CITES COP18 MEETING TO BE ONE OF THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL EVER
(Posted 26th July 2019)
The CITES Secretariat provided a briefing last week to over 80 representatives from Geneva-based diplomatic missions and international organizations on the forthcoming World Wildlife Conference – CITES CoP18 to be held in Geneva, Switzerland from 17 to 28 August 2019.
The Geneva Environment Network (GEN) supported the briefing, and Bruno Pozzi, Director of the Europe Office of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), welcomed the guests and invited the CITES Secretary-General Ivonne Higuero to give an overview.
In her overview of CoP18, Secretary-General Ivonne Higuero firstly thanked the Sri Lankan Government for all the efforts made in preparing for CoP18 which regrettably had to be moved to Geneva due to security concerns. She noted that governments around the world are recognizing CITES as a powerful tool to respond to the growing biodiversity crisis and to prevent the declines in wildlife populations. The 20% increase in agenda items and 3,000+ pages of working documents tabled for discussion at CoP18 show the growing interest in CITES but also reflect the growing tasks faced by the 183 Parties to the Convention.
The Secretary-General said that wildlife crime and major wildlife seizures stories often hit the headlines but CITES is the fundamental global treaty that addresses both legal and illegal trade in wildlife. It is known as a “convention with teeth” – something disputed by many who continue to accuse CITES of simply having no teeth – because of its strong compliance measures. In response to the growing challenges, Parties at CoP18 will adopt a wide range of decisions to expand and strengthen the global wildlife trade regime.
During the briefing, the members of the Secretariat highlighted issues of interest which include key proposals that will change the levels of protection of over 500 species including the divergent and contentious proposals on elephant and rhinoceros. Further, CoP18 will discuss documents that describe trade-related concerns for species and taxa currently not included in the CITES Appendices and contain recommendations, inter alia, to determine a potential future role for CITES in their management and conservation. These involve non-CITES listed rosewoods, songbirds, amphibians, sharks and rays, marine ornamental fish, Bangai cardinal fish, eels and frankincense.
Presentations of the Secretariat also focused on measures to combat corruption, wildlife crime linked to the internet and the report on the progress made in implementing National Ivory Action Plans (NIAPs); capacity building efforts to assist Parties, the e-CITES project that aims to modernize the CITES permitting system and workflow, and various agenda items on livelihoods of the people who live with wildlife and the engagement of rural communities in CITES processes; the National Legislation Project, the Compliance Assistance Programme and the Legal Acquisition Findings initiative.
Concerning the proposed budget for the next triennium (2020-2022), the Secretariat noted the significant increase of the workload of the Convention and the Secretariat over the years, which requires urgent consideration by Parties. Most notably, the number of CoP decisions, which assigns specific tasks to the Convention bodies and the Secretariat, has increased nearly three fold from 126 to 352 between CoP15 (2010) and CoP17 (2016) and are expected to further increase at CoP18. The number of Parties has also increased from 152 to 183 since 2000, all while the staffing resources have declined from 26 to 24. This has resulted in the Convention bodies and the Secretariat staff being overstretched, which may affect the effectiveness of their servicing of the Convention. The Secretariat underlined the need for further support of Parties for the financial and human resources it needs to carry out the tasks mandated by the Parties.
Keen interest of the foreign missions in CITES CoP18 was demonstrated by their high participation in the briefing and questions asked during the Q&A session. Many participants acknowledged the importance of CoP18, expressed their support for the successful convening of the meeting, and effective attendance of their own delegates from both capitals and Missions in Geneva.
At the meeting will again the two main school of thought, one willing to open up trade in ivory and the other one imposing even stricter measures to prevent any kind of legal trade in ivory products and it will be interesting to see how discussions unfold when the meeting opens.
One Response
Regarding the last paragraph, the two schools of thought on ivory trading, none or legal, could each better claim their relevant legitimacy, if the world were to see hard commitments requested from CoP18 to the UN and each respective governments, for identification and prosecution at both ends of uncovered illegal shipments, trans-shipments and further known final destinations, companies and individuals. This could lead to, and create where it does not currently seem to exist or bring results at whatever minor level it may be happening, for more serious major international cooperation and support to linking with those customs authorities, local police and Interpol who find such transgressions to more seriously reveal, and better investigate those where information on shippers, receivers and users can be revealed and then prosecuted at both ends, or publicly revealed and pursued or at least named and shamed in local and international media, providing the incentives then for wider public support by those young and dedicated older conservationists who can better galvanise public opinion to meaningful change in each, and all such communities and countries who do not wish to see this endless, repeating transgressions until those species are no more, except in zoos and, then later, only in books or their future equivalent, until even the electricity runs out and we prove to truly have been living the last 50-60 years in what I have described as “the New Dark Ages” where the people of the world have not yet done enough to ensure the future of these threatened species that we will all be the lesser for should they continue to disappear altogether.
If not you and other concerned and more widely aware media are not the ones to urge a louder voice from CoP18 be heard, by Whom Then??