Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
CITES 2013 – Bangkok, 12h50 (local time)
Press Release No. 3
The international community, inadequate in stopping the melting of the ice caps, is equally inadequate in protecting polar bears from international trade. The U.S. proposal to add polar bears to Appendix I of CITES was voted down yesterday with only 38 votes for, 42 against, and 46 abstentions (2/3 of the vote were necessary).
The agreement between the U.S. and Russia was not enough. The 27 members of the European Union abstained; they are well situated among the 70 countries that import polar bear hides and skulls each year.
Canada, spearheading the opposition the U.S. proposal, received support by other countries in favor of elephant and whale hunting.
Iceland and Norway, joined by others, esteem that 20,000 polar bears is not catastrophic.
The European counter-proposal “purely diplomatic and political,” as noted by Nigeria, was equally rejected.
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