Wild Birds (Hansard, 11 November 1991)

§ Mr. Baldry

The Government share the concern that has been expressed about the possible effects of trade on the wild populations of many species and about the conditions in which animals—especially birds—are transported. These are international problems which require international solutions and we are therefore pressing for stricter controls throughout the European Community and beyond.

Conservation action must be based on sound science. Earlier this year I therefore commissioned the Government's scientific advisers, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, to review the evidence as to whether the trade in wild-taken animals and plants was compatible with maintaining species at satisfactory levels. The JNCC's report was submitted on 31 July and copies are available in the Library of the House. The report gives unequivocal support for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which is the foundation for conservation controls on trade in the European Community and most of the rest of the world. The Committee does not advocate extensive bans but has made some wide-ranging recommendations for tightening the present controls. The report of the Royal Botanic Gardens submitted recently reaches similar conclusions and makes detailed recommendations on plants. We will make this available as soon as possible.

I therefore wrote to the European Commission on 14 October, urging it to propose that the Community takes steps to: strengthen measures to prevent illegal trade in endangered species and to ensure that specimens of these species are used to bring conservation benefits; make more systematic checks on the effect of trade on species whose survival might become threatened, to ensure that it continues only at sustainable levels; monitor trade in more species: make sure that appropriate care is taken of all species listed in CITES. We intend to make clear the importance we attach to early progress at the Environment Council next month.

Because of his responsibilities for the welfare of animals during transport, my hon. Friend, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and 392W Food, joined me in this approach to the Commission, to press for strict controls on trade in any species which are particularly vulnerable to stress and mortality as a result of transport or captivity.