WWF releases top ten list of endangered species

New Delhi, May 16 (UNI) In the run up to the biggest international conference on wildlife trade, the WWF today released a lost of top ten species that need urgent global action to reduce threats from trade.

The list was released as delegates from 171 countries meet for the Conference of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), from 3 to 15 June in The Hague, The Netherlands.

Some of the species on WWF's top ten priority list are among the most endangered. ''For example, the tiger and the Asian rhino have required constant and urgent action over the past decades because of ever-present, pervasive threats to their survival, including poaching and illegal trade,'' said Mr Ravi Singh, Secretary General and CEO of WWF-India.

Others, particularly marine species, are on the list because their populations have declined massively in recent years due to global market demand.

For some, there are new threats, others are new on the agenda due to changing trade dynamics in the global economy, while for yet others, organised criminal elements continue to ply their trade across the globe.

Apart from the tiger, elephant and Asian rhino, the list includes Porbeagle shark, Spiny dogfish (a slender, smaller sized shark), Sawfish, Red and pink coral, European eel, Great apes (gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans), and Bigleaf mahogany.

''CITES has been addressing the trade threat to some of these species for more than 30 years, with many successes, while others are new on the agenda,'' he said.

This is the first time the CITES Conference has been held in the European Union, and will see the largest-ever such gathering devoted to the trade in endangered species, he added.

UNI