EIA campaigners participated in an important meeting of the Standing Committee of the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Geneva and addressed a range of issues involving wildlife and timber trade
Although the commercial hunting of large whales was banned in 1986, Japan, Norway and Iceland continue to exploit loopholes to kill whales and trade whale products while continuing their efforts to undermine and ultimately overturn the ban. Recent years have seen a worrying rise in international trade in whale products.
With the Paris Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (CoP21) around the corner, it is important to remind ourselves that climate change is the greatest threat facing this and future generations. Doing nothing is not an option and CoP21 is an opportunity to take urgent action.
The EIA team which launched the new Forest Campaign report Organised Chaos: The illicit overland timber trade between Myanmar and China in Beijing met in Yangon, Myanmar with civil society groups, media, activists and representatives of international institutions such as the EU and DFID
The report 'Organised Chaos' and its accompanying film expose the scale, methods and key named actors who organise the growing illegal timber trade into China that is wreaking chaos in the forests of Myanmar.
As our environment faces mounting human pressures, it is vital that we speak out to protect the last of our wilderness to restore the damage done. It will be no small challenge for Europe to meet its target of halting the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services by 2020.