Serious Trade Concerns about Polar Bears Loom at Outset of COP 16
Safari Club International 03.04.13
Three years ago, the parties to CITES soundly rejected a U.S. proposal to up-list the polar bear to Appendix I at the 15th Conference of Parties (CoP15). The U.S. again is asking the parties to consider the up-listing, this time with support by Russia. The up-listing proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the first high-profile trade restriction dealing with a game species at the 2013 CoP 16 that began in Bangkok, Thailand on March 3.
Sustainable use and continued trade of polar bears was affirmed during the 2010 CoP15, and Safari Club International (SCI) and Safari Club International Foundation (SCI Foundation) are standing behind Canada, Norway, and Denmark (representing Greenland) to again reject the latest effort by the FWS to eliminate trade.
“The up-listing of polar bears to Appendix I is unwarranted. The science-driven decisions made at CITES a few years ago should be preserved. Up-listing should not be utilized for purposes of political gamesmanship,” said Joe Hosmer, President of the SCI Foundation. “The proposed up-listing by the FWS is based on suggestive prediction models, rather than actual research regarding trade of the species.”
Canada, Norway, Greenland are home to 98% of the world’s polar bear population, with more than 16,000 polar bears in Canada alone. Based on scientifically established quotas, unrelated to international trade, only 600 bears are harvested annually in Canada. Canada has extensive monitoring and conservation programs that protect the species, including through sustainable use by Inuit communities. Canada’s First Nations coexist with polar bears, harvest the bears for subsistence purposes, and value the bear’s conservation even more because of limited sport hunting by non-natives that brings much needed cash to the remote communities. This sustainable use has given them intimate knowledge of polar bear population dynamics and ecological needs. According to the scientific evidence, confirmed by local members of the communities, the polar bear has enjoyed a significant increase in the population over the past 40 years, not a decline as portrayed by some.
Despite these facts, special interest organizations like Humane Society International, International Fund for Animal Welfare, and Natural Resources Defense Council have preached the impending doom of the species. Worse, they claim that limited international trade of sustainably harvested polar bears is harming polar bear conservation. In fact, this trade benefits members of the local communities, who then support science-based conservation even more. As the annual hunting quotas are based on sustainability, and a trade ban will not decrease the number of bears harvested for subsistence purposes, an up-listing of the polar bear to Appendix I will provide no conservation benefit and will undermine the people who must co-exist with the bear on a daily basis.
Stay tuned in to SCI and SCI Foundation’s updates about the continuing trade negotiations that are occurring at the CITES 16th Conference of the Parties (CoP) in Bangkok, Thailand. Learn about the positions SCI and SCI Foundation have taken atwww.safariclubfoundation.org/cites or at the blog: http://firstforwildlife.wordpress.com.
Protecting hunters’ rights and promoting wildlife conservation, SCI’s two areas of focus, historically has been the interest of hundreds of individuals long before SCI was established. But how did SCI as an organization begin?
Forty years ago, there were many safari clubs across the country made up of local, unaffiliated groups of hunters. One such was Safari Club of Los Angeles, which was formed in April 1971 by forty-seven individuals. In early 1972, an out-of-towner from a similar club in Chicago attended one of the monthly Wednesday night meetings, and it was decided that the L.A. club should attempt to combine with the one in Chicago to make it an affiliated chapter. The founder of Safari Club of Los Angeles, C.J. McElroy, went to the Windy City and instituted the new chapter.
Eleven months after the formation of Safari Club of Los Angeles, on March 9, 1972, the name was changed officially to Safari Club International. SCI continued to reach out to other independent safari clubs throughout the United States in an effort to combine them into a single overall organization.
Today, interest in SCI’s two primary missions has grown a worldwide network. Subsequent involvement and promotion of these missions is rooted in each of our 55,000 members, supported through each of our 190 membership chapters found across the globe, and put into action by government representatives and personnel both nationally and internationally.
In this way, we can encourage an appreciation for nature and wildlife so that conservation efforts remain strong, while also fighting to protect our rich hunting heritage. Big changes can be achieved through the endeavors of many who are united in a mission – the mission of Safari Club International.
