UNEP CONFERENCE ON ENDANGERED SPECIES TAKES DECISIONS

ON STRATEGIES FOR WILDLIFE CONSERVATION

SANTIAGO, 15 November (UNEP) -- A two-week conference of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora ends today after adopting decisions that promote wildlife conservation through various strategies involving strict protection, trade regulation and sustainable use.

“The key to global wildlife conservation in the twenty-first century will be to craft solutions that meet the specific requirements of each species and its specific circumstances”, said Willem Wijnstekers, Secretary-General of the Convention, whose secretariat is administered by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

He said the Convention was well-placed to contribute to the conservation of a wide range of plants and animals through its rigorous system of trade permits and certificates, its ability to limit commercial trade when it proves detrimental to a species, and its support to national conservation and enforcement departments in developing countries.

Among the high-profile decisions taken here was the listing of mahogany which produces extremely valuable timber.  This listing requires each of the mahogany range States to ensure that all exports are sustainable and covered by the Convention’s export permits.

“It is highly significant that, after 10 years of discussion, the parties to the Convention have agreed to regulate the trade in Latin American mahogany”, said Mr. Wijnstekers.  “The well-tested control measures developed under the Convention will prove invaluable for discouraging illegal trade.  This decision will also benefit local and indigenous communities who have lost out to the illegal traders.”

Another critical decision reached in the final hours of the meeting was to list the whale shark and the basking shark.  This is widely considered a landmark agreement, since the Convention has not traditionally played an important role in global fisheries.

The whale shark is the largest fish in the world, measuring up to 20 metres in length and weighing up to 34 tonnes.  The listing proposal cited the species' declining numbers and the role of continued international trade in whale shark meat, fins, and liver oil.

The conference also added 26 species of Asian turtles to Appendix II.  Many turtles from South, South-East and East Asia are traded in significant quantities for regional food markets, Asian traditional medicines and international pet

markets.  Their numbers have been dwindling in recent years, and the newly listed species are vulnerable or endangered throughout their ranges.  There is extensive evidence of illegal trade, but turtles are also harvested for subsistence consumption.  Habitat loss is another major threat to their survival.

The trade in seahorses will also now be regulated for the first time.  Seahorse populations seem to have declined dramatically over recent years owing to commercial trade, by-catch in fisheries, coastal development, destructive fishing practices and pollution.

Three rare birds from Central and South America -- the yellow-naped parrot, the yellow-headed parrot and the blue-headed macaw -- have been accorded stricter regulation, reflecting concerns that the birds’ numbers have continued to decline in recent years due to trade and habitat loss.

A number of threatened species in Madagascar -- one of the world's most species-rich countries -- will also receive stronger protection.  They are the flat-tailed tortoise, various chameleons, a burrowing frog, and the Malagasy orchid.

The meeting also agreed to set a zero quota for commercial trade in the Black Sea population of bottlenose dolphins, which have declined greatly in recent years due to hunting, pollution and other stresses.

Building on an earlier consensus among most African elephant-range States, the conference also agreed on a rigorous regime for controlling any eventual trade in ivory stockpiles.  It conditionally accepted proposals from Botswana, Namibia and South Africa that they be allowed to make one-off sales of 20, 10 and

30 tonnes, respectively, of ivory.  The ivory is held in existing legal stocks that have been collected from elephants that died of natural causes or as a result of government-regulated problem-animal control.

The agreement requires any future one-off sales to be supervised through a strict control system.  The sales cannot occur before May 2004 to provide time for baseline data to be gathered on population and poaching levels and for the secretariat of the Convention to confirm whether any potential importing countries can effectively regulate their domestic ivory markets and are, thus, eligible for importing the ivory.  The aim of these controls is to prevent any illegal ivory from entering into legal markets and to discourage an upsurge in poaching.

Still other decisions taken by the conference seek to strengthen domestic conservation of threatened or endangered species already controlled by the Convention, including bears, the tiger, sturgeon, and the Tibetan antelope.

This twelfth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention was held from 4 to 15 November.  It was attended by some 1,200 participants representing 141 governments, as well as numerous observer organizations.  The next Conference of Parties will be held at the end of 2004, or in the first half of 2005, in Thailand.

Note to journalists:  For more information please call Juan-Carlos Vasquez in Santiago today at +56-9-443-4045.  From Monday, call Michael Williams in Geneva at +41-22-917-8242, +41-79-409-1528 (cell); or e-mail: michael.williams@unep.ch. See also www.cites.org.