>Date: Sat, 3 DEC 1994 08:41:24 -0800
>From: R5M@aol.com
>Given this forum here, don't you think this is the place to take
>up issues?
Yes it is but my opponent is not here to respond and show contrast.
for me it is like your favorite candidate for pres NOT having
access to radio or T.V. and his opponent having full access.
Not very fair me thinks. I'm also running for a position that in
my eyes calls for me to subjugate my opinion to that of the ICPS
membership. Secretary is not normally a leadership position, but
that of a servant.
I suppose that with the deadline for reply in the election having
expired on DEC 1 there is no longer any harm in joining the
discussion. We all have a few days or weeks before we find out
who won.
Although I view CITES as a well intentioned effort aimed at saving
endangered species my opinion is much closer to that of Tom's.
I think it does more harm than good!
When Ragen escalated the war on drugs in the early 1980's it
raised the stakes and thus the profits. This in its turn sparked
more interest in them as a product. CITES does the same for
endangered species.
All of the most successful efforts involving habitat preservation
provide the local population with a profit motive for saving that
habitat. As long as it is more profitable to be a poacher than a
farmer there will be poachers. I don't like it but it is a fact of
life. If it were possible to make these habitats as financially valuable
to all the people as they're ecologically valuable there would be no
problem. In the USA it is a matter of convincing people that bog
front property is as desirable as any other lake front or beach
front. Once the profit is there the developers will start bending
over backwards to fake it and charge even more for the real
thing. In south east Asia if the people were taught to harvest
propagating material in a sustainable manner from all the desirable
species not just the Cp. bring them under cultivation and distribute
them to a global market there would be $ for the people and there
government and a reason to protect the habitat. CITES needs to
make things as simple, easy and profitable as possible for honest
hard working local populations to generate income that is ecofriendly.
In many cases you could add tourism to the list of activities and the
motivation would support even more families.
Hungry people NEED to eat and feed their families. they are every where
and cannot be ignored or told not to do this or that unless your ready
to provide them with a better alternative.
krs
---
Sent via WorldLink on 12/05/94 at 10:22:18.
Everett, WA
Out of the Great Northwest!