CITES
celebrates its 35th anniversary of coming
into force
Geneva, 30 June 2010
- From medicine to musical instruments and
from fashion and beauty products to delicacies,
wildlife items in trade must be properly
regulated to ensure the continued survival
of animals and plants in the wild.
This is the main message
coming from the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora (CITES), which celebrates its
35th anniversary on 1 July 2010.
"While not a single
one of some 34,000 CITES-listed species
has become extinct as a result of international
trade until now, growing pressures on biological
resources make regulating global wildlife
trade even more relevant today than it was
in 1975 when countries brought this unprecedented
global treaty into force", said CITES
Secretary-General John Scanlon.
Global wildlife trade
has increased significantly since 1975.
CITES Trade Database, which registers legal
trade in wildlife, holds over 10 million
records of trade, with an average of 850,000
permits to trade in a CITES-listed species
issued annually by the Convention's member
States.
With the forthcoming
accession of Bahrain announced today, CITES
will have 176 Parties, while it only had
10 Parties 35 years ago, including Switzerland,
which hosts the Convention's Secretariat,
and the United States where the text of
the Convention was adopted.
"By being a pioneer
in adopting trade measures to prevent overexploitation
and relying on scientific advice for the
authorization of wildlife trade, CITES has
put the machinery in place to contribute
to the improved management of the key natural
assets of our planet", declared Ambassador
Betty E. King, Permanent Representative
of the Mission of the United States of America
to the United Nations Office and other International
Organizations in Geneva.
"Switzerland is
very proud to host a biodiversity-related
Convention that is able to deliver concrete
conservation results. We hope that the international
community will build on its successes for
many more years to come to contribute to
alleviating poverty and stopping the decline
in global biodiversity", added Mr Thomas
Jemmi, Deputy Director General of the Swiss
Federal Veterinary Office, the CITES Management
Authority of Switzerland.
"This treaty was
visionary because it was able to put practical
trade rules in place for the use of terrestrial
and marine species, before the global boom
created by the liberalization of trade and
the acceleration of transactions via Internet.
CITES is thus part of the transition to
a resource efficient 21st century Green
Economy", said Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary
General and Executive Director of the United
Nations Environment Programme, which administers
the CITES Secretariat.
CITES-listed species
that are traded in significant volumes include
species as diverse as orchids, crocodiles
and sea shells. More recently, CITES has
been used to address the precarious situation
of marine and timber species, such as the
great white shark and mahogany.
The Web-based CITES
Trade Data Dashboards, unveiled on the occasion
of this anniversary, use the trade data
from the annual reports of the Parties to
provide an instant overview of the magnitude
of wildlife trade per country and per species
group, such as mammals, birds or fish. For
instance, the Dashboard provides a way to
see general trends, such as "trade
volume over time"; "top 10 trading
partners", "top 5 items"
and "trade by source (e.g. wild or
captive breeding)".
"The International
Year of Biodiversity offers an opportunity
to both reflect upon the past successes
and mobilize efforts to address current
and future challenges. CITES has a proven
track record in managing wildlife trade
internationally. Its ongoing relevance and
ability to adapt to changing circumstances
are essential to the conservation and sustainable
use of wildlife," concluded Scanlon.
Note to journalists:
Media representatives are invited to an
official reception on the occasion of the
35th anniversary of the entry into force
of CITES. The reception will take place
at the Natural History Museum of the City
of Geneva on 1 July 2010 from 15h00 to 18h00.
Maldives is Walking
the Talk: Phasing Out Ozone-depleting Substances
Thursday, 17 June 2010 - The Maldives has
strongly renewed its commitment to carbon
neutrality with a declaration by its President
Mohamed Nasheed to phase-out HCFCs (hydro-chlorofluorcarbons),
the substitutes for chlorofluorocarbons
(CFCs), used in refrigeration, including
air-conditioning units, refrigerators and
various types of manufacturing processes.
HCFCs not only destroy
the stratospheric ozone layer which is essential
to life on Earth, but they are also greenhouse
gases. The Maldives has now committed to
phase-out the consumption of HCFCs, which
are mainly used in the air conditioning
in its nearly 100 tourist resorts spread
over its more than 1,200 islands.
"We believe that
going green isn't just ecologically sound
but also economically beneficial. The Maldives
is famed for its luxury resorts, whose refrigeration
systems are the source of most of the country's
HCFC emissions. Moving early to phase-out
the use of HCFCs over the next decade, not
only helps protect the beautiful tropical
environment tourists come to see, but also
positions Maldives as a strong eco-destination,"
said President Nasheed.
In 2007, the international
community took an important step for an
accelerated phase-out of HCFCs and President
Nasheed has pledged to make the Maldives
the world's first carbon-neutral country
by 2020, ten years ahead of the Montreal
Protocol phase-out schedule. The recent
Joint Declaration for the Implementation
of the HCFC Phase-out Management Plan (HPMP)
is one more step towards achieving this
goal and the Maldives can now also boast
having the world's first national phase-out
plan which specifically targets this group
of chemicals.
"The Maldives has
become the first country in the world to
receive the funding from the Multilateral
Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal
Protocol for the country's HPMP. This demonstrates
to the world that Small Island States can
also be at the frontline in the battle against
climate change and the protection of the
ozone layer," said Ms. Maria Nolan,
Chief Officer of the Multilateral Fund for
the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol.
High-level officials
from the Maldives and the United Nations,
along with high commissioners from India
and various national stakeholders, during
the recent meeting in Male discussed the
mechanism and the way forward in expediting
the implementation of the HCFC phase-out
plan.
"This dialogue
gave us the opportunity to brainstorm about
the implementation mechanism, including
the policy and legislations, private sector's
involvement, energy-efficiency benefits,
as well as how to put the HCFC phase-out
at an appropriate place in the carbon-neutrality
policy of the Maldives," said Mr. Javier
Camago, Chairman of the Executive Committee
of the Multilateral Fund.
"The Montreal Protocol's
success has shown that we now know that
together we can address climate challenges
through technology support and capacity-building
efforts. What we need now is leadership
to get further climate benefits from the
ozone layer protection. I am pleased that
the Maldives is demonstrating that leadership
role" said Mr. Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary
General and Executive Director of UNEP.
In April, President
Nasheed also brought the Maldives into the
limelight once again when he was chosen
as UNEP's 2010 Champion of the Earth. President
of the Maldives since 2008, he has received
increasing global recognition for his efforts
to curb climate change and raise awareness
of environmental issues, particularly as
it related to island-nations.
He featured prominently
in the international media in the run-up
to, and during, the United Nations climate
change conference in Copenhagen in December.
During that time, he even convened an underwater
cabinet meeting on the ocean floor to highlight
the grave climate change-related threats
to the Maldives.
He has also warned that
Maldivians may be forced to seek a new homeland
should rising sea levels make the Maldivians'
archipelago uninhabitable. Moreover, he
is campaigning for the protection of coral
reefs that helped save his country from
the devastating 2005 tsunami by absorbing
the brunt of the powerful earthquake-triggered
wave.
President Nasheed continues
to urge various leaders from developing
or vulnerable countries like the Maldives
to break away from carbon-based growth and
to embrace green technologies for a carbon
neutral future.
Background Information:
United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP)
UNEP is the United Nations
system's designated entity for addressing
environmental issues at the global and regional
level. Its mandate is to coordinate the
development of environmental policy consensus
by keeping the global environment under
review and bringing emerging issues to the
attention of governments and the international
community for action.
Montreal Protocol on
Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer
The Montreal Protocol
on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer
is an international treaty designed to protect
the ozone layer by phasing out the production
and consumption of a number of substances
believed to be responsible for ozone depletion.
The Treaty was opened for signature on 16
September 1987 and entered into force on
1 January 1989. Since then, it has undergone
five revisions, in 11000 (London), 1992
(Copenhagen), 1995 (Vienna), 1997 (Montreal),
and 1999 (Beijing). Due to its widespread
adoption and implementation, it has been
hailed as an example of exceptional international
cooperation and perhaps the single most
successful international agreement to date.
About the UNEP DTIE
Compliance Assistance Programme (CAP)
As an Implementing Agency
of the Multilateral Fund of the Montreal
Protocol, since 1991 UNEP through its Division
of Technology, Industry and Economics (DTIE)
OzonAction Programme has been strengthening
the capacity of governments ? particularly
National Ozone Units (NOUs) - and industry
in developing countries to elaborate and
enforce the policies required to implement
the Protocol and make informed decisions
about alternative technologies. The Protocol's
compliance regime requires countries to
achieve and sustain compliance, promote
a greater sense of country ownership and
implement the agreed Executive Committee
framework for strategic planning. UNEP strategically
reoriented its approaches and delivery mechanisms
in 2002 by creating a Compliance Assistance
Programme (CAP), under which the majority
of the CAP staff are based in UNEP's Regional
Offices, where they closely interact with
countries to support and sustain compliance.
