Why in news?
An analysis by TRAFFIC and WWF-India between January 2010 and December 2022 has revealed that Tamil nadu accounted for almost 65% of illegal trade in shark body parts.
Background: –
Illegal trade in wildlife species is a serious conservation threat.
About TRAFFIC: –
- TRAFFIC (Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce), the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network, is a global non-governmental organization monitoring the trade in wild plants and animals.
- TRAFFIC focuses on preserving biodiversity and sustainable legal wildlife trade while working against unsustainable illegal wildlife trade
- TRAFFIC’s mission stems from the long-term vision outlined in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework: to create a world where biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored, and wisely utilized by 2050, maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy planet, and delivering essential benefits to all people.
- Originally established in 1976 as a specialist group within the Species Survival Commission of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), TRAFFIC has evolved into a strategic alliance between the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the IUCN.
- TRAFFIC IS part of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative – based in the David Attenborough Building – a hub which brings together Cambridge University and several international NGOs striving for sustainability and to conserve nature.
- TRAFFIC came to India in 1991, operating as a division of WWF-India.
Read also: Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve
