Newsroom24x7 Desk

London: London based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has just released a documentary ‘Sin City: Illegal Wildlife Trade in Laos’ Special Economic Zone’ which lays bare how the Chinese company KingsRomans Group, running the Special Economic Zone to the North-West of the heart of the Golden Triangle in Laos is openly and blatantly doing illegal trade in all manners of wildlife and wildlife body parts, including the endangered Tiger. EIA and Education for Nature, Vietnam have conducted their investigation and produced a documentary on the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone.

Debbi banks, who anchors the investigation tells that the Golden Triangle SEZ is 80 per cent owned by the Chinese major KingsRomans, while the Laos Government has 20 per cent stakes in it. The CIA-EN documentary is a huge expose on how tigers, sloth bears, and other species of wild animals are kept in rotten cages, bred and offered on glossy menus as exotic cuisine to the (Chinese) tourists. They serve bear paw soup and wine made from tiger body parts. Coinciding with the launch of the EIA report, the Standing Committee of CITES issued recommendations to all Parties to suspend commercial trade in specimens of CITES-listed species with Laos, Nigeria and DR Congo until further notice over failings to act against elephant poaching and the illegal ivory trade (find details athttp://www.cites.org/eng/notif/2014.php). Mozambique will be stripped off its forests Another report by EIA also screams that Mozambique will be stripped off its forests in a few years. The report points to unscrupulous businesspeople, who are offering high wages to the economically deprived marginal farmers and using them as labor force to cut down trees. The report shows how the profit motive and human greed is rapidly devastating the natural landscape and tree cover in this part of the world.