Maldives Illegal Wildlife Trade
The Maldives archipelago has fast become one of the world’s best tourist destinations in the world. Underlying this famed tourism industry, the country is dealing with some serious environmental pressures that threaten the country’s unique natural environment. Something typically brushed under the carpet is the illegal wildlife trade at tourist shops across the capital, Malé, which sells some of the world’s most endangered species. Nearly all of the species for sale in the shops are illegal to sell under Maldivian law, as well as to export under the country’s membership in CITES.
The latest (18th) Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES CoP18) in August 2019, of which Maldives has been a member Party since 2012, has done little to combat this. Andy Ball, who visited the Maldives, shared his haunting photography and highlighted the need for better enforcement of the environmental laws in the island nation, implemented on paper but, for the most part, not in action.
To read the full story, click the link.
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Photo from Andy Ball.
