Muestreo Del Tráfico De Especies En La Argentina Durante El Año 2016.

By Claudio Bertonatti

Book Id: WPLBN0098714374
Format Type: PDF eBook:
File Size: 541 KB
Reproduction Date: 2017-01-28

Title:	Muestreo Del Tráfico De Especies En La Argentina Durante El Año 2016.
Author:	Claudio Bertonatti
Volume:
Language:	Spanish
Subject:	Tráfico De Fauna Y Flora. Illegal Wildlife Trade. Argentina., Oficial, Argentina
Collections:	American Libraries Collection
Historic Publication Date:	2017
Publisher:


Citation APA MLA Chicago Bertonatti, B. C. (2017). Muestreo Del Tráfico De Especies En La Argentina Durante El Año 2016.. Retrieved from http://gutenberg.cc/

Description
Description: La Fundación de Historia Natural Félix de Azara presenta los resultados de un muestreo del tráfico de fauna y flora silvestres en la Argentina a lo largo del año 2016, realizado por Claudio Bertonatti. En 2016, 38 operativos en 16 jurisdicciones (la ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires y 15 Provincias) involucraron a más de 7.500 animales silvestres y de 8.000 plantas (vivos y muertos), sin computar las carnes y maderas cuantificadas en unidades de peso. Aunque este muestreo es mínimo expone casos, volúmenes y especies afectadas que permiten advertir su magnitud y la necesidad de que sea atendido por las distintas autoridades provinciales y del Estado Nacional de la Argentina. A sampling of the traffic of species in Argentina during the year 2016 By Claudio Bertonatti, Adviser, Félix de Azara Natural History FoundationHistorically Argentina is a country with a leading role - local and international - in the illegal trade in wildlife species. However, their qualitative and quantitative knowledge is precarious and fragmentary. It seems a chronic state policy to maintain weakness in the controls, to omit the investigation of the illegal ones, to leave them unpunished, to waste the information generated by the operatives and to avoid the elaboration of statistics. Control efforts are based more on the personal commitment of a few officials (who usually perform in adverse conditions, if not, ad honorem) than by a political decision to combat organized crime in this area. In fact, if one compares this with other organized crimes the diagnosis will not be so different.Given this scenario, it has been decided to present an updated minimum knowledge base on illegal trade in fauna and flora in Argentina. For this we opted for a simple method and easy to verify and replicate. Information obtained through Internet news searches was collected using (www..com.ar) and using as key words those that allowed to arrive at portals with data on control operations carried out -exclusively- (For example: operation, control, seizure, seizure, seizure, trafficking and illegal trade associated with the words that identify the different items: live animals, birds, hides, hides, logs, woods, cacti, orchids, butterflies, etc.). In the search results, only those that applied to the illegal trade circuit during 2016 were selected, leaving aside also the cases of illegal hunting, fishing or logging carried out at subsistence or individual consumption levels. Although it was thorough, surely this search is incomplete. In addition, not all news about these operations are held online and frequently in their replacement figure: Sorry, the requested URL was not found on this server.It is important to emphasize that the results obtained represent a minimum knowledge base. However, it is sufficient to exemplify a part of the illegal trade in species that suffer from Argentine nature and honest citizenship (remember that wild animals and plants whose populations are plundered constitute part of the nation's natural heritage). It is considered a minimum knowledge base because the set of operations carried out throughout the country are not gathered in a database and exceptionally take public status.It will be noticed that some procedures become news only when they may be of interest to the audience of each medium or when the media are in need of news. In this sense, it is presumed that there is a good representation of the illicit ones that affect the live animals, since these arouse compassion and touch the public sensitivity, but there is a clear underestimation of other items that do not generate as much empathy although their impact can be Equal or higher (such as hardwoods, ornamental plants, wild mammalian meat, live fish, etc.). The way in which this news is identified and presented should be the subject of another analysis. In any case, it is easy to point out that they basically respond to the same structure, characterized by incomplete (if not imprecise) data and a profile similar to that of police cases, where the analysis or examination of the seriousness of this trade is Almost absent. We must remember that the illegal trade in species not only violates the laws of fauna and flora, but also endangered populations of endemic, threatened, rare species and others that even if they are out of danger they diminish the possibilities of being exploited with rationality and sustainability. It discredits the country, eludes taxes, generates distrust and disbelief towards governmental authorities, risking the safety of the few inspectors or guardians who add control incorruptible, exposes the low importance and poor resources (human and budgetary) that the highest authorities of Application of environmental standards give the problem and the exceptional judicial resolution of the cases. All this leads to precarious knowledge, anecdotal results and eloquent impunity. The results of the samplingThe search conducted on the Internet revealed the results of 38 operations in 16 jurisdictions: the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and 15 Provinces (Buenos Aires, Chaco, Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Formosa, Jujuy, La Pampa, Mendoza, Misiones, Neuquén, Río Negro, Salta, San Luis and Santa Fe). See Annex 1. Despite its simplicity and flaws, this sampling hints at the geography of the problem, showing its territorial breadth, its diversity in items, the seasonality of the activity of some and the magnitude of the cargoes, some of which are eloquent. It also reflects the profile of species that suffer from the greatest pressure of capture, hunting, fishing, logging and trade. Among live animals, for example, birds and within these passerines (of plumage showy and / or melodious songs, such as common and yellow cardinals, parrots and parrots). Among fish, surubíes and dorados are sequestered with recurrence, while among the flora, living plants of ornamental value (such as cactaceae) and good wood (such as carob and redbreaks). On the other hand, this sampling leaves questions about information gaps.During the year 2016 the 38 operatives that took public status involved more than 7,500 wild animals and 8,000 plants (alive and dead), without computing the meats and woods quantified in units of weight. That is, it takes a conservative number in the extreme, but that does not stop drawing attention. Table 1 graphs the volume of the different items.Some conclusions and reflectionsThe lack of statistics is one of the problems that potentiate the threat of organized crime dedicated to illegal trade in species. The attention of official auditors should be strongly drawn to the fact that the managers of the fauna and flora resource do not even count the infraction records made by the control personnel in their charge. A simple summation of them would reflect valuable information for each province or jurisdiction. If the National Wildlife and Biodiversity Directorate, in turn, integrated all of them into a single database, there would be greater clarity about the items and their volume, the zones and months of greater activity, and other variables that would allow controlling and even Eradicate illicit activities. This task does not require a great investment, but a great commitment.The sample of 7,500 animals (alive and dead) involved in illegal trade for a single year (2016) is five times greater than the total of the free and captive population (approximately 1,500) within the Ecoparque of Buenos Aires Aires). This comparison is made to invite to reflect on the public concern about environmental issues that seem to capture the main attention and that could therefore appear to be priorities, when in fact this has more to do with the closeness and the public knowledge about certain problems Which with a real prioritization of them. To a large extent, this is due to the prioritization of the communication of the news that emotionally mobilizes audiences, blurring the causes that generate the most dangerous threats and that define the future of biodiversity:- The precarious social values guided towards the common good, solidarity, austerity, adherence to the law, justice and compassion for nature and cultural heritage.- Increased demographic pressure and the consequent increasing demand for resources.- The lack of a vision and a state policy that plans sustainable and sustainable development.- The powerful inertia to exploit illegally or unsustainably natural resources. Those are the ones that generate these problems: Ø Uncontrolled or illegal deforestation.Ø Unplanned expansion of urban and agricultural borders.Ø Agricultural techniques of high environmental impact.Ø Poaching and fishing furtive or uncontrolledØ Illegal trafficking in species.Ø Consumerism and pollution.Ø Biological invasions.Ø Poorly evaluated or compensated impacts of major infrastructure works.Ø Deficient and non-compliant regulatory framework; impunity.Ø Insufficient protected and weakly instrumented areas.Ø Education and communication with inappropriate or obsolete objectives, imprecise approaches and unsteady efforts. These problems, of course, have consequences: the reduction and fragmentation of the surface of wild ecosystems, the diminution or extinction of populations of flora and fauna, the deterioration or loss of ecosystem goods and services (quantity and quality), And an increase in poverty, marginalization and underdevelopment (social, economic, moral, environmental).In this context, illegal trade in species is inserted, which is not the most serious problem or the cause of all environmental ills, but its pressure is constant and it is concentrated in the most threatened or economically important species. Unlike others, it is typologically structured as organized crime. That is, it operates with members from two or more countries, committing premeditated crimes, violating the protection of natural reserves and, often, fueling corruption.As mentioned above, within each category there are species with more recurrent pressure. These are the ones that have the most interest and commercial value. More than value, price. And a price stipulated arbitrarily by the black market that dictates its rules of game, based on supply and demand, the rarity of the species and the possibility of obtaining copies. As a rule, the more scarce a species is, the more it is quoted. The more they pay for it, the pressure increases and their populations deteriorate rapidly. It is no coincidence that the country has left a trend of species that in the past were of enormous economic importance and today hardly survive in protected natural areas, increasing the list of threatened species. Among them are the best wood trees, the great parrots among live animals, large whales hunted for their oil, almost all the spotted felines that supplied the fur industry, some species of esteemed good in leather goods.In this context, illegal trade in species is inserted, which is not the most serious problem or the cause of all environmental ills, but its pressure is constant and it is concentrated in the most threatened or economically important species. Unlike others, it is typologically structured as organized crime. That is, it operates with members from two or more countries, committing premeditated crimes, violating the protection of natural reserves and, often, fueling corruption. As mentioned above, within each category there are species with more recurrent pressure. These are the ones that have the most interest and commercial value. More than value, price. And a price stipulated arbitrarily by the black market that dictates its rules of game, based on supply and demand, the rarity of the species and the possibility of obtaining copies. As a rule, the more scarce a species is, the more it is quoted. The more they pay for it, the pressure increases and their populations deteriorate rapidly. It is no coincidence that the country has left a trend of species that in the past were of enormous economic importance and today hardly survive in protected natural areas, increasing the list of threatened species. Among them are the best wood trees, the great parrots among live animals, large whales hunted for their oil, almost all the spotted felines that supplied the fur industry, some species of esteemed good in leather goods.This trade is intense, dynamic and although there are traditional items that are sustained over time, there are others that arise at the pulse of opportunism. For example, there is currently a black market for wild animal meat in Misiones that falls even within protected natural areas. This, to clandestinely supply a gastronomic circuit in Brazil that offers meat of animals of the mount (Di Nicola, 2015). This explains the persecution of bales (Cuniculus paca) mainly and, to a lesser extent, of corzuelas (Mazama americana, M. gouazoubira and M. nana) and peccaries (Tayassu tajacu and T. pecari).The criminal modalities are also dynamic. As early as 2015, the Argentine Network Against Illegal Trafficking in Wild Species (RACTES) denounced the illegal supply through social networks (Títiro, 2015). For its part, the Azara Foundation did the same in 2016 and 2017 before the National Directorate of Wildlife and Biodiversity. In the early days of 2017, for example, Azara Foundation reported more than a hundred profiles and more than 60 groups on Facebook that offer live (prohibited) species of birds, as well as elements for illegal capture in different Localities of the country. It is disconcerting that in times when there are more tools to obtain information government authorities are stranded in the knowledge of this trade. Practically they do not elaborate reports, let alone strategies or action plans as they have many other countries. The case law is shameful. The commitments made to the CITES Convention contrast with the scarce operations and the few penalties. Live animals of threatened species from elsewhere should be repatriated and a case has not been reported for decades. Most of the live wildlife seized is dead in the short or medium term. There is no single wildlife rescue center run by the National State. Therefore, other institutions (often private) are urged to take on a responsibility that is beyond their control, increasing their operating costs to save, rehabilitate, and, exceptionally, free the wild animals seized. This is done by, for example, the Temaikén Foundation, the Güira Oga Center and the Delta Terra Protected Landscape (the latter two, administered by the Azara Foundation).This diagnosis needs multiple treatment. On the one hand, a job in tweezers that discourages demand and attacks the clandestine supply. It is required to train members of the federal justice system and those of the security forces about the rules that regulate this trade and the consequences of its non-compliance. It is imperative that the Ministries of Environment and Sustainable Development, Security and Justice articulate and coordinate efforts. Among other reasons to include this crime in the agenda of investigations of complex crimes. For this, it will be inescapable to create a database containing the data of all the procedures performed by the different organisms. Only then will it be possible to have greater clarity on the modus operandi, the protagonists and the implications of this organized crime, and exercise the control that has not been observed for so many decades.References - Di Nicola, G. (2015). Park rangers: in Misiones they will use weapons to fight hunters. Journal La Nación (12/4/2015). In http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1783691-guardaparques-en-misiones-usaran-armas-para-combatir-a-cazadores- Títiro, M. 2015. They denounce the sale of wild birds by social networks. Diario Los Andes (Mendoza, 10/26/2015). In: http://www.losandes.com.ar/article/denuncian-venta-de-aves-silvestres-porredos-socialesThanksMy gratitude to Wanda Fernández for her collaboration in the search for information. To the Azara Foundation volunteer group (particularly Jimena Grisolia) for monitoring and reporting illegal trade from social networks. Also to its president, Adrián Giacchino, for the efforts made before the governmental authorities. Finally, to the members of the Argentine Network Against Illegal Trafficking in Wild Species (RACTES), the Cullunche Foundation and the Illegal Trafficking in Wildlife Program of Aves Argentinas for their various actions to counteract the negative effects of this trade.NOTE: The Azara Foundation receives reports on illegal species offerings and then reports the cases to the competent authorities. To do this, write to: denunciasfauna@fundacionazara.org.arSuggested citation: Bertonatti, C. 2017. A sampling of the traffic of species in Argentina during the year 2016. Foundation of Natural History Félix de Azara, 13 pp. Buenos Aires, January 2017.Buenos Aires, enero 2017.