2002年3月25-28日，由公约动物委员会主持召开淡水龟鳖的保护和贸易研讨会在我国昆明举行。 会议就亚洲淡水龟鳖的资源、贸易、保护、及人工繁殖等情况进行了讨论，并形成了报告。  （作者：国家濒科委  解焱）

Technical workshop on conservation of and trade in freshwater turtles and tortoises

Kunming, Yunnan Province, China, 25-28 March 2002

With financial support from the Government of Germany, the US Fish & Wildlife Service of the United States of America, the Government of Netherlands, Chelonian Research Foundation, the Van Tienhoven Stichting, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Herpetologie und Terrarienkunde, WWF-US/TRAFFIC North America and Conservation Treaty Support Fund, sufficient funds could be secured to organise the technical workshop on conservation of and trade in freshwater turtles and tortoises in Kunming, China, from 25 to 28 March 2002.

The Chairman of the Animals Committee, the Animals Committee representatives from North America, Asia, Africa and Europe, representatives from Cambodia, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Singapore, the United States of America and Viet Nam, and from Non Governmental Organisations (TRAFFIC, Conservation International, Kadoorie Farm and Botanical Garden, IUCN/SSC), and the CITES Secretariat participated in the workshop.

The objectives of the workshop were the following:

to establish conservation priorities and actions to achieve sustainable trade in freshwater turtles and tortoises in Asia;

to consider specific actions to follow up on and to implement recommendations elaborated at the workshop on trade in terrestrial and freshwater turtles and tortoises in Asia (Cambodia, December 1999), particularly those related to regulation and management of trade in CITES-listed species, the future role of CITES, trade monitoring and controls, national legislation and regulations, captive breeding and ranching, conservation management and research priorities, enforcement and capacity building;

to formulate findings and recommendations at the workshop for reporting to the Animals Committee before the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties.

During the workshop, general overviews on the trade and conservation status of freshwater turtles and tortoises in Asia, national and regional reports, and contributions from NGO’s were presented. Working groups on enforcement and trade controls; conservation management and CITES implementation; and capacity building needs and activities were tasked with formulating specific actions and conservation priorities.

1. Findings and recommendations of the working group on trade controls and enforcement

Legislation: Most countries are in the process of improving the legislation and addressing gaps. Countries should continue working to reach Category 1 status and thereafter continue to strengthen the legislation. Legislation also should have flexibility where needed. Use list of identified gaps to determine whether other gaps exist in legislation and address those gaps. Institutional clarification and coordination should focus inter alia on the role of fisheries departments and the need to have power to deal with unprotected species, nationally protected species and CITES species. The respective roles of sectoral agencies as well as local, provincial and central authorities should be clear, consistent and complementary.

Enhanced enforcement: The Regional Representative to the Standing Committee (for this region, China) should keep an updated list of national contact persons which would supplement the CITES Directory. This should be distributed regularly to CITES authorities, including enforcement authorities, in the region. Encourage the provision of intelligence information by regular informants, traders, NGOs, the public and others by the use of web sites, a hotline, brochures in post offices, airports/airlines and ports, training and the payment of rewards for information that leads to convictions. The Secretariat should continue to provide intelligence information. Arrange wider distribution of identification information, especially simple guides in local languages for field use, through additional hard copies for enforcement officers, CD-ROMs and a special web site for identification guidance.

Confiscation and disposal: Countries should be very cautious in returning confiscated species to the wild (because of potential for disease, return to inappropriate habitat and disruption of existing wild population) and follow Resolution Conf. 10.7 as well as the IUCN guidelines for reintroduction. New protocols being developed by IUCN also should be useful in the future. Many countries expressed interest in the identification or establishment of regional rescue centres, perhaps one in each habitat zone (temperate, subtropical and tropical). In principle, countries expressed interest in the support offered by the Turtle Survival Alliance. They suggested, however, that this support should be focused on building local capacity to hold, breed and reintroduce confiscated specimens. TSA could assist in the development of a network of rescue and breeding centres to help enhance the exchange of information and experience.

Compliance incentives: Traders should be consulted before new legislative or other controls are adopted. Trade associations should be used to distribute CITES-related information. Workshops or seminars with traders should be used to raise awareness about CITES and relevant legislation. NGOs or government agencies could organize heads of companies to sign statements that they will not eat FWTT. Financial (e.g. subsidies) and technical support should be provided to breeding facilities to reduce wild turtle trade.

Cooperation: Cooperation between non-ASEAN and ASEAN countries should be strengthened. China’s protocol ith ASEAN could be extended to wildlife trade issues. The Memorandum of Understanding between Thailand and Malaysia on CITES, including regular meetings and information exchange, could be used as an example for other bilateral arrangements between countries that share borders (e.g. between Thailand and Cambodia and between Thailand and Myanmar). Papua New Guinea and Indonesia could extend their current border liaison, which has an environment component, to include CITES matters.

2. Findings and recommendations of the working group on conservation management and CITES implementation

The Secretariat should provide Guidelines to Asian range States for the making of non-detriment findings for the exportation of CITES Appendix-II listed species of tortoises and freshwater turtles, for the establishment of export quotas, and for developing monitoring protocols.

Cooperation between CITES Management and Scientific Authorities at a regional level in (Southeast) Asia is important, and the countries in the region are encouraged to seek an appropriate mechanisms to achieve regular coordination through [annual or bi-annual] regional meetings, existing regional agreements [e.g. ASEAN], the establishment of contact groups, or other manners.

The working group participants generally agree that all the remaining non-CITES listed species of Asian turtles should be listed under the Appendices of CITES. It was however recognised that it is not feasible to prepare listing proposals for all the taxa concerned by 6 June 2002, the deadline for the submission of proposals to amend the Appendices to CITES at the next meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP 12 in November 2002). The listing criteria as laid out in Resolution Conf. 9.24 require information and levels of consultation that can simply not be provided within the available time.

The working group recommends a species list to be proposed for listing in Appendix II at the next meeting of the Conference of the Parties.

The establishment of export quotas should be based on non-detriment findings made in compliance with Article IV of the Convention, and would benefit from involving experts in conservation and management of tortoises and freshwater turtles (where available). In case that levels of export are significant or considered to be of conservation concern, Resolution Conf. 8.9 (Rev.) provides a mechanism whereby the CITES Animals Committee can review the situation and formulate recommendations to ensure that the export is not detrimental to wild populations of the species under review. Trade in 4 Asian species is currently assessed under the Significant Trade Process, and the range States concerned are encouraged to fully collaborate in the process. This may also influence the export quotas that certain range States have established for some of the species under review.

More information should be collected and provided on commercial captive breeding operations, including on species being bred, annual production and production trends, the types of animals that are commercialised and for which market niche (food, medicine, pets or a combination thereof). This applies in particular to China, where presumably more species are bred in much larger numbers than generally assumed, but is also relevant to other countries in Southeast Asia. It is noted that Germany is supporting a project regarding mid- and long-term conservation measures for Asian turtles and tortoises that addresses inter alia the possible benefits and risks associated with large-scale commercial breeding. The results of this study should be available by the end of 2002 and be shared with and taken into consideration by Asian range States.

The working group agrees that practical recommendations on commercial farming and ranching of Asian turtles and tortoises, and on controls and monitoring of such operations would be useful for the relevant authorities and for the traders concerned. It notes that a very large amount of good quality materials concerning commercial breed in of different species is widely available in China (books, videos, DVD’s, CD Roms, etc.).

Base line data for many species of Asian turtles and tortoises is not readily available, and should be obtained via experts, networks (IUCN/SSC), internet, field studies,... Field studies can be conducted by scientists, university students, NGO’s, government agencies, etc.

The Secretariat is requested to seek support from the Commission of the European Union to help develop guidelines and protocols to manage wild populations of tortoises and freshwater turtles in Asia, to conduct field studies as appropriate, and to obtain baseline data on several species that are heavily traded. To facilitate fundraising from potential donors such as the USA, countries in Asia are requested to indicate priority species that would require (and benefit most from) such management projects and research activities.

Priority for research and management guidance should be give to species with specific ecological and habitat requirements, which are rare, or that are otherwise more vulnerable than common species or species that adapt to human environments such as Heosemys grandis, Aspideretes gangeticus,  Cuora amboinensis, or Sieberrochielle crassicolis.

3. Findings and recommendations of the working group on Capacity building needs and activities

a. Training needs are identified in the following areas for enforcement officers, wildlife management personnel, biologists, high-level officials, etc: Field guidance; Identification; Law enforcement; Turtle management; Research methodology; Training for Customs, police, judiciary, private companies, traders; Awareness building on CITES for high and management level officers; Training manual

The "training for trainers" approach is recommended so as to reach as many audiences as possible. Training materials for long-term use and training on how to use training materials are considered desirable. Government wildlife conservation agencies are encouraged to work closely with NGOs in conducting training activities.

Regular CITES training courses already exist in most of the participating countries. These courses usually target for CITES staff and enforcement officers. Freshwater turtles and tortoises should be incorporated in these workshops.

The diversity of local languages, lack of communications, funding constraints, low priority placed on freshwater turtles and tortoises, discontinuity of CITES staff on their posts are considered the main gaps and challenges in capacity building. The following actions are proposed to address these issues: Establishing networks and channels for the purpose of communication; Strengthening bilateral and multilateral collaboration; Enhancing internal communication within Parties; Improving training or capacity building within the country; Simple training materials should be available in all countries.

b. Identification and training materials are widely available in most participating countries in various forms, such as identification book and field guide, training manual, slide/photo, card, poster, video, film, CD-ROM, website and specimens. Taxonomists and hobbyists of freshwater turtles and tortoises can be found in most participating countries who can help with the identification of the species concerned.

Yet the lack of taxonomical knowledge for certain groups of species and the identification techniques for derivative materials are found as the main constraints. Actions proposed to address these problems are: Share identification information and techniques among the countries concerned; Encourage the distribution and access to available identification materials from other sources which currently request copyright clearing and licencing; Develop fund-raising mechanism; Prepare projects for fund-raising purposes; Develop links to biochemical laboratories to facilitate analysis of derivative products.

c. Various outreach efforts on the awareness of wildlife conservation and CITES are carried out in most participating countries, often in cooperation with NGOs, yet most of them do not contain a strong component on freshwater turtles and tortoises. It is therefore recommended that freshwater turtles and tortoises be incorporated in existing outreach programmes, and efforts be made to develop new and innovative outreach programmes specifically for the protection of freshwater turtles and tortoises.

Each country is encouraged to use all forms of media to raise public awareness on the plight of freshwater turtles and tortoises.

d. The following groups are identified as the stakeholders in the utilization, consumption and protection of Asian freshwater turtles and tortoises: Breeders/farmers; Traders/middlemen; Hobbyists; Conservationists; Wild collectors/hunters; Zoos, museums and aquariums; Medicinal industries (inc. tonic); Restaurants; Enforcement officer and legislators; Religious community; Consumers.

Whilst enhancing the awareness on the legal protection status of freshwater turtles and tortoises are believed to be appropriate for all the stakeholders, the following awareness building activities are recommended for each specific group:

？ Basic knowledge on the harm of releasing exotic species to the nature and proper knowledge on keeping the animals need to be provided to breeders and farmers.

？ Hobbyists should keep as much as possible captive-bred freshwater turtles and tortoises so as to minimize the impact on wild populations.

？ Conservationist should help raise the profile of the freshwater turtle and tortoises species;

？ Wild collectors and hunters should adopt an approach of sustainable harvest. Guidelines for harvesting should be developed, which could involve restrictions on the size of animals and season of harvesting, and may draw on experiences from crocodile harvest.

？ Zoos, museums and aquariums should make efforts not to use wild-collected specimens in order to minimize impact on wild population. They should also be encouraged to help promote and highlight crisis of freshwater turtles and tortoises in their exhibitions.

？ Medicinal industries and restaurants should be invited to engage in dialogues with the conservationists to use sustainably produced sources of supplies only.

？ Enforcement officers and legislators should be made aware of the status of freshwater turtles and tortoises. In the absence of proper legislation, this effort is meant to build the awareness of the legislators, thereby having appropriate legislation enacted. Every effort should be made to include the protection of freshwater turtles and tortoises in new wildlife legislation. It should be made clear that poor management and legislation endangers an actual or potential resource.

？ Religious communities should be made aware of the status of wild freshwater and tortoises and the imperativeness of the conservation needs and their support to influence people at large as well as the importance of proper animal handling practices.

e. Efforts should be made to meet the current demand for freshwater turtles and tortoises from sustainable sources and carefully managed resources with proper guidelines. Research on the actual medicinal effectiveness should be conducted. Medical scientists and nutritionists can be invited to educate the consumers. Awareness and education programmes should be developed and implemented for the consuming communities.

f. Captive breeding and ranching of freshwater turtles and tortoises with careful management should be encouraged in order to achieve non-negative impact on the wild population. Non-turtle substitutes should be sought, e.g. using herbs to replace turtle bone for pharmaceutical purpose.

Efforts should be made to encourage the participation of collectors, traders, exporters, importers and consumers in the conservation of and sustainable trade in freshwater turtle and tortoises species so that they can move to more positive utilization approaches. Collectors should adopt sustainable harvest methods and a collector community forum can be set up. Associations of traders of freshwater turtles and tortoise already exist in Thailand and Myanmar. It is desirable to set up such associations in other countries in the region.

Most of the above activities require funding support, and all possible funding sources should be therefore sought, including national wildlife conservation agencies and foreign aid agencies of developed countries, conservation NGOs, IGOs, corporate companies, other related conventions, etc.