World Wildlife Day 2014, Indonesia Has to Put a Stop to Wildlife Trade
Wildlife, either flora or fauna, has grabbed the world's attention especially the United Nations, who just declared that every year the 3rd of March would be celebrated as the World Wildlife Day. ProFauna gladly welcomes this decision because wildlife issue must be a global concern, not limited to certain group of people.
ProFauna Indonesia celebrates the special occasion for the wildlife of the world by giving education for the youngsters about laws and regulations ensuring the right and responsibility of the public to participate in wildlife protection. ProFauna believes that wildlife conservation efforts would never get the maximum result unless the public is involved. ProFauna's chairman, Rosek Nursahid, said "In the past 20 years, ProFauna has developed a wildlife conservation scheme that involves active participation of the general public, because the government alone would never get the best result."
Talking about wildlife, Indonesia plays a vital role compared to most of the other countries in the world, because of the invaluable biodiversity. It is estimated that 300,000 species, or 17%, of the world's fauna can be found in Indonesia even though the country only occupies 1.3% of the world. Indonesia tops the world in the number of mammals species (515 species), and is home to more than 1539 birds species. 45% of the world's fish species can be found in the waters of this country.
Indonesia is inhabited by endemic faunas, which cannot be found elsewhere. According to the data of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), Indonesia has 259 endemic mammals, 384 endemic birds, and 173 endemic amphibians species.
Sadly, Indonesian wildlife is currently threatened with extinction due to habitat loss and illegal trade. The IUCN 2013 Red List reported that 82 wildlife species of Indonesia are in peril; they are in the CR (Critically Endangered), EN (Endangered), or VU (Vulnerable) categories. As for the flora, at least 404 species are threatened.
The World Wildlife Day moment is expected to be motivating the Indonesian government to take serious actions to curb illegal wildlife trade, especially the online trade. ProFauna notices that in Kaskus online forum, there were more than 220 ads selling protected wildlife species and body parts in January 2014 only. 22 endangered species were on the ads such as the Hawksbill Sea Turtle, Elephant ivory, Slow Loris, Javan Hawk-eagle, Tiger skin, Birds of Paradise, Flat-headed Cat, Surili, Palm Cockatoo, and Pangolins. "Illegal wildlife trade is a serious threat for the future of Indonesian wildlife," Rosek concluded.