[Imc-thailand] [Fwd: No more Slave-trade and Prostitution of African Wildlife]

ECOTERRA Intl. office at ecoterra.org.uk
Tue Apr 19 15:32:15 PDT 2005



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	No more Slave-trade and Prostitution of African Wildlife
Date: 	
From: 	ECOTERRA Intl. <MailHub at ecoterra.net>
Reply-To: 	DIVERSE_LIFE at ecoterra.net



*- please distribute widely - and act!

Kenyan and Australian Governments taken
for a ride by unscrupulous Thai officials*
**Wildlife trade is business as usual for the taker societies on this 
planet.
Trafficking of wildlife and girls into Thailand still is rampant
 
WTN - Canberra / Nairobi / Bangkok -  09 March 2005
 
Of the over two million citations the internet holds for the northern 
Thailand city of *Chian Mai* nearly 100.000 contain the word sex and 
more than 50.000 hits describe or decry the horrible situation 
concerning prostitution, especially child prostitution and child 
pornography.

Children, often stolen from the traditionally living hill tribes (see: 
http://www.akha.org) or bought from other impoverished communities, are 
as innocent as the many hundreds of non-human creatures, which Thailand 
wants now to capture from the wild in Africa and Australia - not for the 
welfare of these animals, but for an exhibitionistic venture, which the 
city of Chiang Mai wants to present to its kick-hungry citizens and rich 
visitors in a perverse Night-Safari termed zoo and entertainment facility.

Sex and drugs seem to be not enough any more to animate the folks. Not 
only is Thailand now opening its prison doors to paying watchers, who 
get exited by seeing the inmates fight in kick-boxing, but - following a 
sick example from Singapore - they want the paying spectators to get 
lured into a pseudo-zoo by presenting "the wild beasts from Africa" 
during a Night-Safari, whereby it can not be ruled out that also the 
producers of sex-with-animals pornographic websites, which often have 
their origin in Thailand, are part to the scam. Powerful investment 
circles in Thailand tried since 2002 to purchase enough wildlife for 
this Chiang Mai zoo project in order to have least 55 different species 
from Africa and Asia to show off. The usual buying failed and the 
project faced from its onset strong opposition from local residents and 
environmental groups around the globe likewise.

*AT THE CORE
*
But, "the show must go on", seems to be the policy at Chiang Mai, for 
its godfather, the Prime Minister, its public officers and its business 
managers. As chairman of the national committee overseeing that zoo 
project, and insisting that the project would go ahead by all means, one 
man is at the core of it all: *Dr. Plodprasop Suraswadi* (alias 
Suraswadee). Being a rare mixture between a cat with many lives and a 
chameleon, in terms of his professional career and his connections 
respectively, which range from Her Majesty the Queen of Thailand, via 
Thai government officials through often smoke-screen-providing IUCN and 
WWF contacts to those, who like to be his partners in every shady deal, 
as long as it brings money, Suraswadi is known and sometimes feared for 
his stubbornness once he has set himself a task.
Plodprasop Suraswadi
*Plodprasop Suraswadi as
adviser and business man
of today and during his he-days
(on the left) in the forest office.
Plod in action* 

A 1979 graduate of Oregon State University and equipped with a PhD from 
the University of Alberta, Plodprasop started off his governmental work 
with the Thai Department of Fisheries, where he learned that 
exploitation of nature can provide officials of ministries with big 
bucks. He was moved through Agriculture, where he implemented land 
reforms for the sake of the rich, to Forestry, where he had his biggest 
problems so far and from where he was more or less dismissed. He then 
fell up the ladder to become the Permanent Secretary of the Thai 
Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, where he was entrapped in 
the largest tiger trading scandal of the last 100 years. An intervention 
from above, however, ensured again that he was not dropped. It was 
finally arranged that Suraswadi became the Adviser to Deputy PM Suwat 
Liptapanlop, from where he now can mastermind all his former ministerial 
dockets and, having always a good nose for big-time money, he became 
also the Tsunami response coordinator as soon the wave and the global 
rescue-funds had hit his country.

Though he still is haunted by all his affairs, including a scandal where 
he "helped" the Royal Chiang Mai Country Club to encroach with a golf 
course on a forest reserve set aside for recreational purpose of all 
citizens, he still is seen as jack of all trades concerning any deals 
with the Thai government. But this does not necessarily make him credible.

*THE TRADE
*
The CITES convention in 2004 in Bangkok offered him the opportunity to 
discuss with all those impoverished countries from Africa a special deal 
to fill up the Night-Safari establishment in Chiang Mai with the 
necessary wild species. But not only governmental emissaries from 
South-Africa, Tanzania and Kenya listened to his stringers, also 
Australian officials fell for the offered opportunities. Ministers and 
Permanent Secretaries alike, who were present at that time in Bangkok, 
quickly did their homework and it is reported that when Kenya's 
President Mwai Kibaki himself visited Thailand in October, he received 
the official request from Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra 
for a donation of 300 wild animals - among them white Rhinos, Cheetahs 
and Lions as well as Leopards, Serval cats, silver-backed Jackals, 
spotted Hyenas, Hippos, reticulated Giraffes, Topis, Eland and Impala 
Antelopes, Waterbucks Grant's and Thomson's gazelles, Wildebeests, 
Dik-Diks, Gerenuks, Kudus, Zebras, Buffaloes and Warthogs- to be 
imprisoned in the tiny 17 hectare Night Safari area in Chiang Mai, which 
shall have a targeted animal population of over 2000 animals from 
Australia, the Americas, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya, held in 
confinement. Several of these species are endangered and under special 
protection. The recent report, which states that Kenya would consult 
neighbouring countries before donating these 300 wild animals, which 
also include migratory bird species like Lesser Flamingos, Yellow-billed 
Storks and Crested Cranes, to Thailand could also mean that one just 
doesn't want to step on each others feet in the bid for the bucks.

Suraswadi himself is under pressure, because that entertainment facility 
in Chiang Mai is a multi-million dollar venture and ordered to open in 
April. This pressure he now extends on officials, who he knows can 
hardly resist the money and other advantages he has to offers.

A tragic figure, as he might see himself, Plodprasop Suraswadi is, 
however, not just the character of the Good Man of the House, who is 
always misunderstood, but rather seems to be the example of a man who is 
party to that power that always might pretend or even want to create the 
Good, but knowingly is party to that power that always wills and creates 
the Evil. He thereby just must be seen as and remains a Mephistophelian 
character with reversed premises and an enigma in a turned coat full of 
false promises.

*THE PROTEST*

While conservation groups, saying Kenya could not afford to give away 
it's diminishing stocks of wildlife, already stepped up their complaints 
to the Kenya government and demand to abandon any plans concerning the 
export of these 300 wild animals to Thailand, also in Australia fierce 
opposition is rising to the scheme, under which Thailand is to send 
eight Asian female elephants and one male to Sydney's Taronga zoo, the 
Melbourne zoo as well as to Wellington zoo in New Zealand in exchange 
for at least two koalas from Australia to Chiang Mai. In both 
hemispheres, however, the opinions are split along the classic lines of 
those who believe wildlife must pay for its existence and thereby 
degrade wild creatures to mere commodities and those who actually want 
to 100% conserve wildlife, but who do not realize that they are doing it 
by filling untouched nature into smaller and smaller cans, which can not 
hold it for the future. This classic divide is so typical only for the 
Anglo-American world, which seems to have fully conquered now not only 
Australia, but also Thailand and Kenya in opposition to the traditional 
regimes, which prevailed in these countries in pre-colonial times and 
which were much more successful in protecting nature on a larger scale 
and in longer terms.

In both potential supply-countries, however, fierce opponents are sure 
that the masterminded deals will lead to the maltreatment of the animals 
in Thailand, where also a human life is worth sometimes not even a few 
coins and which has not only a disastrous human rights record, but also 
is infamous for its cruelty to animals. In Kenya therefore the work to 
built holding pens inside Nairobi National Park, which is near the 
countries largest airport, were quickly abandoned after it had 
transpired that even physical interventions and resistance by angered 
citizens had to be expected.

*THE SCAM
*
The saga in Kenya has an even wider dimension: The official report 
compiled by a delegation of senior wildlife officials from the Kenya 
Wildlife Service, who were sent again on a rather pleasant trip to 
Thailand to inspect that zoo facility - is kept under lock and seal, 
which is certainly not adding to the government's credibility in terms 
of transparency. It only was published that the delegation found the zoo 
"appropriate" after its members had been hosted very nicely by the Thai 
operators, though the leader of that delegation, a veterinarian, later 
admitted that the study needed to be amended. So far it is not clear if 
that has been done and if the open questions, which even the minister 
still had, have been answered or if the KWS delegation wants to get yet 
another trip to happy Chiang Mai out of it. The fact that the whole case 
is kept more or less secret angers not only the Kenyan group Youth for 
Conservation, which collected already more than 12,000 signatures from 
Kenyans in addition to the many thousand international voices against 
any transfer of Kenyan wildlife to Thailand, but also many politicians 
of the opposition as well as from the governing coalition itself, who 
criticize that the government would do nothing against the rampant 
corruption, which has obviously also grabbed the wildlife sector on a 
wider scale, as the recent sacking of the  KWS director John Mukuriah 
shows, the man in charge for the protection of the wildlife of Kenya at 
the time the deal with Thailand was designed during the CITES 
conference. Unfortunately, the new KWS director Mr. Julius Kipng'etich 
has not made any public comment on the plan, which seems to not just 
simply go away. Maybe too much has been paid by the Thais already.
 
What is worst is the fact that the story concerning the conditions of 
the deal, said to have been agreed between the two countries Kenya and 
Thailand, has been now twisted for the third time in terms of its 
official reasoning. First it was only a donation for which Kenya was 
said to gain tourism advantages, i.e. people from Thailand would come to 
Kenya to see them in the wild, though any National Geogrphic video would 
here do a better job. After the whole world laughed about that silly 
explanation, the argument was quickly turned into a ministerial 
statement claiming that an exchange in terms of research co-operation 
would benefit both countries, while Thailand would send tigers and 
elephant-trainers (mahouts) and some veterinarians to Kenya. Tigers from 
zoos in Thailand, which just recently have been hit by Avian flu 
resulting in the death of around 100 tigers, and Mahouts, who are 
infamous for beating elephants into submission, are alien and of no help 
to Kenya at all. Neither are the Thai veterinarians of any benefit for 
Kenya, but rather a burden, except if their foreign paid alimentation 
fund would find its way into local pockets.

*CHIEFS TO CHIEFS and MONEY TO MONEY
*
Though it is actually believed by many that President Mwai Kibaki of 
Kenya and the Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra might have just 
agreed on the deal last October in the typical jovial mood of 
sovereigns, which are used to determine the fate of their subjects, it 
was now revealed that at least on the ministerial level the talk is in 
fact involving a deal which calls for the payment of one million US 
Dollar into a mutual revolving fund for wildlife. That fund as such is 
either new or has not even been established. In addition the Thai 
Government explains and sees the agreed fund in a different light than 
Kenya and declared that one had agreed on the setting of funds for human 
resource training programs and the investment aids to Thai investors who 
want to start a business in Kenya in exchange for the wildlife - and not 
as it is presented now in Kenya as a "revolving wildlife mutual fund", 
whatever that might be.
 
The then acting Kenyan Minister for Wildlife and Tourism was Raphael 
Tuju, who himself received in December 2004 Thailand's Deputy Prime 
Minister Suwat Liptapanlop in Kenya to seal - besides others 
arrangements - especially this deal - despite the categorical statement 
by him as Kenyan minister that Kenya would maintain its policy to not 
sell wildlife. It must be noted here that during the same time, while 
this minister was overseeing Kenya's wildlife affairs, another deal was 
announced, whereby between 20 and 30 rhinos shall now be translocated 
from Kenya to the "rhino-less" Grumeti Game Reserve in Tanzania, a 
scheme initiated and financed by a US citizen, who manages hedge funds 
and is a Wall Street trader. How much money is flowing in this deal, 
which would certainly benefit at least the investors' public relations 
and seven-star lodge, is yet not clear. Hon. Morris Donzo, the successor 
of Hon. Raphael Tuju, who himself was reshuffled last month as Wildlife 
Minister, has, however, remained absolutely mum on all these issues. 
 From where all the animals shall be captured, to where they shall be 
brought in preparation for their future fate, if private ranches and 
ventures in Kenya are involved or what the true nature of the deal is, 
are all questions which have not been answered.

*THE FORCES AND COUNTER-FORCES
*
The serious arguments of over 20 international and national wildlife 
protection organizations, who oppose any such deal and are especially 
deeply concerned about how and where these animals are to be sourced and 
the life that might await them should the Thai proposals become sad 
reality, were only responded to by the master of the deal, top 
government adviser Plodprasop Suraswadi, by saying: "It's absolute 
nonsense!" Suraswadi is angry, because as project coordinator for the 
zoo in Chiang Mai he has to secure and satisfy the massive investments 
of around 52 million US Dollars into this venture by his political and 
business friends. "Nonsense", the animal protection organizations reply, 
"is only the fact that Thailand's Prime Minister, the billionaire tycoon 
Thaksin Shinawatra, who initiated the project to attract tourists to his 
hometown of Chiang Mai, seems to not be willing to give up his 
brainchild and stubbornly insist on wildlife from Africa". For getting 
these animals his adviser Suraswadi has to jump and likewise all others. 
Thailand's Interim Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suvit 
Khunkitti last week moved to speed up the export of the Thai Elephants 
to Australia and ordered his officials to complete the Koala shelter at 
the Night-Safari-Zoo by April as instructed by  Prime Minister Thaksin 
Shinawatra.

But it appears that Suraswadi, who bluntly guarantees the 100% safety of 
these animals, not only has forgotten his own failures during his 
ministerial times,  but that he and his masters also are not honestly 
taking into consideration the general attitude the majority of the Thai 
population has towards animals or nature. Other zoo facilities in 
Thailand show this starkly and in 2002 the country only narrowly slipped 
past a total international ban of any of its wildlife trades due to 
proven violations against CITES, the Convention on International Trade 
of Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora. But by that time Thailand 
was already set to host the 2004 conference of the parties to CITES and 
for a fine meal and a good massage one can close the eyes and ears, it 
seems.

The fact remains that this South-east Asian nation is still one of the 
world's leading trafficking routes for animal smugglers, with several 
privately owned zoos accused of illegally obtaining orang-utans and 
other rare species and for decades, Thailand's heritage of teak forests 
and richly varied wildlife has fallen prey to the plunder of grasping 
politicians, military officers and ruthless entrepreneurs, largely 
ignored, tolerated or even fostered by government. Thailand has for 
years served as a major conduit for a trade, which conservationists 
estimate is worth billions of dollars a year - surpassed in value only 
by the trade in drugs and arms. The initiated crackdown on this illegal 
trade has apparently not lasted for long. The business with wild species 
is enhanced by the increasing demand of mainly Chinese and Koreans, who 
join tours to Thailand where middlemen guide them to secret restaurants 
to eat freshly prepared meals of rare and often endangered wildlife 
species, like tigers, bears, apes or monkeys. All is well as long it is 
well paid for. Conservationists, which were hoping that Thailand's 
crackdown, which began just before the latest CITES conference, was a 
start to curb the illegal trade and cruel practices, state that this was 
only a short-lived exercise and a mere public relations spin, while 
today the illegal, but highly profitable trade in wild species is in 
Thailand worst than ever before.

*OUTLOOK
*
It is high time that in Kenya as well as in Australia the people and 
their parliaments not only ask the burning questions, but also get 
answers from their governments and that such shady and pseudo-feudal 
deals become an issue of the past. Humanity has officially overcome 
human slavery and it must overcome the slavery of other creatures too. 
Any such mass-shipment of wild animals from the wild into a 
zoo-confinement in Thailand would certainly undermine Kenya's 
credibility as a positive global force for animal welfare and protection 
as well as actually contribute to the decline of its tourism.

And let us finally not forget how many honest game rangers have lost 
their lives in combat with unscrupulous wildlife killers and traders. 
Have brave men and women defended the wildlife only for shady 
governmental deals, which sell them into slavery in Thailand to satisfy 
dull voyeurs ?
 
/Sources: Own correspondents from Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Nairobi, Adelaide 
and Dar es Salam, with additional reporting from Thailand, Kenya, 
Australia and Tanzania. Various publications and press statements./
 
 
ACTION ALERT
 
YOUR ACTION !

We do not believe any more so much in signature lists, polite letters, 
fax or e-mail writing to those who are at the core of the problem, 
though these campaigns often are an important ad-on. (Therefore, if you 
got the time, please write to make your protest against these shady 
wildlife deals known - see addresses below)
 
*However: What is the most important step to do? *
Prepare yourself and your family and friends for a total boycott of 
Thailand and let them feel the heat in every business relationship, with 
every purchase, every management decision and any travel. They still 
might eat up the wildlife inside Thailand or spoil the natural habitat, 
but at least they will leave others in peace, if the resistance of 
peoples and in turn the decisions of their politicians as well as their 
governmental civil servants provides for and gives the right message to 
Thailand:
 
/*If YOU corrupt our leaders, steal our natural heritage and do nothing 
to prevent others - and here especially your own people - from doing so, 
WE have nothing in common and we will not have anything to do with YOU. */
and
/*YOU continue with such and WE will discontinue having anything to do 
with YOU - and in addition WE will encourage others to stay away from 
YOU too. No contact, no business! */
/*  */
"Made in Thailand" will then read for us as
*"Stuff it! - I DON'T BUY, FRY OR FLY THAI" *
 
*  *
*Letters of protest can be directed to:*
 
Her Royal Highness The Queen of Thailand and
Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn
Via the Royal Thai Embassy of your country
 
His Excellency Pol. Lt. Col. Dr. Thaksin Shinawatra
Prime Minister of Thailand
and
His Excellency Mr. Suchart Jaovisidha
His Excellency Mr. Suwat Liptapanlop
Deputy Prime Ministers of Thailand
via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Royal Thai Government
through the Royal Thai Embassy / Consulate near you
 
Find the nearest Thai embassy or consulate via:
http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries/Thailand/Government/Embassies_and_Consulates/ 

or at: http://www.mfa.go.th/web/10.php
 
e.g.
Botschaft des Koenigreiches Thailand in Berlin
Ihrer Exzellenz,
Frau Cholchineepan Chiranond,* *
Botschafterin
Lepsiusstrasse 64/66,
D-12163 Berlin
Tel. (+49 30) 79 48 10
Fax. (+49 30) 79 48 15 11
Email: general at thaiembassy.de
& Email. thaiber at mfa.go.th <mailto:thaiber at mfa.go.th>
 
N.B.:
*H.E. L.T.AKRASID AMATAYAKUL 
<http://www.mfa.go.th/web/1858.php?userid=1019>*
*The Thai Ambassador to Kenya is also Thailand's Representative to UNEP*
*Direct e-mail: *akrasida at mfa.go.th <mailto:akrasida at mfa.go.th> or 
akrasida at saranrom.or.th <mailto:akrasida at saranrom.or.th>**
*And copy to the embassy e-mail: *thainbi at form-net.com 
<mailto:thainbi at form-net.com>
  Akrasid
Thailands Ambassador for the Environment to UNEP


Please copy all communication to the above also to:
 
*Mr. Manop MEKPRAYOONTHONG, *
**Director
International Development Affairs Division
Department of International Organizations
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Sri Ayudhya Road
Bangkok 10400
Thailand
TEL: (66-2) 643-5077
FAX : (66-2) 643-5071
E-mail: div0805 at mfa.go.th <mailto:div0805 at mfa.go.th>
 
Dr.Surakiart Sathirathai,
Foreign Minister
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
*via Department of South Asian Middle East and African Affairs*
southasian at mfa.go.th 
<http://www.mfa.go.th/web/1682.php?email1=southasian@mfa.go.th>
and via Department of International Organization
interorg at mfa.go.th
 
Justice Minister Mr. Pongthep Thepkanjana
via Department of Treaties and Legal Affairs
treaties at mfa.go.th
 
Department of International Economic Affairs
interecon at mfa.go.th
 
And since it takes two to Tango, you might also want to write to:
 
*His Excellency *
*The Hon. Emilio Mwai Kibaki, C.G.H., M.P.*
State House
P.O. Box 40530
Nairobi, Kenya
Phone: +(254-20) *227411*
*Fax: * +(254-20) 210150, 
       +(254-20) 247808, 
       +(254-20) 337340* *
*Telegrams: "RAIS"*
E-mail: president at statehousekenya.go.ke 
<mailto:president at statehousekenya.go.ke>
E-mail: contact at statehousekenya.go.ke 
<mailto:contact at statehousekenya.go.ke>
http://www.officeofthepresident.go.ke

*Minister for Tourism and Wildlife*
Hon. Morris Dzoro, M.P. and**
Assistant Minister for Wildlife
Hon. George Khaniri, M.P.
As well as: Permanant Secretary* *
Mrs. Rebecca Mwikali Nabutola, M.B.S.
**Utalii House, Off Uhuru Highway
P.O. Box 30027, Nairobi
Tel. 333555, 313010 Fax. 318045
Telegrams: "UTALII"
Website: www.tourism.go.ke <http://www.tourism.go.ke>
**
*Minister for Environment *
*Hon. Kilonzo Musioka, M.P. and*
*Vice-Minister for Environment *
*Hon. Prof. Wangari Maathai, M.P.*
Maji House, Ngong Road 
P.O. Box 49720, Nairobi 
Tel. +(254-20) 716103 / 229261 
Telegrams: "MAJI"
*
*Ministries without own e-mail can be addressed through the Kenya High 
Commission near you.
see: http://www.embassyworld.com/embassy/kenya1.html  and
http://www.embassyworld.com/embassy/kenya3.html
* *
*Hon. Francis ole Kaparo*
*The Speaker of the National Assembly*
P.O.Box 41842 - 00100 GPO
NAIROBI / Kenya
Phone: +254-(0)20-221291 Ext. 32000
Fax: +254-(0)20-336589
E-mail: bunge at swiftkenya.com <mailto:bunge at swiftkenya.com>

Mr. Julius Kipng'etich
Director KWS
Kenya Wildlife Service
Fax 254 20 603792
e-mail: director at kws.org
and kws at kws.org

Kenya Anti Corruption Commission
attn: Justice Ngera
Integrity House
Nairobi
e-mail: kacc at integrity.go.ke <mailto:kacc at integrity.go.ke>
phone: +254-20-35 17 50
+254-20-2 71 95 55
- 2 71 97 55
- 2 71 88 12

Permanent Secretary
Ethics and Governance
N.N. (Mr. John Githongo resigned)
Office of the President
State House
Nairobi
e-mail: governance at wananchi.com <mailto:governance at wananchi.com>
phone: +254-20-22 74 36

Demand that all wildlife captures in Kenya must have been approved also 
by an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) from:
The National Environment Management Authority NEMA
*MICHECKA, Ratemo W.*
Director General
National Environment Management Authority
PO Box 67839
Nairobi
Kenya
TEL:  +254 2 609013
FAX : +254 2 608997
E-mail: dgnema at swiftkenya.com

and as a Kenyan citizen insist that all such operations must be 
transparent and prior informed consent be sought from the local 
communities.
 
Make clear in all your communications that you demand nothing less than 
a complete stop to the live wildlife exports, the illegal wildlife trade 
and the holding of wild animals in captivity.

Letters to the Press in Kenya can be sent to: John Mbaria, East African 
Standard: eastafrican at nation.co.ke

CONCERNING AUSTRALIA:

*Email or fax* the
The Minister for Environment & Heritage
Senator The Hon. Ian Campbell
to stop any wildife deals with Thailand
mailto:senator.ian.campbell at aph.gov.au
Fax: (international code) +61+2+6273 6101
Tel:  (international code) +61+2+6277 7640

*Contact the Australian Embassy* in your country and register your complain.
see: http://www.ausmaps.com/embassy.htm and www.ausmaps.com/embassy2.htm 
<http://www.ausmaps.com/embassy2.htm>

As taxpayer of a developed nation, please urge your government to halt 
any technical or financial development aid, deriving from your money as 
taxpayer, which is earmarked for Thailand, as long as the Thai 
Government spoils the money pressed from their own people by spending it 
for such wildlife concentration camps, since this is certainly not the 
way how Thailand could achieve to reach its targets to fulfil the 
worldwide agreed millennium goals. The 52 million US Dollar which were 
spent so far to create the wildlife confinement and nutcase 
entertainment centre in Chiang Mai would have been better spend on the 
victims of the Tsunami. Since Thailand seems to have all the money in 
the world to spend it for Night-Safari-Clubs, make sure that your 
donation and your governments contribution to the Tsunami fund for 
Thailand is redirected to countries like the Andamans, which really 
deserve it.

Please boycott the Thailand-Africa Symposium: New Era for Economic 
Partnership" on 25 th March 2005 at Vitessamoson Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs, Sri Ayudhya Road. <http://www.mfa.go.th/web/1613.php?id=12052>
unless it is official that the Thais will abstain from the wildlife 
imports from Kenya, Australia or elsewhere.

But ask ALL to whom you write to provide proof that they have abstained 
from any plans to buy, hijack or steal; or otherwise to sell, trade, 
donate or transport any wild species to Thailand - especially not from 
the wildlands of impoverished African countries.
 
Thank you

ECOTERRA Intl.

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Please feel welcome to subscribe to any or all of our free mailing lists:
(ECOTERRA Intl. keeps your Personally Identifiable Information confidential
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mailing lists.)
N.B.: These are moderated, low traffic, important issues lists.

UNIQUE_PEOPLES
(Defending natural rights of traditional tribal peoples and minorities)
(also various lists for specific tribal peoples -
e.g: http://www.ogiek.org or http://www.madhibaan.org)
NATURAL_FORESTS (naturalforest*at*ecoterra.net)
(Protection of the old-growth or other natural forests and its peoples)
DIVERSE_LIFE  (diverselife*at*ecoterra.net)
(Protection of species of wild fauna and flora)

BRIGHT_FUTURE (brightfuture*at*ecoterra.net)
(Trackmaps for our common future)
CLEAN_SKY (cleansky*at*ecoterra.net)
(Protection of the atmosphere)
NATURAL_SEAS (naturalseas*at*ecoterra.net)
(Protection of the marine biosphere)
DIVERSE_LANDS (diverselands*at*ecoterra.net)
(Protection of terrestrial ecosystems)
NATURAL_WATERS  (naturalwaters*at*ecoterra.net)
(Protection of the aquatic ecosystems)

NATURAL_GENES (naturalgenes*at*ecoterra.net)
(Protection against genetically modified organisms)
NATURAL_HEALTH (naturalhealth*at*ecoterra.net)
(Protection of human health)
TRAVELnCARE (travelncare*at*ecoterra.net)
(Protection of free voyage and caring visit)

NATURAL_DEFENCE (naturaldefence*at*ecoterra.net)
(Protection of our values, our and our childrens heritage and future)
WILD_ROAR (wildroar*at*ecoterra.net)
(ECOTERRAs ALERT BULLETIN)

FSM - FULL_SCOPE_MEDIA ©  (fsm*at*ecoterra.net)
Free thinking, non-conforming investigative reporting and press releases.
(hot news, investigative reporting, features & press releases you hardly
ever get from the mainstream media - English, German or French listserve)
WTN - WILD_TIMES_NEWS ©  (wtn*at*ecoterra.net)
- the hardcopy for people without internet access /
   in English and in vernacular languages (postal address required)

YOUR IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANY LIST AND TO WTN ARE MOST WELCOME! 
Please send your genuine contributions to 
<listserveditor*at*ecoterra.net>. However, proselytising propaganda 
screeds will not be posted. To subscribe or unsubscribe just send a mail 
to WILDNET <listmanager*at*ecoterra.net> and specify the list name! Thanks!

*N.B*.: For security reasons no mails from ECOTERRA are ever sent to 
this mailing lists with attachments. If you happen to receive a message 
with an e-mail attachment, please be aware that our sender address might 
have been spoofed and we advise you to just delete that mail without 
opening the attachment. If you suddenly don't receive mails from the 
usual list anymore, but didn't unsubscribe, your mailbox or your ISP 
might have been tempered with by (hidden) censorship - please let us 
know and re-subscribe ! Avoid to have your address with ISPs, who are on 
the list of fraudulent and/or notorious mail interceptors like aol, 
yahoo, msn, hotmail, gmx etc. Ad-mails are terrible, but don't use ISP- 
or webbased filters, since you never know their criteria. Stay in 
control and install the anti-virus, anti-spam and firewall yourself, 
which are unfortunately necessary in these days, maintain it yourself on 
your system !
IMPORTANT NOTICE: To ensure delivery of your mails, please add 
"@ecoterra.net" to your address book and "whitelist" of your spamfilter, 
and tell your ISP or company's IT group to allow this address to pass 
through any filtering software they may have set up. If our emails don't 
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If you write to us and you don't receive a response within two working 
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policy, if your mail bounces several times. Please resubscribe, if you 
suddenly don't receive your mails.
 

*DO YOU NEED AN ECO-STRAIGHTLINER* ?
Please contact highly qualified scientists (ecologists, marine 
biologists etc.),
lawyers, specialists and environmental experts or investigative journalists
with proven track record of not being lured or bullied by corporate or
governmental money via human-resources*at*ecoterra.net
These are all no-nonsense people with vast experience.

Ask for the support of an *ECO-Volunteer*: ecovolunteers*at*eoterra.net
or become one yourself.

What you always wanted to know - check it out at:
ECO-PORTAL: <http://www.EnvironmentalSustainability.info/>
FOREST CONSERVATION PORTAL <http://forests.org/>
CLIMATE CHANGE PORTAL  <http://www.ClimateArk.org/ <http://forests.org/>>
ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION PORTAL <http://earthtrends.wri.org/> 
WATER CONSERVATION PORTAL <http://www.WaterConserve.info/ 
<http://forests.org/>>
Eldis Gateway to DEVELOPMENT INFORMATION <http://www.eldis.org/>

*! CAVEAT LECTOR !*
*** *NOTICE*: This email and any files or attachments transmitted
with it may be confidential and/or privileged. The information is
intended solely for the use of the individual, entity, group or list to
whom it is addressed, except if earmarked for widest distribution.
Please see also our disclaimer and copyright rules at
http://www.ecoterra.org.uk/seite_discl_d_e.htm
Unless other sources are quoted or other indications given:
*©* means: *Copyright* © ECOTERRA Intl. 2005 - all rights reserved
*CL CopyLeft* means copyright except for non-profit making individuals / 
initiatives / organizations, if used to positively portray what it wants 
to achieve, not misquoted and the source is credited. If you are not 
sure what it originally was set out to promote you must ask the author 
or creator first. This means that you can use it (graphics, articles 
etc.), if you are not making money out of it, do not have the intention 
of doing so and support the cause. If you don't you must get permission 
from the author to use it. Please send us a copy of your publication.  
Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for 
non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and 
elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not 
necessarily endorsed by the ECOTERRA Intl. collective. All contents is 
published under the Open Content License <http://opencontent.org/>, if 
nothing else is mentioned, but some rights are reserved under the 
Creative Commons Licence 
<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd-nc/2.0/>.  *
AR Anti-Copyright* means use freely for whatever you want it. It comes 
from the perspective that copyright should not exist at all or that 
there is no need to copyright the information / image as we wish it to 
be distributed freely and reused in whatever way.
 
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