Malaysia Join Forces With Other Nations To Combat Wildlife Trade - Minister Wan Junaidi

PORT DICKSON (Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia), April 14 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian government will join forces with other nations to put an end to the alarming trend of wildlife poaching and smuggling. Natural Resources and Environment Minister Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said, as one of the megadiverse countries in the world and also a home country to the Asian Elephant, Malaysia fully understands the value of this iconic species of African Elephants. He said Malaysia strongly supported the efforts to combat the illegal wildlife trafficking, especially the trade in ivory. "The world is facing the loss of more elephants, thus threatening the future of elephants across the continent. "According to the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna dan Flora (CITES), over 20,000 elephants may have been poached across Africa in 2013," he said when officiating the destruction of seized ivory ceremony, here, Thursday. Wan Junaidi said Malaysia had actively participated in regional and international enforcement collaborations. He said Malaysia, however, had succeessfully confiscated more than 4,000 pieces of ivory and various other wildlife species through coordinated efforts of international enforcement network and public information. "Results from the forensic analysis revealed that the ivories are derived from Gabon, Democratic Republic of Conggo, Central African Republic, Ghana, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, Uganda, Kenya and South Sudan. "However, unlike other countries identified as transit points, Malaysia does not have a domestic market for ivory or the ivory carving industry," he added. At the event, about 9.55 tonnes of ivory worth US$20 milion (RM80 million) was destroyed. (photoBERNAMA) --BERNAMA