Nearly half the world's iconic national heritage sites 'under threat'

Nearly half of the planet's natural world heritage sites are threatened by the illegal trade in wildlife, warn campaigners.

A report by the conservation charity WWF said poaching of elephants and illegal logging and fishing was putting the lives of critically endangered species at risk.

John Scanlon, the secretary general of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme that illegal trade should be tackled with the same tools and techniques as used against serious transnational crime.