UN calls for clampdown on illegal wildlife trade
By TODD PITMANBy TODD PITMAN, Associated Press?
?Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova of Canada, center, wearing Wonder Woman costume poses with Thai children in elephant and tiger costumes on the occasion of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, in Bangkok, Thailand Sunday, March 3, 2013. How to slow the slaughter and curb the trade in "blood ivory" will be among the most critical issues up for debate at the 177-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, that gets under way Sunday in Bangkok. And the meeting's host, Thailand, will be under particular pressure to take action. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova of Canada, center, wearing Wonder Woman costume poses with Thai children in elephant and tiger costumes on the occasion of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, in Bangkok, Thailand Sunday, March 3, 2013. How to slow the slaughter and curb the trade in "blood ivory" will be among the most critical issues up for debate at the 177-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, that gets under way Sunday in Bangkok. And the meeting's host, Thailand, will be under particular pressure to take action. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Thai activists hold posters urging people to stop the trading of tigers during the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, in Bangkok Sunday, March 3, 2013. How to slow the slaughter and curb the trade in "blood ivory" will be among the most critical issues up for debate at the 177-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, that gets under way Sunday in Bangkok. And the meeting's host, Thailand, will be under particular pressure to take action. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova of Canada, wearing Wonder Woman costume poses with Thai children during Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, in Bangkok, Thailand Sunday, March 3, 2013. How to slow the slaughter and curb the trade in "blood ivory" will be among the most critical issues up for debate at the 177-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, that gets under way Sunday in Bangkok. And the meeting's host, Thailand, will be under particular pressure to take action. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Thai activists hold signs against illegal wildlife trade during the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, in Bangkok Sunday, March. 3, 2013. How to slow the slaughter and curb the trade in "blood ivory" will be among the most critical issues up for debate at the 177-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, that gets under way Sunday in Bangkok. And the meeting's host, Thailand, will be under particular pressure to take action.(AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
BANGKOK (AP) ? The head of the United Nations environment agency is calling on the international community to clamp down hard on the world's illegal wildlife trade, calling it a lucrative criminal business that is threatening to wipe out some of the planet's most iconic species.
Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, made the call Sunday during the opening meeting of the 178-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, in Bangkok.
Steiner says the recent, massive upsurge in poaching of endangered African elephants and rhinos should be "a wake-up call for all of us."
Steiner says the illicit trade in protected wildlife species is a billion-dollar business that is comparable to that of illegal narcotics and arms.
Associated Press
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