Rhino populations are being hammered by poachers, pushing the species ever-closer to extinction to satisfy demand for rhino horn in Vietnam and elsewhere – yet despite 668 rhinos being slaughtered by poachers across South Africa in 2012, there are indications it is contemplating pushing for a legal trade in rhino horn
These are just the tip of the iceberg in what’s been a highly productive and busy year for EIA, one in which we also played a key role in achieving a groundbreaking agreement on timber trade between the European Union and Indonesia, and kept tabs on supermarket promises to get rid of greenhouse gases in their fridges
Iceland is the only country to actually expand commercial whaling in recent years, killing 273 endangered fin whales in 2009-10. More than 1,200 tonnes of fin whale meat and blubber, worth an estimated $17 million, has been shipped to Japan since 2008. Several thousand tonnes remain in Iceland, awaiting shipment