Guest Post: Hong Kong’s role in the multibillion-dollar trade in threatened animals and plants warrants immediate government action.
Hong Kong is a major hub for the wildlife trade and its free trade status is driving species to extinction, a meeting of 17 NGOs, experts and academics said yesterday.

via Alex Hofford
“Hong Kong places minimal restrictions on international trade, but we nonetheless have an ethical responsibility to make sure we are not facilitating the disappearance of species globally,” said Dr. Yvonne Sadovy, professor of biological sciences at The University of Hong Kong. The organizations met at the university to discuss the urgent challenges presented by the wildlife trade, which is the fourth-largest illegal trade in the world, according to TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network.
The top three, narcotics, counterfeiting and human trafficking, have beenntaken seriously by the Hong Kong government, according to Amanda Whitfort, a professor of law at HKU. “Hong Kong government has only scratched the surface of regulating the wildlife trade,” she said. “The scale and variety of species involved is staggering.