Kindom+of+Peru+Position+Paper+(1st+draft)

Committee: International Labor Organization Topic: Animal trafficking Country: The Republic of Peru

 Peru doesn´t have an exclusively tropical climate; the influence of the Andes and the Humboldt Current cause great climatic diversity within the country. The coast has moderate temperatures, low precipitations, and high humidity, except for its warmer, wetter northern reaches. In the mountains, rain is frequent during summer, and temperature and humidity diminish with altitude up to the frozen peaks of the Andes. The jungle is characterized by heavy rainfall and high temperatures, except for its southern part, which has cold winters and seasonal rainfall. Because of its varied geography and climate, Peru has a high biodiversity with 21,462 species of plants and animals reported as of 2003; 5,855 of them endemic.   An international organization that examines the illegal wildlife trade, estimates that in the 1990s the trade resulted in approximately 160 billion dollars of profit. That number has become double. Komodo dragons, brown cappuccino monkeys, extremely rare butterflies, frogs, dragonflies, toucans, birds and more rare endangered wildlife. A toucan from Peru that might be bought for $10 there, can be worth $1500 in the United States.  The first illegal trade, taking into account profitability and its volume is drug trade, the second is gun trade and the third is the wild animal trafficking.  China and U.S.A. are the biggest market in the illegal wildlife trade. The European Union has also significantly increased its role in the black market for wildlife, buying animals from Peru like the vicuña, a relative of the llama,that produces high-quality wool and is subsequently threatened by illegal trade. The Peruvian government has established several protected areas for their preservation. The law in Peru forbids this traffic but no human has been sent into prison. In 1995, there were only five inspectors working full-time at the Miami Airport– and this is where the greatest amount of animal trafficking (legal and illegal) occurs worldwide. One of these inspectors estimates that only 10-20% of the illegal animals are found. Some smugglers, for instance, sew birds into their clothing or use other items to hide the animals. Last year, a man from Peru was able to hide his pet monkey in his ponytail for some time on a plane. It was eventually discovered.  Pets are most likely to always be part of human cultures. Without some means for us to determine how we can boycott businesses that sell animals and pets that are part of the illegal wildlife trade, we will be probably close to stop it. But perhaps, if we promote more awareness, we can help stop the demand for animals that are taken illegally from their natural habitats.  I hope to learn more about Peru’s illegal wildlife trade in the upcoming months, and I will report back with new information once it is available. Hopefully I will find something to be more optimistic.