the us has officially launched a global initiative to fight illegal wildlife trade. The Coalition Against Wildlife Trafficking (cawt) comes despite the fact that there are two international conventions to control trade in wildlife: the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (cites) and the Convention on Biological Diversity.

"Conventions like cites are strong on the protection side but often national governments do not have the resources or expertise to enforce the restrictions,' said Claudia McMurray, the us assistant secretary of state for environmental affairs, during the launch of the coalition at the United Nations Environment Programme (unep) in Nairobi , Kenya, on February 10.Initiated by the us in 2005, cawt now has the support of the uk, India and Australia. Conservation groups like the World Conservation Union (iucn), Conservation International and wwf, scientists and industries, too, are part of the initiative.

cawt aims to fight the estimated us $10 billion illegal wildlife trade. Initially, it will focus on Asia