Governments Rewriting Trade Rules for Imperiled Species

Governments Rewriting Trade Rules for Imperiled Species



 
May 2007 -   From June 3 to 15, more than a 
thousand delegates from 171 countries will convene in The Hague to 
determine the fate of 40 animal and plant species at risk of 
over-exploitation due to international trade.
Government Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered 
Species, CITES, will consider new proposals affecting the global 
protection of African elephants, Asian cats, whales, North American 
bobcats, leopards, rhinos, sharks, red and pink corals, slow lorises, and 
a host of plant and tree 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, said CITES Secretary-General 
Willem Wijnstekers. 

Willem Wijnstekers is secretary-general of the Convention on International 
Trade in Endangered Species, CITES. 
"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," Wijnstekers. "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." 
"Widely considered to be the largest international conservation Treaty, 
CITES matters enormously," said Will Travers, CEO of the UK-based Born 
Free Foundation and president of the Species Survival Network, a coalition 
of 80 organizations from 30 countries that support strong implementation 
of the CITES regulations. 
"It is perhaps the single greatest global tool for conserving wildlife 
from the potentially damaging impacts of trade," said Travers. 
"The decisions made at CITES are critically important for species 
threatened by illegal or unsustainable trade," said Crawford Allan, 
director of TRAFFIC North America, a wildlife trade monitoring group 
affiliated with WWF. 
"The priority species listed here either cannot sustain the current levels 
of harvest and trade or the illegal trade that continues despite it being 
banned under CITES," said Allan. "The CITES Conference is an opportunity 
for the world's governments to do something and the United States has a 
major role to play in making CITES work." 
CITES banned the international commercial ivory trade in 1989, but the 
controversy over trade in African elephant ivory is once again on the 
CITES agenda. 
Botswana and Namibia have petitioned for the weakening of international 
trade controls, while, Kenya and Mali, supported by numerous other African 
elephant range states, propose the establishment of a 20 year moratorium 
on even considering renewal of elephant ivory trade. 

Elephant ivory confiscated from poachers 
Conservationists say lifting the current ban on trading in elephant ivory 
could be disastrous for elephant populations worldwide. 
"Proposals to further relax the current prohibition on trade in elephant 
ivory are particularly indefensible when evidence strongly suggests that 
seizures of illegal ivory are at their highest level since the ban was 
first introduced 17 years ago," Travers said. 
"Allowing any legal trade in ivory simply will add to the deadly pressure 
already experienced by many elephant populations across Africa and Asia," 
said Travers. "Are CITES Parties seriously willing to knowingly contribute 
to a slaughter reminiscent of the days when innumerable elephant carcasses 
unceremoniously littered the African savannah?" 
Allan said, "The ongoing poaching of elephants and illegal international 
trade in ivory is stimulated by rampant ivory sales in some countries, 
particularly in Africa and Asia. Despite previous CITES decisions, and 
valiant efforts of some countries, these markets persist. 
"The time has come to put political will behind serious efforts to close 
down these illegal and unregulated ivory markets, the true driver of 
elephant poaching," he said. 
This year’s meeting promises to be dominated by marine species issues. 
Japan has submitted a document proposing a process to circumvent 
international prohibitions on whaling and international commercial trade 
in whale products. 
CITES Parties will also consider increasing protection for sawfish, 
cardinalfish, the Brazilian population of the spiny lobster - two species 
of sharks, the porbeagle and the spiny dogfish. 
Populations of the seven species of sawfish have drastically declined. 
They are traded as live animals for public aquariums, and also for their 
fins and meat. Their distinctive saw-like snouts are sold as souvenirs and 
ceremonial weapons, while other body parts are used for traditional 
medicines. Sawfish are found off the Atlantic coast of the United States. 
WWF is calling upon governments to include these species in CITES Appendix 
I, which bans all international commercial trade, and the the Species 
Survival Network agrees 
"Overexploited species such as sawfish will benefit from an international 
prohibition on commercial trade," Travers said. 
Porbeagle shark is in demand 
In Europe, the meat of the porbeagle and spiny dogfish is consumed, the 
latter under the misnomer "rock salmon" in British fish and chips and as a 
smoked meat delicacy in Germany. Their fins are exported to Asia for use 
in shark fin soup. The medium-sized, highly migratory porbeagle shark is 
also used as fertilizer. 
Conservationists urge that these shark species be included in CITES 
Appendix II, which allows commercial trade on the condition that specimens 
are legally obtained and that the trade is not detrimental to the wild 
population. 
Tigers, rhinos and three species of primates - gorillas, chimpanzees and 
orangutans - are still declining despite in numbers years of CITES 
protections. 
WWF is calling on governments and CITES to enforce existing laws and 
impose stiff penalties to deter would-be traders in live animals, and 
parts used in traditional Asian medicines. 
Some 5,000 species of animals and 25,000 species of plants already are 
protected by CITES regulations. 
"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," said Executive Director Achim Steiner of the UN 
Environment Programme, which administers the CITES secretariat. 
Steiner said, "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." 
       
      

---