’s Prime Minister to take action against wildlife trade amid nCoV outbreak

On February 16th 2020, ENV joined 13 other wildlife organizations in Vietnam in an open letter to Vietnam’s Prime Minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, urging for immediate and serious improvements to wildlife conservation laws. As the Coronavirus continues to spread worldwide and within Vietnam’s borders, it is imperative that Vietnam’s government take action to end the trade and consumption of wildlife. The recent outbreak has already had devastating effects on health and the economy in Vietnam.

His Excellency Nguyen Xuan Phuc,
Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

We, the representatives of Vietnamese and international non-profit organizations working in nature and wildlife conservation, would like to bring to your attention one significant issue that we believe has the utmost importance in relation to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) and reducing threats from further outbreaks.

As you are aware, the Covid-19 outbreak, has caused considerable concern to Vietnamese citizens in regards to their health and considerable costs to the Vietnamese economy and public health to control this emerging threat. As with the outbreak of SARS in 2002, which claimed 5 Vietnamese lives, this novel coronavirus is thought to have been transmitted to humans from wildlife as a result of close contact in a seafood market in Wuhan, China where illegal wildlife also was being sold. Peer-reviewed scientific publications have now demonstrated that the virus came originally from bats and has been passed via an intermediate wildlife host to humans. The species that acted as an intermediate host has not yet been identified for certain, although one research group in China has suggested it may be pangolins. Irrespective, it appears clear that transmission has occurred via close contact between humans and wildlife as part of ongoing illegal wildlife trade.

Looking back at recent history, several pandemics in the last twenty years showed clear links with virus reservoirs in wildlife populations. The SARS outbreak in 2002, which infected more than 8,000 people and resulted in 774 deaths in 37 countries, came from a novel betacoronavirus sourced from bats through masked palm civets as the intermediate host before reaching humans. The Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreak in 2012, which infected 2,494 and cost 858 human lives, also came from another coronavirus passing though dromedary camels to humans1. The very recent bout of African Swine Fever (ASF) sweeping through China, Vietnam and nine other countries, has caused severe economic losses and is attributed to wild African suids2. By the end of 2019, all 63 provinces in Vietnam were affected by ASF with over five million pigs euthanized.

The ongoing Covid-19 outbreak will also certainly cause significant damage to Vietnam. An initial assessment by the Ministry of Investment and Planning showed that Vietnam’s GDP target will be 0.53% lower than expected if the outbreak is controlled within the first quarter of 2020 or 0.71% lower if the outbreak is controlled in the second quarter3. So far, the airline sector of Vietnam has been hard hit with about 10,000 billion Vietnam Dong lost due to flight cancelations during the outbreak4.

The lesson from SARS and now Covid-19 are clear: new viruses will continue to move from wildlife to people while illegal wildlife trade and wildlife consumption continue. Research conducted in Vietnam and beyond has demonstrated that corona viruses exist in wildlife populations and the illegal wildlife trade provides opportunities for these viruses to jump from wildlife to people. Despite efforts to reform wildlife protection policy and increase enforcement, illegal wildlife trade and consumption in Vietnam is still problematic. In addition, in recent years, there are growing flows of illegal wildlife products from international markets going to and through Vietnam.

Limiting interaction between wildlife and humans through strong enforcement against illegal wildlife trade and wildlife markets is the most effective approach to mitigating future risk associated with transmission of disease between animals and humans. As the source of this particular outbreak, China has already made some major steps to mitigate future risk in relation to zoonotic disease outbreaks from contact between wildlife and humans by temporarily closing all wildlife markets. This is in recognition of the serious threat faced.

1 Genomic characterisation and epidemiology of 2019 novel coronavirus: implications for virus origins and receptor binding. Lu, Roujian et al. The Lancet, 2020. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30251-8
2 African Swine Fever. UN Food and Agriculture Organization, 2020. http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/programmes/en/empres/ASF/index.html
3 Dịch virus corona tác động thế nào đến kinh tế Việt Nam? Source: https://news.zing.vn/dich-virus-corona-tac-dong-the-nao-den-kinh-te-viet-nam-post1043954.html
4 Hàng không Việt Nam thiệt hại lớn trước “cơn bão” nCoV. Souce: http://baochinhphu.vn/Kinh-te/Hang-khong-Viet-Nam-thiet-hai-lon-truoc-con-bao-nCoV/387320.vgp

In order to ensure national safety, economic security and the health of the public and Vietnam’s precious ecosystems, we request the Vietnamese government to take strong and sustainable actions to halt all illegal wildlife trade and consumption in Vietnam. This will require action to:

• Identify and close markets and other locations illegal wildlife is on sale. These establishments explicitly violate many existing laws of Vietnam.
• Identify restaurants illegally selling wild meat and enforce bans;
• Have compulsory requirements for all e-commerce platforms, social media, and online newspapers to sensor and remove all transactions and advertising of illegal wildlife products;
• Develop more stringent regulations to address risks relating to raising wildlife in captivity for trade and consumption;
• Reform judicial procedures to ensure effective punishment of wildlife crimes to act as a significant disincentive;
• Intensify awareness raising activities to inform the Vietnamese people of the risks of wildlife consumption to public security and to individual health; and
• Ensure cross ministerial collaboration to enact the above points.

We note that the Vietnam Administration of Forestry (VNFOREST) has sent a directive to provincial authorities on controlling wildlife trade to prevent spread of coronaviruses on 6th Feb 2020, following the directive of the Prime Minister on preventing and combating the nCoV disease on 28th January 2020. While we support this effort of VNFOREST, it’s recommended that the government should take more concrete actions to eliminate reservoirs of future virus outbreaks as detailed above.

In addition to the public safety and economic rationale for such controls, these actions will help demonstrate Vietnam is a regional leader on the issue of combating illegal wildlife trade and biodiversity conservation.
We the undersigned stand ready to support the development and implementation of initiatives to reduce this threat to society.

Participating organizations
(signed)
Benjamin Rawson
Conservation Director, WWF-Vietnam

Ha Thang Long
Chairman, GreenViet

Hoang Bich Thuy
Program Director, WCS Vietnam

Josh Kempinski
Country Director, FFI Vietnam

Nguyen Phuong Dung
Director, Education for Nature – Vietnam

Nguyen Van Thai
Director, Save Vietnam Wildlife

Nguyen Vu Khoi
Executive Director, Wildlife at Risk

Sarah Ferguson
Director, TRAFFIC Vietnam

Tuan Bendixsen
Vietnam Director, Animals Asia Foundation

Trinh Le Nguyen
Executive Director, PanNature

Endorsed by:
1. Center for Hands-on Actions and Networking for Growth and Environment (Change)
2. Free the Bears
3. Humane Society International- Vietnam
4. Center for Nature Conservation and Development (CCD)