Animals

The 15th conference of the parties of CITES has just ended in Doha. The porbeagle shark was put back on the table following the intervention of Singapore, which believed that there had been technical problems with the first vote. The debates were evaded by a procedural trick and the proposal passed directly to vote. The proposal was rejected by three votes. Iceland, candidate to join the European Union, and Japan, which will host the Conference for Biodiversity next October, in showing the best intentions in the world, warmly hugged each other in the middle of the conference room to congratulate themselves on this failure of Europe and the protectors of sharks. Associations such as the Japan Fisheries Association quickly left to celebrate the result of intense lobbying. Installed to protect endangered species of wild fauna and flora from the excesses of international trade, CITES has progressively become a convention of the protection of trade. The delegate from Guinea summarized yesterday in plenary an analysis of a lot of the participants: “My comment is very bitter; I notice after having carefully listened to the debates that economic considerations dominate the environmental vision.” Decisions on marine species confirmed that the sea is considered by the international community as a reservoir for food, healing and decoration, but when it is time to protect it, it’s almost deserted, just like around Doha.

The 15th conference of the parties of CITES has just ended in Doha. The porbeagle shark was put back on the table following the intervention of Singapore, which believed that there had been technical problems with the first vote. The debates were evaded by a procedural trick and the proposal passed directly to vote. The proposal was rejected by three votes. Iceland, candidate to join the European Union, and Japan, which will host the Conference for Biodiversity next October, in showing the best intentions in the world, warmly hugged each other in the middle of the conference room to congratulate themselves on this failure of Europe and the protectors of sharks. Associations such as the Japan Fisheries Association quickly left to celebrate the result of intense lobbying. Installed to protect endangered species of wild fauna and flora from the excesses of international trade, CITES has progressively become a convention of the protection of trade. The delegate from Guinea summarized yesterday in plenary an analysis of a lot of the participants: “My comment is very bitter; I notice after having carefully listened to the debates that economic considerations dominate the environmental vision.” Decisions on marine species confirmed that the sea is considered by the international community as a reservoir for food, healing and decoration, but when it is time to protect it, it’s almost deserted, just like around Doha.

Only 86 species of fish appear among some 34,000 species listed in Appendices 1 and 2 of CITES. After the bluefin tuna debacle last week, predictions were pessimistic about the fate of the 4 proposals to list sharks in Appendix 2. The porbeagle shark is the only to achieve this protection, which it made by only one vote. CITES doesn’t really have its sea legs. When it comes to addressing international trade in marine species, it delays taking responsibility, and using its toolbox to clean up the market. Japan is opposed to all of the proposals for listing sharks, even reconsidering the principle of control of international trade: “Appendix 2 stimulates the black market and creates a demand for a rare species.”

Only in French.

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
CITES 2010 – Doha
Press release n°5

Bluefin tuna will not be listed in the CITES appendices, not in appendix 1, not in appendix 2, not in anything at all. Monaco’s proposal was sunk in less than 3 hours following a flurry of objections and the agitated speech of Libya, which asked for the premature closure to the debates while waving a threatening finger at the assembly. The amendments that Spain, on behalf of the member countries of the European Community, had the time to present will not suffice, perhaps even to the contrary. Raising procedural questions, the amendments have had the ability since several days ago to put a number of parties on edge, by highlighting that the European Union is ill-placed to pose as a protector of tuna, when it was so late in promoting serious measures within the specialized convention, ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas). Several speakers argued that while rich countries could compensate their fishermen and pay for exit plans for their fleets, this was not the case for developing countries.

News in brief:

Bluefin tuna: The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas is not opposed to the listing of bluefin tuna in Appendix 2, and Australia has declared itself favorable to the idea; more to follow…

Polar bear: You can continue to purchase polar bear rugs and purses. The proposal of the United States to list it in Appendix 1 was rejected this morning. The European Union, the largest importer, contributed to this rejection. It was joined by Canada, Norway and Iceland. Polar bears, threatened by pollution in the Arctic, oil spills, ecotourism and the retreating ice shelf, are spending more and more time on land to find food; they are therefore more and more exposed to hunting. This icon of global warming was cut down in Qatar due to roadblocks of haggling and inertia. The European Union, as always talkative, “doesn’t want to isolate the case of the polar bear from an ambitious policy against global warming.”

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
CITES 2010 – Doha
Press release n°2

News in brief:

For a French ecologist who is accustomed to hydrocarbon and Volatile Organic Compounds odours, depending on Doha weather conditions, resembles both Fos-sur-Mer and Le Havre. The city is often covered by a smog of Arabian light oil and from the CITES conference centre, super-tankers can be seen crossing dhows made out of mangrove forest wood. The Israeli delegates are protected under tight security measures. That CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) in spite of diplomatic embargos permits for Israeli scientists and Arab countries to try to insure the survival of the ornate spiny-tailed lizard by listing it under appendix I is to the credit of the convention. Its range state residual intersects Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Yemen and Israel. In Doha, WWF and the Union European are global warming sceptics; they refuse the inclusion of the Polar Bear to appendix I.

The 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties of CITES, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora will take place in Doha, Qatar, from the 13th to 25th of March 2010. As with every precedent session since 1989, Robin des Bois will attend.

Currently at CITES there are 175 Parties. Decisions are based on a majority vote of 2/3. Appendix I bans international trade, Appendix II regulates trade and Appendix III is linked to an individual Party decision who asks other CITES Parties for assistance in controlling the trade. Robin des Bois’s summary of the previous CITES session is available on line at the following link (pdf in French).

The 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties of CITES, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora will take place in Doha, Qatar, from the 13th to 25th of March 2010. As with every precedent session since 1989, Robin des Bois will attend.

Currently at CITES there are 175 Parties. Decisions are based on a majority vote of 2/3. Appendix I bans international trade, Appendix II regulates trade and Appendix III is linked to an individual Party decision who asks other CITES Parties for assistance in controlling the trade. Robin des Bois’s summary of the previous CITES session is available on line at the following link (pdf in French).

Only in French.