Endangered species - a wandering exhibition in Central Europe 2009

 Crocodile shoes, caviar, shark fin soup, wolf fur, ivory – just to name a few of those products, which helped to push some species to the edge of extinction. Nimfea Environmental and Nature Conservation Association is the national coordinator of a regional wandering exhibition on the illegal trade of endangered wild fauna and flora – the exhibition has been implemented by the CITES Working Group of CEEweb for Biological Diversity.

 The objective of the exhibition is to raise awareness about the illegal trade threatening certain wild animal and plant species. For a number of endangered species illegal hunting or gathering can be the last step on the way towards disappearing finally from the planet. Recognizing this tendency, an international governmental agreement came into being in 1973 in Washington, known as CITES – Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Hungary joined the Convention in 1985. Today the Convention has 175 parties, meaning that these states decided to respect the provisions of CITES, regulating or in some cases forbidding the trade of about 35 thousand species, in order to prevent the extinction of these plants and animals.
  The wandering exhibition is a regional project, implemented in the framework of the CITES Working Group of CEEweb for Biodiversity, a Central and Eastern European network of nature conservation NGOs. The Hungarian coordinator of the exhibition is Nimfea Environmental and Nature Conservation Association. The colorful display panels of the exhibition can or will be seen in Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.
  The displays show the factors threatening various groups of species, such as cacti, cats or reptiles. After reading the text, we can make our choices: What kind of souvenirs shall we bring home from a journey?  Where shall we buy our exotic pets? Do we really want to wear the fur or skin of a wild animal?
  The exhibition started its tour in Hungary in March, in Tatabánya, then it moved to Tata, Székesfehárvár, Békéscsaba, Szarvas, Hódmezővásárhely and Szeged, then later it will be exhibited in Szolnok and Budapest as well.

For more information about the group of species, please click on the title under the pictures:

 

MARINE INVERTEBRATES	FISH	AMPHIBIANS
SNAKES	TURTLES	CROCODILES
LIZARDS	PARROTS	BIRDS OF PREY AND OWLS
PRIMATES	CATS	BEARS AND WOLVES
ELEPHANTS AND RHINOCEROS	CETACEANS	CACTI
TROPICAL WOOD	ORCHIDS	ARACHNIDS AND INSECTS

 

For more information on CITES and the European Union Wildlife regulation, pleace click on the pictures below:

 

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora

Council Regulation (EC) No. 338/97 of 9 December 1996, on the protection of the species of wild fauna and flora by regulating trade therein

The exhibition is implemented and organized by the CITES Working Group of CEEweb for Biodiversity. For more information on the network, please click on the logo:

By clicking here you can see some photos taken at different exhibitions locations:

 

We would like to thank the help of PTOP Salamandra (www.salamandra.org.pl) in the realization of this exhibition.