TRAFFIC’s recommendations on the proposals to amend the Appendices of CITES (the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) have been released.
Parties to CITES will be asked to vote on whether the proposals should be adopted by the Convention or not at the forthcoming meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP15) in Doha, Qatar, which takes place from 13–25 March 2010.
TRAFFIC recommendations are put forward for all but two of the 42 proposals being presented at CoP15. They relate to wildlife ranging from beetles and lizards to plants and timber.
“TRAFFIC’s recommendations are based on the best scientific information and knowledge of wildlife trade markets currently available,” said Steven Broad, Executive Director of TRAFFIC.
“We trust that our recommendations, read in conjunction with the IUCN-TRAFFIC analyses of the proposals, offer CITES Parties sound conservation advice on which to base their decisions.”
TRAFFIC recommends support for a number of proposals to list marine species such as sharks, corals and tuna, to ensure trade in these resources is managed sustainably.
Some marine proposals were rejected at the previous CITES CoP, in part because of differences in the interpretation of the intended scope of CITES engagement in fisheries trade. However, there has been considerable progress in ironing out these differences and a recent Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Panel on marine issues has expressed support for several of the proposals now before CITES Parties.
A list of proposals can be found on the TRAFFIC CoP15 website.
