CITES decisions map future of wildlife trade

Environmental officials from 171 countries are leaving The Hague today after adopting more than 100 formal decisions that update the regulations governing international wildlife trade. New issues on the conference agenda included the need to protect the livelihoods of poor communities dependent on wildlife trade and the growth in wildlife trade over the Internet. Whales The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, CITES, closed its triennial meeting by once more turning back attempts by Japan, Iceland and their pro-whaling allies to lift restrictions on international commercial trade in whale products. After a heated debate that threatened to bring the meeting to a standstill, the CITES delegates adopted an Australian resolution that no reviews of whale species should take place as long as the International Whaling Commission's ban on commercial whaling continues. Marine Species At the CITES conference, extensive discussions on marine species led to the inclusion in CITES of the European eel, a popular food in many countries. The eel joins a growing list of high-value fish and other marine species whose trade is managed through the CITES permit system to ensure that stocks are not depleted. This trend reflects growing concern about the accelerating decline of the world's oceans and fisheries, said CITES Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers. Two globally threatened shark species were left behind. By a narrow margin CITES delegates declined to adopt protections for the spiny dogfish and the porbeagle shark. The decision on these two sharks, made on World Ocean Day June 8, dismayed conservationists. "Shark species worldwide are in a tailspin due to overfishing and poor management, and often no management at all," said Carroll Muffett, deputy campaigns director of Greenpeace USA, a member organization of the Species Survival Network. Red, pink and other coral species in the genus Corallium will be better protected from over-exploitation after CITES adopted a proposal from the United States to list Corallium in Appendix II. These corals are used mainly for the manufacture of jewelry and art. They are found throughout the world's tropical and temperate seas and are harvested in the Mediterranean and western Pacific. Over-harvesting and other threats including pollution, trawling of the seabed by fishing vessels and global warming are among threats to the corals, found from the tropics to temperate waters. "This is the best possible decision to start getting the trade in these corals under some form of international control," said Ernie Cooper, a coral trade expert from TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network. Elephants CITES decided to allow some trade in elephant ivory before a nine-year ban is imposed. CITES banned the international commercial ivory trade worldwide in 1989. But four southern African countries want to sell at least 60 tons of legally acquired ivory from healthy and well managed herds, saying they need the proceeds for conservation. Other African range states and most environmentalists say that even a legal ivory trade will encourage elephant poachers. Under the compromise by African range states reached on June 13, each of four southern African countries will be permitted to make a single sale of ivory in addition to the total sale of 60 tons that was agreed in principle in 2002 and approved by the CITES Standing Committee on June 2. After these shipments have been completed, no new proposals for further sales from these four countries will be considered by CITES during a "resting period" of nine years. Tigers Raising captive tigers for international trade in tiger parts was rejected by CITES member countries on June 13. China was urged to phase out its commercial tiger farms, a decision conservationists are calling a victory for wild tiger conservation. Investors in captive tiger breeding centers in China have been pressuring the Chinese government to lift its 14 year old ban on trade in tiger parts so they can legally sell products like tiger bone wine and tiger meat. "India spoke out strongly and courageously for their wild tigers, along with Bhutan and Nepal," said Dr. Susan Lieberman, director of WWF's Global Species Program. The CITES decision also said that countries with "intensive breeding operations" should limit numbers to "a level supportive only to conserving wild tigers". China has not successfully introduced farmed tigers to the wild. John Sellar, CITES senior enforcement officer, was skeptical after visiting a breeding center in China this year. "The potential for any of those tigers to be used for conservation purposes seems to be very limited, if existent at all," he said. Bobcat The United States' proposal to delete the bobcat from Appendix II was rejected. The US delegates argued that the species is thriving and that look-alike issues are no longer a concern due to improved identification techniques. Range state Mexico opposed the proposal and, with Humane Society International, noted a lack of up-to-date information on bobcat populations, problems differentiating bobcat parts from those of more endangered lynx species, and noted that the CITES Animals Committee is reviewing all cat species. The Guatemalan beaded lizard was uplisted from Appendix II to I, so that all international trade is forbidden. Endemic to the Motagua Valley, it belongs to a unique family of lizards with venom glands. There are fewer than 250 of these lizards remaining due to land use change, illegal traffic for collectors, and extermination by local people based on long-held but false beliefs about the nature of their venom. Trees A new timber species was added to the list of CITES protected species. The trade in brazilwood will now require CITES permits, although exports of bows for musical instruments are exempted. But the European Union withdrew its proposal to include Cedrela in CITES Appendix II, which allows trade in a species under strict permit conditions. Cedrela, also called Spanish cedar, includes seven species in the mahogany family found in Central and South America that are in demand for furniture and finish carpentry. WWF and TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, criticized the CITES' failure to support Cedrela conservation. "It is a shame how this opportunity was missed," said Ximena Barrera from WWF Colombia. "We lost a decade of conservation action for another tropical tree, big-leaf mahogany, because it took 10 years to include it on CITES Appendix II. As a result, this species is now on the verge of commercial extinction. The same is likely to happen with Cedrela if the current exploitation levels continue." CITES is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. The trade is diverse, ranging from live animals and plants to a vast array of wildlife products derived from them, including food products, exotic leather goods, wooden musical instruments, timber, tourist curios and medicines. Levels of exploitation of some animal and plant species are high and the trade in them, together with other factors, such as habitat loss, is capable of heavily depleting their populations and even bringing some species close to extinction. Many wildlife species in trade are not endangered, but the existence of an agreement to ensure the sustainability of the trade is important in order to safeguard these resources for the future. CITES is an international agreement to which countries adhere voluntarily. States that have agreed to be bound by the Convention ('joined' CITES) are known as Parties. Although CITES is legally binding on the Parties–in other words they have to implement the Convention–it does not take the place of national laws. Rather it provides a framework to be respected by each Party, which has to adopt its own domestic legislation to ensure that CITES is implemented at the national level. The next CITES conference will take place in Doha, Qatar, in 2010.