New centre set up to help protect wildlife

A new wildlife conservation centre has been established under the directives of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan to help boost protection of the environment.

This was announced by Majid Al Mansouri, Secretary General of Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD), on the sidelines of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (Cites) Falcon Enforcement Task Force meeting, which began here yesterday.

The Endangered Wildlife Breeding and Conservation Centre, headed by Abdul Jalil Al Balouki as its General Manager, has already started functioning with an administrative office in Abu Dhabi and several breeding and conservation premises in various parts of the emirate.

The centre is managed and run by the Department of the President's Affairs. It will be responsible for the breeding and conservation of various endangered wildlife species in the country and to carry out studies.

Earlier, he opened the Cites meeting, attended by officials from the convention signatory countries, to discuss the illicit trade in falcons and to identify the main problems in controlling the trade in falcons for falconry. The meeting will continue for three days and conclude tomorrow.

Al Mansouri said, "As you all know, trade in wildlife is a major global problem that affects the survival of flora and fauna in recent times.

"It has reached unprecedented levels where it has grown from small-time poaching and hunting into a well-organised, sophisticated network of racketeers across the world, who are running business worth an estimated billion dollars worldwide."

In line with these efforts, Al Mansouri said, the UAE has also developed a countrywide falcons' registration scheme, which includes issuing passports for falcons to control their movements in and out of the country.

While talking to reporters, Al Mansouri said the passport scheme has had a positive impact on the illegal trade of the bird, which has been declining since it was introduced.