Music festival for wildlife to be held in Myanmar's Yangon

YANGON, March 24 (Xinhua) -- A first-ever music festival "Voices for Wildlife" will be held in Myanmar's Yangon in April, the official Global New Light of Myanmar reported Saturday.

Jointly organized by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Embassy of Denmark in Myanmar, the Mahabandoola Park in Yangon will host the music festival on April 7.

The music concert aims to share awareness to the public for eradicating wildlife trafficking, the biggest challenges faced in the country as well as in other countries.

Meanwhile, an elephant-focused campaign against illegal trade named "Voices for Momos," a friendly term used for elephants in the country, was launched by the WWF-Myanmar in November last year.

Also, Myanmar government has planned to shut down at least 20 illegal wildlife trade markets in Golden Triangle border region by 2020 with the help of the wildlife conservation groups.

In Golden Triangle border region which is between Myanmar, Thailand and Laos, wildlife species such tigers, elephants are mostly traded as well as rhinoceros, serow, helmeted hornbill, gaur, leopard and turtles are also traded in the region.

Myanmar has also signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to protect wild elephants, setting aside 9,205 square miles for elephant sanctuaries.

Both local and international non-governmental organizations are exerting efforts to expand the area of land for wildlife reserve in the country. Enditem