“Say No to Wild Meat and Illegal Wood Products”

4kg of Muntjac were confiscated in February 2010. (Rihit Singh / WWF)

26 April 2010
Source: WWF

HELP STOP WILDLIFE CRIME !
I REPORT WILDLIFE CRIME, DO YOU?
HOTLINE NUMBER: 012 40 41 43

Sen Monorom – Mondulkiri province, 26 April: Today, H.E. Heng Samnang, Deputy Provincial Governor, announces an official order requiring all restaurants in Mondulkiri to stop serving wild meat and using illegal timber products. This announcement comes as part of the launch of the year-long campaign “Say No to Wild Meat and Illegal Wood Products” organized by the Forestry Administration, General Department of Administration for Nature Conservation and Protection and WWF. The aim is to educate and raise awareness of the residents of Sen Monorom, restaurant owners, who are also present at the event, and potential wild meat consumers about laws on forest crime (which include wildlife meat and timber trade).

Forest crime is often driven by consumers who want to eat wild meat and have luxury wood furniture. This demand leads to hunting and logging in protected areas and continues the trade in illegal goods.

“For a reduction in forest crime, not only the sellers but also the buyers need to say “No” to illegal wildlife and timber products. That is why this campaign is targeting the suppliers and reaching out to the demand side of wildlife market,” says Mr Seng Teak, WWF Country Director. “If someone buys wildlife and illegal timber products, they are supporting forest crime,” he adds.

Posters, t-shirts, stickers and signboard describing ‘say no to wild meat and illegal wood’, ‘we don’t serve wild meat’, and ‘help stop wildlife crime’ are used to get the message across to the audiences. Posters will be placed in high visibility public areas in Sen Monorom including restaurants, hotels, shops, market, schools, to draw attention from potential wild meat costumers, tourists and all other travellers.

In order to discourage restaurants in Sen Monorom from serving wild meat and customers from asking for it, a guideline for environmentally-friendly restaurants and hotels is developed by the Ministry of Tourism. The Ministry has the authority to inspect and provide restaurants and hotels with awarded certificates if they comply with the guideline. This helps reduce supply and demand for wildlife products.

“We need to remind tourists and residents that consuming wildlife products is not only illegal but also does irreversible harm to the environment because it encourages overexploitation of wildlife by illegal hunters and loggers,” says Mrs Amy Maling, acting Eastern Plains Project Manager with WWF.

In order to put pressure on the supply side of illegal wildlife and timber products, the campaign officially launch a provincial hotline number and encourage the public to report illegal wildlife activities. With the hotline number, reporting forest crimes to the authorities is a quick and easy way for the public to help stop the wildlife and timber trade.

“Recent successes in law enforcement have demonstrated a strong potential of how information from the public can help to interfere with the supply side of wildlife crime,” says Keo Sopheak, Forestry Administration Mondulkiri Protected Forest Manager. “In the end, more information on wildlife crimes will make for better and more effective enforcement.”

After the launching in Sen Monorom, the campaign will as part of the year-long programme continue in various villages around Mondulkiri Protected Forest and Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary. In coordination with Forestry Administration and Department of Environment, WWF personnel will stage the campaign in villages to inform people about the hotline number and how to use it. WWF’s project and communications unit have developed an educational role-play on the harmful effects and the illegality of wildlife crime. This play will be performed by local students from WWF’s Eco-clubs in villages throughout Mondulkiri to reach out to target communities living in and around protected areas.

Wildlife crime in all its forms poses serious threats to Cambodia’s biodiversity. Illegal hunting has probably already extirpated Cambodia’s national animal, the Kouprey, from the wild and puts pressure on all wildlife species, especially endangered species like Tiger and its prey species such as Sambar deer, Banteng, Eld’s deer, Guar and Munjac. Illegal logging is a more general threat to the integrity of entire forest ecosystems.