Conservation Influencers is a directory of 60 of the most prominent NGOs from the animal activist, environmental and ecological lobby, which analyses their history, mission, methodology, funding and reputation. It assesses their influence on the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and the framing of the conservation debate globally.
In 1906, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) put an African man on display in Bronx Zoo’s Monkey House. In 1918, one of WCS’s founding fathers, Madison Grant, published Passing of the Great Race, which Adolf Hitler referred to as his ‘Bible’. Another leading creator and early leader of WCS, Henry Fairfield Osborn Sr, was also a founder of the American Eugenics Society. His son headed WCS from 1940 to 1968, overseeing a series of major initiatives in Africa. There, WCS became one of the architects of the prohibition movement, which put wildlife for consumptive use and vast regions of land out of bounds to humanity. In 2020, WCS distanced itself in public from the racist views of Grant and Henry Fairfield Osborn Sr. But it has yet to issue a critical account of the legacy of Fairfield Osborn Jr, even though he led WCS into the modern era while sharing similar politically-inspired ecological goals to his father and Grant. WCS devotes considerable financial resources to influencing outcomes at CITES. WCS’s CEO reportedly earns USD$1,320,978.
Conservation is not about striking a balance between people and nature, it is about putting people first and managing natural resources responsibly for the benefit of humanity.
There are 8 billion people on the planet. Most of them live in cities. IWMC promotes the interests of aboriginal, rural and coastal communities (ARC) because they are frontline custodians harvesting nature’s bounty. They also suffer most from human wildlife conflicts, which IWMC works to resolve or minimise. Meanwhile, people in cities and towns consume what the harvesters harvest. Hence, IWMC supports the consumptive use of wildlife and defends all cultures that enjoy its benefits. According to the PEW charitable trusts, there are 260 million marine fisheries jobs worldwide. Many millions more are employed on the land. IWMC stands up for these workers and their communities informed by the principle of responsible, sustainable, wise use. We also firmly believe in the right of nations to manage their wildlife as they see fit.
Wildlife Betrayed is the forward-looking, reforming manifesto which 21st-century conservation and sustainable development has lacked. It is in the form of a short book-length document, ideal for online propagation. It has six Case Studies ranging from Elephants to COVID showing how populist “hands-off” conservation and animal welfare campaigns are pursuing a well-funded and relentless campaign to mislead the public and hijack multilateral institutions, especially CITES.
The book will be available soon, in print and all popular digital formats.
Contact IWMC for more information.
“There is good reason to suggest that any CITES ban on trade on any wildlife animal species may encourage hitch-hiking zoonoses because of its encouragement to illegal and unscrutinised trade.”
“The good news is that the whale did not become extinct on our watch, and that there are more whales now than at any time since their large-scale exploitation got into full swing, and in some cases are returning to pre-exploitation levels.”
“What CITES might call its elephant successes, such as they are, are mostly the result of it being bent out of recognisable shape. It has made compromises over elephants which are heroic or unholy depending on what side of the fence you’re on, but which certainly risk the operation of the Convention becoming incoherent.”
There will be much more in the book that will confound those that think animals are beyond managed conservation and trade for consumptive use.
At CITES’ CoP-18 the assembled NGOs made sharks their iconic species of choice, knocking elephants off their number one spot. The question is, why did
When are tens of tonnes of humpback whale meat most welcome? After a volcano erupts, then rainfall turns ash slurry into mudslides, destroying crops, cutting
Towards the Sustainable Use of Aquatic Living Resources Prologue On 1 July 2019, five small-type whaling vessels left the port of Kushiro and one factory-ship
Report on the Transplantation Project of Precious Corals in Japan SUMMARY In response to growing evidence of the effects of climate change and to address
Originally published in Sustainable Fisheries. Author Emily De Sousa The talk of the ocean world is Seaspiracy, a Netflix Original film produced by the same team responsible
Charitable organization incorporated in Canada and Switzerland as IWMC World Conservation Trust. Head office 3, Passage de Montriond, Lausanne 1006, Switzerland. Phone/Fax: 41.21.616-5000. For more information, contact IWMC here.
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