New Trade Rules for Rare Plants and Animals

New Trade Rules for Rare Plants and Animals



March 2007 - Changes in the 
rules for international trade in elephant ivory, gazelles, 
leopards, sharks, eels, pink coral, rosewood, and cedar are 
just a few of the 40 new government proposals that will be 
decided at an upcoming meeting of the Parties to the UN 
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, 
CITES. 
Governments will accept or reject these proposals at the next 
triennial CITES conference, to be held in The Hague from June 
3 to 15. 
CITES Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers said, "This year's 
CITES conference will consider an increased number of 
proposals for high-value species from the oceans and forests." 

CITES Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers 
"This confirms that many governments increasingly view CITES 
as a vital tool for safeguarding the ecological and commercial 
future of key fisheries and timber-producing forests," he 
said. 
The Secretariat has published a provisional scientific and 
technical assessment of the new proposals for amending 
wildlife trade rules. 
Some proposals reflect growing international concern about the 
accelerating destruction of the world's marine and forest 
resources through overfishing and excessive logging, says the 
CITES Secretariat. 
Other proposals seek to advance the protection or sustainable 
use of plants, reptiles, birds and mammals. 
Still others aim to recognize conservation successes by 
removing from the CITES Appendices species that are no longer 
endangered. 
"Biological diversity faces many threats, ranging from habitat 
destruction to climate change to unrestrained commercial 
harvesting for trade," said Executive Director Achim Steiner 
of the United Nations Environment Programme, which administers 
the CITES secretariat. "By ensuring that the international 
trade in wildlife is carefully managed, CITES seeks to reward 
people engaged in sustainable trade while protecting the 
world's biological diversity," he said. 
The CITES System 
CITES provides three regulatory options in the form of 
Appendices. 
Appendix I: 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 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. 
Appendix II: 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. 
Appendix III: This appendix lists species that are protected 
within the borders of a member country. An Appendix III 
listing allows a country to call on others to help it regulate 
trade in the listed species. This Appendix lists over 290 
species. 
Elephant Ivory 
The 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 with these large 
and potentially dangerous animals versus concerns that ivory 
sales may encourage poaching. 
This year's proposals to CITES again reflect these opposing 
views on how best to improve the conservation and sustainable 
use 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 
ivory to Japan totaling 50 tonnes. The sales took place in 
1999 and earned some US$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. 
African elepahts in Chobe National Park, Botswana 
The one-time sales were made conditional on the ability of the 
Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants, MIKE, program 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. 
In October 2006, the CITES Standing Committee, which oversees 
the implementation of CITES decisions when the Conference of 
the Parties to CITES is not in session, determined that the 
MIKE baseline data was not yet complete and so the sales could 
not go forward. This issue will be revisited when the Standing 
Committee meets again in The Hague just before the June 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. 
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. 
Tanzania is for the first time recommending that its elephant 
populations be transferred from Appendix I to Appendix II, 
with no immediate quota, which opens up the possibility for 
future sales. Tanzania argues that trade in ivory would be 
sustainable and a valuable instrument of conservation. 
Taking the opposing view, Kenya and Mali are proposing that a 
trade ban in raw or worked ivory from all elephant range 
states be imposed for a period of 20 years. They argue that 
allowing any trade in ivory will increase the poaching of 
elephants. 
The CITES Secretariat believes that all of this year’s 
elephant proposals contain technical problems and a meeting of 
the African range states is scheduled to take place in advance 
of the June conference. 
Marine Species 
This year's proposals seek to expand CITES coverage of marine 
species to two more sharks, the European eel, pink coral, 
sawfishes, a type of cardinelfish popular in the aquarium 
trade and two species of lobsters. 
The spiny dogfish 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 featured in British fish and 
chips shops. 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 and establishing a 
sustainable fishery management program for the species. 
The pelagic porbeagle shark was declared globally Threatened 
by the IUCN-World Conservation Union in a 2005 assessment. 

The porbeagle shark has experienced population declines 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 spawns in the Sargasso Sea in the eastern 
Atlantic. The larvae ride the Gulf Stream on a three year 
migration towards Europe, where they enter estuaries and grow 
into young fish. A popular food, eels live in coastal and 
freshwater ecosystems throughout Europe and the Mediterranean. 
Noting that eels have declined over the past several decades 
due to overfishing and other causes, Germany on behalf of the 
EC proposes to require export permits by listing the eel on 
Appendix II. 
The most valuable of all the precious corals, pink coral has 
been fished for over 5,000 years and used for jewelery and 
other decorative items. These tiny marine animals build vast 
colonies throughout the tropical, subtropical and temperate 
oceans. The resulting reefs and colonies create valuable 
habitat for many other species. But overharvesting and the 
destruction of entire colonies by bottom trawls and dredges 
have led to steep population declines. The United States 
proposes adding the pink coral to Appendix II to control the 
trade by permit. 
The largetooth Sawfish, Pristis microdon, is a large, 
Endangered species of sawfish found in the Indo-West Pacific, 
in freshwater or inshore coastal waters. 
Once widespread from the tropics to the temperate latitudes, 
and living mostly in coastal areas, sawfish numbers have 
declined by over 90 percent throughout their range. Their long 
protruding 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 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 reproductive habits render it particularly 
vulnerable to overexploitation. The United States proposes to 
place this fish on Appendix II and argues that existing 
captive breeding facilities could meet much of the demand. 
Brazil proposes a CITES Appendix II listing for the Brazilian 
populations of the Caribbean spiny lobster and the smoothtail 
spiny lobster. After 50 years of intense commercial 
exploitation, these two species have been overfished for 
export to international food markets. The lobsters live in 
coastal waters, including reefs and seaweed banks, and take 
four years to reach full maturity. 
Timber species 
CITES has only recently begun to govern trade in timber trees. 
However, as loggers scour the remaining forests 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. 
This Steinway piano is covered in a veneer of rosewood from 
Belize. 
This year, Germany on behalf of the EC is proposing an 
Appendix II listing for three species of rosewood. 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 increase trade levels. 

The cedar 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. 
Other proposals 
Slow loris in China 
The slow loris is a small, nocturnal primate that is native to 
South and Southeast Asia. Cambodia proposes that 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 to Appendix I, 
which bans commercial trade. 
Guatemala seeks to transfer the beaded lizard from Appendix II 
to I. 
Uganda would like to transfer the population of Ugandan 
leopards from Appendix I to Appendix II to allow limited trade 
in sports trophies. 
Brazil proposes moving the Brazilian population of the black 
caiman 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, a succulent plant, 
the North American bobcat or lynx, the ornamental plant oconee 
bells and several cactus species. 
To view the technical proposals, visit: 
www.cites.org/eng/cop/14/prop/index.shtml 





 

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