Thu, Mar 14, 2013 -
55 proposals accepted, 9 rejected and 6
withdrawn. Strong enforcement measures to
fight wildlife crime also adopted. Next
meeting will be held in South Africa in
2016
Rapidly rising demand
for these precious tropical hardwoods has
led to serious concerns that unregulated
logging is depleting populations of already
rare species.
Bangkok, 14 March 2013
- The triennial World's Wildlife Conference
closed today with robust measures adopted
to protect precious timber and marine species
from overexploitation.
FURTHER RESOURCES
Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
170 governments have turned to CITES to
ensure the legal, sustainable and traceable
trade in their precious timber and forest
products, with the Conference unanimously
bringing hundreds of new timber species
under CITES controls, along with a number
of tortoises and turtles and a wide range
of other plant and animal species. Five
shark species and manta rays were also brought
under CITES controls following a vote.
The members States declared
the 3rd of March as the World Wildlife Day
and accepted South Africa's invitation to
host the 17th meeting of the Conference
of the Parties to be held in 2016.
The CITES Secretary-General,
John E. Scanlon, said: "This is a big
day for CITES and for the world's wildlife.It
takes enormous effort to negotiate treaties
and then make them work.The international
community has today decided to make best
use of this pragmatic and effective agreement
to help it along the path to sustainability
in our oceans and forests. CITES Parties
have heeded the call from Rio+20 and recognized
the important role of CITES as an international
agreement that stands at the intersection
between trade, the environment and development."
Unprecedented levels
of international cooperation to combat serious
wildlife crime have seen past differences
set aside to stop the poaching of elephants
and the rhinoceroses for their ivory and
horn. These international commitments will
now be translated into national action,
with the CITES Standing Committee reviewing
progress between now and the next meeting
in 2016.
The Asian and African
Development Banks, the Global Environment
Facility (GEF), the World Bank and the United
Nations Development Programme have all attended
this meeting in recognition of the need
to scale up investment in the implementation
of CITES. The CITES member States have decided
to explore the possibility of making the
GEF a financial instrument for the Convention.
The first global meeting
of wildlife enforcement networks took place
alongside the main meeting to scale up regional
enforcement capacity and coordination to
respond to the serious threat posed to wildlife
by criminal networks. Several events of
the International Consortium to Combat Wildlife
Crime (ICCWC) brought together Government
Ministers, the world's Wildlife Enforcement
Networks, the Asian Development Bank, chief
justices, attorney generals, senior police
and Customs, and enforcement officers to
discuss transboundary wildlife crime.
The member States also
adopted historic provisions to refine the
standards for making scientific findings;
determine the State responsible for issuing
documentation for marine species harvested
in international waters; assess the impact
of CITES decisions on the livelihoods of
rural communities; and address potential
conflict of interest that could significantly
impair the impartiality, objectivity or
independence of members of the CITES committees.
The Member States, observers
and the CITES Secretariat thanked the extraordinary
generosity of the Kingdom of Thailand and
its people in hosting this meeting and recognized
it as a contributor to the meeting's success.
Precious timber
International trade
in a range of rosewoods and ebonies from
Asia, Central America and Madagascar will
now be regulated by the Convention. Rapidly
rising demand for these precious tropical
hardwoods has led to serious concerns that
unregulated logging is depleting populations
of already rare species. Range States, including
the host country, Thailand, believe that
regulation under CITES will help them manage
these valuable resources more sustainably.
The joint programme
between CITES and the International Tropical
Timber Organization (ITTO) will support
the efforts of the countries concerned to
strengthen their capacities to implement
the Convention.
Cross-border movement
of wooden musical instruments was also addressed
during the meeting. Special procedures under
CITES have been agreed for musicians and
institutions travelling with musical instruments
containing precious woods such as Brazilian
rosewood, and other productes of species
listed by the Convention.
Sharks and manta rays
The meeting reached
a climax today after an attempt to reopen
the debate on these species in the closing
Plenary was narrowly defeated. The Parties
confirmed a decision made by one of the
Conference's Committees earlier in the week
to include five commercially valuable shark
species in Appendix II. The oceanic whitetip
(Carcharhinus longimanus), scalloped hammerhead
(Sphyrma lewini), great hammerhead shark
(Sphyrna mokarran), smooth hammerhead shark
(Sphyrna zigaena) and the porbeagle shark
(Lamna nasus) are harvested in huge numbers
for their valuable fins and, in some cases,
meat. From now onwards, they will have to
be traded with CITES permits and evidence
will have to be provided that they are harvested
sustainably and legally. These listings
mark a milestone in the involvement of CITES
in marine species.
In the Committee meeting,
the oceanic whitetip shark (proposal 42)
had been adopted by 92 votes in favour,
42 against and 8 abstentions after a secret
ballot. Colombia introduced the proposal,
supported immediately by co-proponents Brazil
and the United States of America. Those
against the listing argued that regional
fisheries management organisations (RFMOs)
were best placed to tackle the decline in
shark stocks.
Brazil then submitted
proposal 43 to list three species of hammerhead
sharks. The scalloped hammerhead shark occurs
widely in coastal warm temperate and tropical
seas and is exploited extensively for its
fins. The proponents highlighted the significant
declines in the population of the species
that have been reported in many areas, and
it emphasized the importance of the outcomes
of the Rio+20 summit last year for better
protection of marine species. Two other
species of hammerhead sharks (the great
hammerhead and smooth hammerhead) have similar
fins that are hard to distinguish in trade,
and the proponents, recommended that these
too be subject to CITES trade controls.
The proposal was adopted by secret ballot
with 91 votes in favour, 39 against and
9 abstentions.
After two unsuccessful
attempts at previous CITES Conference meetings,
the proposal to list the porbeagle shark
(proposal 44) was also adopted by secret
ballot with 93 votes in favour, 39 against
and 8 abstentions. Ireland, on behalf of
the European Union Member States and Croatia,
presented the proposal and announced an
implementation package of EUR 1.2 million
to assist developing countries in the implementation
of the listing of this and other marine
species. The proponents welcomed the impressive
alliance of countries co-sponsoring the
proposal and argued that requiring CITES
export permits will ensure that international
markets are supplied by fish from sustainably
managed fisheries that keep accurate records.
This species has experienced severe population
declines, notably in the northern Atlantic
ocean and the Mediterranean, owing to unsustainable
fishing for its high-value meat and fins.
Ecuador introduced proposal
46 for the inclusion of manta ray species
in Appendix II. The proposal was adopted,
again by secret ballot, with 96 votes in
favour, 23 against and 7 abstentions. Manta
rays are slow-growing, large-bodied migratory
animals with small, highly fragmented populations.
They have among the lowest reproductive
rates of any marine animals, with females
giving birth to only one pup every two to
three years, making them extremely vulnerable
to overexploitation. Most known populations
are small in size, although there is an
exceptional population of one species in
the Maldives, estimated at 5,000 or more.
Manta gill plates fetch high prices in international
markets and have been traded in significant
numbers in recent years.
Elephants
Strategic decisions
were adopted for the first time about on-the-ground
actions to collectively address the elephant
poaching crisis and the escalating illegal
trade in ivory. A unprecedented united African
front, setting aside divergences, to address
this crisis.
The general 'rules of
the game' for trading in elephants or elephant
products were thoroughly revised, modernized
and strengthened up (e.g. addressing e-commerce,
systematically using forensics, monitoring
ivory stockpiles, controlling live elephant
trade, dealing with countries that are persistently
involved in illegal trade in ivory, etc.)
A suite of targeted
actions focusing on the 30 countries mostly
involved in or affected by the illegal killing
of elephants and the illegal trade in ivory.
An agreement to continue debating future
of trade in ivory, and keep management options
open was also reached.
An agreement was also
adopted to strengthen the African Elephant
Fund and the African elephant action plan.
Rhinoceros
The Conference also
requested Parties concerned to prosecute
members of organized crime groups implicated
in rhinoceros related crimes under a combination
of relevant legislation which carry appropriate
penalties that will to act as effective
deterrent. Those countries should submit
rhino horn samples from seized specimens,
to designated accredited forensic laboratories.Countries
were also asked to consider stricter domestic
measures to regulate the re-export of rhino
horns products from any source and develop
and implement demand reduction strategies
aimed at reducing the illegal movement and
consumption of rhino horn products.
Member States have agreed
to develop and implement strategies to enhance
community awareness of the economic, social
and environmental impacts of illicit trafficking
in wildlife and convene a CITES Rhinoceros
Enforcement Task Force to develop strategies
to improve international cooperation.
Wildlife Incident Support
Teams (WISTs)
The Conference decided
to establish Wildlife Incident Support Teams
(WISTs) consisting of enforcement staff
or relevant experts, to be dispatched at
the request of a country affected by a significant
poaching incident related to illegal trade
or that has made a large-scale seizure of
CITES listed specimens, to assist and guide
appropriate follow-up actions in the affected
or intercepting country, in the immediate
aftermath of such an incident.
Big cats
Range States were requested
to organize national seminars in Appendix-I
Asian big cats, involving all relevant enforcement
agencies, to promote a multi-disciplinary
approach that will facilitate improved coordination
and cooperation in the detection, investigation
and prosecution of wildlife crime offences.
An agreement was also
reached to undertake a study on Cheetahs
to determine how best to address the alleged
illegal trade in live specimens. Better
rules were adopted to refine the leopard
trophy hunting system.
The World's Wildlife
Conference in numbers (see also table attached
with main results):
Inclusion of new species
in Appendix II: 343 species
Transfer from Appendix
I to Appendix II: 4 species
Transfer from Appendix
II to Appendix I: 4 species
Deletion from Appendix
II: 11 species
Deletion from Appendix
I: 6 species
Changes to annotations:
40 species
Some totals are approximate
because of uncertainty over number of species
in higher taxonomic listing
Other numbers:
A total of approximately
2,234 participants including Parties, observers,
media and visitors.
1,150 delegates from
170 Parties
14 observers from non-Parties
84 participants from
21 IGOs (FAO, INTERPOL, UNDP, UNEP, UNCTAD,
WORLD BANK, etc.)
201 participants from
44 international NGOs
215 participants from
123 national NGOs
53 participants from
37 organizations from the Private Sector
438 media representatives
20 officials visitor
from day one
500 visitors approximately
on a daily basis
65 side-events
300 articles and TV
news in Thai speaking media
320 articles of English-speaking
mainstream media
