TOKYO: Conservationists fighting to stop wildlife trade are now turning their attention to Asia, where they say affluence has made the region a top market for endangered species.

"Asians are growing richer and fuelling the demand for exotic and rare wildlife. The region is now both an important supply source and a growing market - and this is alarming," says Masayuko Sakamoto, an environmental lawyer and head of the Tokyo-based Asian Conservation Alliance.

At a workshop organized by Sakamoto and several other Asian non-governmental organizations last week, activists highlighted the need to protect Asian elephants and other species such as rare tortoises and birds that are traded in Japan and other countries in the region.

Global trafficking in wildlife is worth an estimated eight billion US dollars annually, a scale surpassed only by the illegal international trade in drugs and weapons, said the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society.

The society says that hunting has put half of Asia's turtles and tortoises on the endangered species list. For example, some 29,000 live tortoises are imported legally into Japan every month, accounting for 54 per ent of the international market for the animals, according to TRAFFIC, Japan - an NGO campaigning against wildlife trade.

Sakamoto also said investigations had revealed China was now a growing market for wildlife, to supply its lucrative exotic food and medicinal market. More than one million kilogrammes of snakes are imported to Shanghai annually and served as a luxury food, the Wildlife Conservation Society said. -Dawn/The Inter Press News Service.