Illegal Activities Threaten Mexican World Heritage Site Ewa Magiera - International Union for Conservation of Nature
go to original July 1, 2017

Update: World Heritage Committee Gives Mexico One Year to Improve Protections for Critically Endangered Vaquita or Face 'In Danger' Designation (Center for Biological Diversity)

Illegal fishing, logging and poaching are impacting two-thirds of the 57 natural World Heritage sites monitored by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) this year, putting some of the world’s most precious and unique ecosystems and species at risk.

Ahead of the 41st session of the World Heritage Committee, starting this Sunday in Kraków, Poland, IUCN recommends listing Mexico’s Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California on the List of World Heritage in Danger due to illegal gillnet fishing, which threatens the vaquita with imminent extinction. IUCN also raises concerns over continued impacts of illegal activities, including logging and poaching, on the unique biodiversity of Madagascar’s Rainforests of the Atsinanana and on Bialowieza Forest – one of Europe’s last remaining primeval forests located in Poland and Belarus.

“It is alarming that even our planet’s greatest natural treasures are under pressure from illegal activities,” says IUCN Director General Inger Andersen. “World Heritage sites are recognised as the planet’s most unique and valuable places, for nature and for people. If destroyed, they are lost forever.

“World Heritage status is designed to grant these places the highest level of protection, and we as the international community are responsible for the effectiveness of this protection. Only through strong international cooperation can we eliminate the illegal and unsustainable practices that are having such a devastating impact on these extraordinary places.”

Illegal wildlife trade is threatening the vaquita – the world’s smallest porpoise – with extinction. The Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California became a World Heritage site in 2005 due to its unique marine biodiversity. It hosts a third of the world’s cetacean species. The vaquita is a victim of by-catch from illegal fishing of a Critically Endangered fish the totoaba, whose swim bladder fetches high prices in Asian markets.

Despite Mexico’s extensive efforts to combat the illegal gillnet fishing, the vaquita’s survival remains at severe risk, with a crash in the population leaving only about 30 individuals in the wild. IUCN recommends placing the site on the List of World Heritage in Danger to mobilise urgent action to protect the site. It calls for a permanent ban on gillnets, as well as strengthened international cooperation to address threats to the site.

Help tell the world about the vaquita on July 8, 2017

Read the rest at IUCN

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