Geneva, May 2007 - The
Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
will hold its next triennial conference
in The Hague from 3 to 15 June to decide
how to improve the wildlife trade regime.
Among other issues, the participating Governments
will consider some 40 new proposals for
amending the rules for specific species.
Many of these proposals reflect growing
international concern about the accelerating
destruction of the world's marine and forest
resources through overfishing and excessive
logging.
Others seek to advance the protection or
sustainable use of diverse plants, reptiles,
birds and mammals. Still others aim to recognize
conservation successes by removing from
the CITES Appendices species that are no
longer threaten by overexploitation.
Other issues on the agenda include the
adoption of a new strategic vision for the
period 2008 to 2013, the enforcement of
CITES regulations and the control of illegal
trade, and the potential impacts of CITES
measures on the livelihoods of the rural
poor, who are often on the frontlines of
managing and caring for wildlife.
In addition, the Government of the Netherlands
will organize CITES' first Ministerial debate
on Wednesday 13 June. The debate will focus
on timber, fisheries and how CITES can best
support the enforcement efforts of its Parties
to combat illegal trade.
"For over 30 years CITES has played
an important role in ensuring that the wildlife
trade is managed sustainably and does not
threaten the survival of any species. The
acute challenges of the 21st century ? from
achieving the 2010 target for reducing the
rate of loss of biodiversity to realizing
the Millennium Development Goals by 2015
? make CITES more relevant today than ever
before," said Executive Director Achim
Steiner of the United Nations Environment
Programme, which administers the CITES secretariat.
"It is vital that CITES continue to
evolve so that it can respond effectively
to the growing challenges facing our natural
environment and the communities that most
depend upon it. The debate over the inclusion
of additional high-value fishery and timber
species will be an important indicator of
the direction CITES is likely to take over
the coming years," said CITES Secretary-General
Willem Wijnstekers.
Marine species
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations (FAO), in 2002 the
world's capture (non-aquaculture) fisheries
produced 93.2 million tonnes of fish, of
which 84.5 million came from the sea. The
value of the total marine and freshwater
catch at the first point of sale was around
USD 78 billion. As a result, it is estimated
that some 47 % of marine fish stocks or
species groups are fully exploited, 18 %
overexploited and 10 % significantly depleted
or recovering from depletion. (See www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5600e/y5600e04.htm)
A growing number of commercially exploited
fish have come under CITES controls in recent
years, for example the basking and whale
sharks were included in Appendix II in 2002
and the great white shark and the humphead
wrasse in 2004. This year's proposals (see
www.cites.org/eng/cop/14/prop/index.shtml)
seek to expand CITES coverage of marine
species to two other sharks, the European
eel, red or pink coral, sawfishes, a type
of cardinelfish popular in the aquarium
trade and finally two species of lobsters.
The spiny dogfish (Proposal no. 16) is
a small shark that was once abundant in
temperate waters. It is now overexploited
for its meat, which is highly valued in
Europe (often featuring in British "fish
and chips" shops) and elsewhere. Like
many other sharks, it is particularly vulnerable
to excessive fishing because of its slow
reproductive rate. It also tends to travel
in large schools of hundreds or thousands,
which are easier for fishing boats to track.
Germany on behalf of the European Community
(EC) proposes listing the dogfish in Appendix
II (which manages trade through a permit
system) and establishing a sustainable fishery
management programme for the species.
The porbeagle shark (Prop. 15) has also
experienced population declines, notably
in the northern Atlantic and the Mediterranean,
owing to unsustainable fishing for its high-value
meat and fins. The proposal by Germany on
behalf of the EC notes the lack of consistent
data on the global catch of this species.
It argues that requiring CITES export permits
would ensure that international markets
are supplied by fish from sustainably managed
fisheries that keep accurate records.
The European eel (Prop. 18) spawns in the
Sargasso Sea in the eastern Atlantic. The
larvae then ride the Gulf Stream on a three-year
migration towards Europe, where they enter
estuaries and metamorphose into young fish.
A popular food, eels live in coastal and
freshwater ecosystems throughout Europe
and the Mediterranean. Noting that stocks
have declined dramatically over the past
several decades owing to overfishing and
other causes, Germany on behalf of the EC
is proposing to require export permits by
listing the eel on Appendix II.
The most valuable of all the precious corals,
red or pink coral (Prop. 21) has been harvested
for over 5,000 years and used for jewellery
and other decorative items. These tiny marine
animals (known as polyps) build vast colonies
throughout the tropical, subtropical and
temperate oceans. The resulting reefs and
colonies create extremely valuable habitat
for innumerable other species. But overharvesting
and the destruction of entire colonies by
bottom trawls and dredges have led to dramatic
population declines. The United States proposes
adding the red or pink coral to Appendix
II to control the trade.
Once widespread from the tropics to the
temperate latitudes, and living mostly in
coastal areas, sawfishes (Prop. 17) have
seen their numbers decline by over 90 %
throughout their range. Their rostral saws,
teeth, fins and another body parts bring
high prices and are used in traditional
medicine and as curios, while live specimens
are sought for aquaria. If agreed in The
Hague, the proposal by Kenya, Nicaragua
and the United States would add sawfishes
to Appendix I, which would forbid all international
commercial trade.
The Banggai cardinelfish (Prop. 19) has
been popular in the aquarium trade since
1995, with some 700,000 to 900,000 fish
now being collected every year. Its limited
geographic range, small population and particular
reproductive habits render it particularly
vulnerable to overexploitation. The proposal
of the United States calls for managing
this species through the CITES permit system.
It also argues that existing captive-breeding
facilities could meet much of the demand.
Finally, Brazil proposes a CITES Appendix-II
listing for the Brazilian populations of
the Caribbean spiny lobster and the smoothtail
spiny lobster (Prop. 20). It states that
after 50 years of intense commercial exploitation,
these two species have been over-fished
for export to international food markets.
The lobsters live in coastal waters, including
reefs and seaweed banks, and take some four
years to reach full maturity.
Timber species
It is widely recognized that tropical forests
are under severe pressure from logging and
land conversion. FAO estimates that the
world lost over 0.8 % of its tropical forests
every year between 1980 and 11000. From
11000 to 2000, the annual loss of forest
cover in many tropical countries continued
to be significant, in many cases over 1
% per year.
Timber trees, like fishery species, have
only recently started to be covered by CITES.
However, as loggers scour the remaining
tracts of forest and selectively remove
high-value timbers, concern has grown over
the need for better controls. The CITES
member States have already agreed to include
Latin America's bigleaf mahogany and Southeast
Asia's ramin and agarwood trees in Appendix
II.
Germany on behalf of the EC is proposing
an Appendix-II listing for three species
of rosewood (Props. 31 and 32). This species
grows only in the swamp forests of southern
Belize and nearby regions of Guatemala and
Mexico. The proposal argues that this species
is threatened by increasing deforestation
in the region and that it is very much sought
after as tonewood for musical instruments.
Easier access to its habitat and declining
stocks of other rosewoods may boost trade
levels.
The cedar (Prop. 33) of Central and South
America, once a common tree, has been selectively
cut for at least 250 years for its timber.
This timber is valued locally for its resistance
to rotting and insects and internationally
as a precious wood. The cedar also suffers
from extensive deforestation. To protect
the species from being further reduced throughout
its natural range, Germany on behalf of
the EC proposes listing it on Appendix II
and requiring trade permits.
Ivory
The long-running global debate over the
African elephant has focused on the benefits
that income from ivory sales may bring to
conservation and to local communities living
side by side with these large and potentially
dangerous animals and concerns that such
sales may encourage poaching. This year's
proposals (Props. 4 to 6) again reflect
opposing views on how best to improve the
conservation of the world's largest land
animal.
CITES banned the international commercial
ivory trade in 1989. Then, in 1997, recognizing
that some southern African elephant populations
were healthy and well managed, it permitted
Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe to make a
one-time sale of a stock of ivory to Japan
totalling 50 tonnes. The sales took place
in 1999 and earned some USD 5 million.
In 2002, CITES agreed in principle to allow
a second sale from Botswana (20 tonnes),
Namibia (10 tonnes) and South Africa (30
tonnes). (In 2004 a request that CITES authorize
annual quotas was not agreed.) The one-time
sales were made conditional on the ability
of the MIKE programme (Monitoring of Illegal
Killing of Elephants) to establish up-to-date
and comprehensive baseline data on elephant
poaching and population levels. MIKE was
established to provide an objective assessment
of what impact future ivory sales may have
on elephant populations and poaching.
To date, the CITES Standing Committee,
which oversees the implementation of CITES
decisions when the Conference of the Parties
to CITES (CoP) is not in session, has not
determined that the MIKE baseline data have
been assembled, and so the sales have not
taken place. This issue will be revisited
when the Standing Committee meets again
in The Hague on 2 June, just before the
opening of the CoP.
For this year's conference, Botswana and
Namibia have jointly submitted a new proposal
to maintain the elephant populations of
Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe
in Appendix II while easing the conditions
for permitting future sales of ivory. In
addition, Botswana is requesting authorization
for a one-off sale of 40 tonnes of existing
ivory stocks followed by an annual export
quota of up to eight tonnes of ivory per
year from its national population.
Taking the opposing view, Kenya and Mali
are proposing that a ban on trade in raw
or worked ivory from Botswana, Namibia,
South Africa and Zimbabwe be imposed for
a period of 20 years. They argue that allowing
any trade in ivory will increase the poaching
of elephants.
A meeting of the African range States is
scheduled to take place in advance of the
conference, on 31 May and 1 June, in an
effort to produce a regional consensus on
how to move forward together on managing
the continent's elephant herds.
Other listing proposals
The slow loris (Prop. 1) is a small, nocturnal
primate that is native to South and Southeast
Asia. The proposal states that the two species
of slow loris are threatened by high and
growing demand in Asian countries for traditional
medicines and pets. They also suffer from
escalating habitat destruction. Cambodia
contends that transferring these species
from Appendix II to Appendix I, thereby
forbidding all commercial trade, would help
raise public awareness of the need to protect
it and would boost national conservation
measures.
Algeria proposes adding several gazelle
species (Props. 10 to 12) to Appendix I.
Guatemala seeks to transfer the beaded lizard
(Prop. 14) from Appendix II to I. Uganda
would like to transfer the population of
Ugandan leopards (Prop. 3) from Appendix
I to Appendix II to allow limited trade
in sports trophies. Brazil proposes moving
the Brazilian population of the black caiman
(Prop. 13) from Appendix I to Appendix II.
Other proposals call for removing species
altogether from CITES on the grounds that
they no longer require such protection.
These include a type of agave (Prop. 22),
a succulent plant, the North American bobcat
(Prop. 2), the ornamental plant oconee bells
(Prop. 28) and several cactus species (Props.
24 and 25).
The strategic vision, enforcement and other
issues
The meeting will negotiate and adopt a new
text to replace the strategic vision adopted
in the year 2000. The purpose of the updated
strategic vision will be to improve the
working of the Convention and to ensure
that policy developments under CITES are
aligned with changes in international environmental
priorities. (See document CoP14 Doc. 11.)
The current draft of the text emphasizes
how CITES can: help to meet the UN Millennium
Development Goals; reduce significantly
the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010; ensure
stewardship of natural resources and their
use at sustainable levels; safeguard wildlife
as an integral part of the global ecosystem
on which all life depends; achieve deeper
understanding of the cultural, social and
economic issues at play in producer and
consumer countries; promote wider involvement
of civil society in the development of conservation
policies and practices; and give greater
attention to international trade in timber
and aquatic species.
The illegal trade in wildlife and the effective
enforcement of CITES regulations remain
major concerns for governments and feature
prominently on the conference agenda. For
example, delegates will debate how to improve
information gathering in order to obtain
a better overview of worldwide smuggling
and illicit trade. They will also be asked
to reconvene the CITES Enforcement Expert
Group, which consists of officials from
a variety of national and international
law enforcement agencies, to address this
issue.
Other enforcement issues on the table include
specific species heavily targeted by wildlife
criminals, notably: elephants, great apes
and tigers, sturgeon and mahogany; the possible
role of the Internet in facilitating illegal
trade; and special missions that have been
undertaken by the CITES Secretariat to examine
illegal trade. Recent missions have included
visits to forests and ports in Indonesia,
conducted in collaboration with UNEP's Great
Ape Survival Project, to study the harvesting
and smuggling of orang-utans, and travel
to the Tibet Autonomous Region of China
to examine the use of tiger and leopard
skins in clothing. This work aims to provide
insights into the difficulties faced by
operational law enforcement personnel and
to identify ways in which they can be supported
by the CITES community. (See documents CoP14
Doc. 23 to 32.)
While the primary goal of CITES is to conserve
biodiversity, governments have recognized
that there are linkages between biodiversity
and conservation and the livelihoods of
poor people. There are also ethical, political
and pragmatic reasons for taking into account
the potential impacts of CITES regulations
on the livelihoods of the poor. The conference
will explore practical measures for achieving
this, including a proposal for making a
series of assessments and case studies of
how CITES decisions currently impact livelihoods.
(See document CoP14 Doc. 14.)
Delegates will also consider a recommendation
that the Addis Ababa Principles and Guidelines
for the Sustainable Use of Biodiversity,
which have been agreed under the Convention
on Biological Diversity, be considered as
a voluntary additional tool that governments
can take full account of when implementing
CITES. (See document CoP14 Doc. 13.)
Backgrounder: Understanding CITES
Thousands of species are used by people
in their daily lives as pets or for food,
fashion or health care. CITES recognizes
that commercial trade in these plants and
animals may be beneficial both to conservation
and to the livelihoods of local people.
When wildlife trade is unregulated, it can
seriously damage populations of species,
especially those that are already vulnerable
as a result of other factors, such as habitat
loss. Governments responded to this concern
by adopting CITES in 1973 to regulate the
international wildlife trade so as to ensure
that it remains at a sustainable level.
With some 171 Parties, CITES remains one
of the world's most powerful tools for biodiversity
conservation through the regulation of trade
in wild fauna and flora.
Even after commercial fishing and the timber
industry are set aside, the international
trade in wildlife is big business, estimated
to be worth billions of dollars annually
and to involve more than 350 million plant
and animal specimens every year. Unregulated
international trade can push threatened
and endangered species over the brink, especially
when combined with habitat loss and other
pressures.
CITES provides three regulatory options
in the form of Appendices. Animals and plants
listed in Appendix I are excluded from international
commercial trade except in very special
circumstances. Appendix I contains about
530 animal species and a little more than
300 plant species, including all the great
apes, various big cats such as cheetahs,
the snow leopard and the tiger, numerous
birds of prey, cranes, and pheasants, all
sea turtles, many species of crocodiles,
tortoises and snakes, and some cacti and
orchids.
Commercial international trade is permitted
for species listed in Appendix II, but it
is strictly controlled on the basis of CITES
permits. This Appendix II covers over 4,460
animal species and 28,000 plant species,
including all those primates, cats, cetaceans,
parrots, crocodiles and orchids not listed
in Appendix I.
Finally, Appendix III includes species
that are protected within the borders of
a member country. By including a species
in Appendix-III a country calls on others
to help it regulate trade in the listed
species. This Appendix lists over 290 species.
CITES, then, does much more than regulate
trade in large charismatic mammals. It sets
up a green certification system for non-detrimental
wildlife trade (based on CITES permits and
certificates), combats illegal trade and
related wildlife offences, promotes international
cooperation, and helps to establish management
plans so that range States can monitor and
sustainably manage CITES-listed species.
CITES requires each member State to adopt
the necessary national legislation and officially
designate a Management Authority that issues
permits to trade. Governments must also
designate a Scientific Authority to provide
scientific advice on imports and exports.
These national authorities are responsible
for implementing CITES in close cooperation
with Customs, wildlife enforcement, police
or similar agencies.
As the impact of trade on a population
or a species increases or decreases, the
species can be added to the CITES Appendices,
removed from them, or transferred from one
Appendix to another. These decisions are
to be based on the best biological information
available and an analysis of how different
types of protection can affect specific
populations.
It is worth noting that when a species
is transferred from Appendix I to Appendix
II, its protection has not necessarily been
'downgraded'. Rather, it can be a sign of
success that a species population has grown
to the point where trade may be possible
with strict oversight. In addition, by allowing
a species to be commercially traded at sustainable
levels, an Appendix-II listing can actually
improve protection by giving local people
a greater stake in the species' survival.
The preliminary review by the CITES Secretariat
described above focused on whether the proposals
from governments have sufficiently addressed
the various listing criteria. These criteria
relate to: trade (is the species being actively
traded? is trade really the problem rather
than, say, habitat destruction?); biology
(what is the scientific evidence that populations
are declining or increasing?); and other
technical matters (e.g. has the proponent
consulted thoroughly with other range States?).
Note to journalists: To accredit yourself
for the conference, please complete and
submit the form at http://www.cites.org/eng/cop/14/E-CoP14-media-accreditation.pdf.
For further information, see www.cites.org
or contact Michael Williams at +41-79-409-1528
(cell), +41-22-917-8242 (office), michael.williams@unep.ch;
or Juan-Carlos Vasquez at +41-22-917-8156
(office) or juan.vasquez@cites.org.
