CAMBODIA: Government urges pressure to save lorises - 01/06/2007

Not much is known about lorises. They are small, nocturnal primates found only in South and Southeast Asia, but they're about to be put in the spotlight at the Hague in the Netherlands. Representatives from some 170 countries are meeting to ensure that trade in wild animals and plants don't threaten the survival of animals like lorises.

Presenter - Parthena Stavropoulos Speaker - Vincent Nijman, Zoological Museum in Amsterdam; Chris Shepherd, senior program officer with the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC in Malaysia

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STAVROPOULOS: Lorises live in tropical and subtropical rainforests and have low reproductive rates. They are often poached from the wild and traded as exotic pets, or killed for traditional medicines, and it is suspected their numbers are declining. Vincent Nijman from the Zoological Museum in Amsterdam:

NIJMAN: There was an assessment for their conservation status last year in Cambodia - of all Asian primates, not just slow lorises - and it was decided mainly on the basis of loss of habitat (not trade because not too much data on trade was available at that time), that all five species are threatened. Some are vulnerable, some are endangered, and that's only on the basis of habitat loss. If you add to that the information that's coming available on trade both nationally and internationally, they're not doing very well, so yes, they are threatened.

STAVROPOULOS: The lorises are currently listed on Appendix II of CITES, which means they can be traded only with a permit.
The Cambodian Government says the listing isn't strong enough, because it makes them vulnerable to commercial international trade. It wants them elevated to Appendix I, the most protected category under the Washington Treaty. But already its proposal is creating some controversy within environmental circles. Chris Shepherd is a senior program officer with the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC, based in Malaysia.

SHEPHERD: The biggest threat to the slow loris is the domestic trade. In some countries, for example Indonesia, there's quite a large domestic market for slow loris. You go to any bird markets and chances are you'll find them. Over the years we've seen hundreds of them for sale in the markets in Indonesia, and that's probably a very big threat to the conservation of these animals, but that is purely a domestic issue.

STAVROPOULOS: While the network supports moves to better protect the animal, Mr Shepherd says there's not enough evidence the international trade is a major threat to the species.

SHEPHERD: Obviously we want increased protection for the species. CITES only governs international trade, and international trade may not be the greatest threat to the species. Having said that though, there is a lack of information out there.

STAVROPOULOS: Mr Shepherd says the illegal trade is prevalent in Indonesia and Cambodia, and throughout Southeast Asia, but little is done to combat the crime.

SHEPHERD: In cities like Jakarta, Madan, Surabaya, in Indonesia, that have huge bird markets, and slow lorises are just one of many protected species that are illegally traded there, these are openly displayed, and that just points to a lack of effort to shut them down. In other countries, such as Cambodia, there's quite a large trade there for traditional medicines. But again this is a domestic issue and not an international issue and therefore falls under domestic legislation and not CITES.

STAVROPOULOS. But Cambodia is hoping recent incidents of the illegal trade will change that view. Only last week, 40 of the animals were detected by customs officials at Narita airport after being smuggled from Bangkok, the biggest single such seizure of its kind. Mr Nijman says the list of lorises being illegally traded to Europe and the US is also growing.

NIJMAN: We have a very, very long list of individuals that have been traded, so very regularly lorises are being confiscated in countries outside where they occur naturally, I think the list of animals that have been traded in the last few years, is quite long and quite impressive.

STAVROPOULOS: TRAFFIC says lorises are already protected by national legislation throughout their range, and therefore any existing trade is illegal. It says listing them on Appendix I won't change the situation, unless national enforcement efforts are increased. Cambodia needs two thirds of the vote at next week's convention for its proposal to pass.