Trade in shark fins, turtles and other threatened species will come under scrutiny at a global wildlife summit in Panama starting Monday, which will also focus on the spread of diseases like Covid-19.
Conservation experts and representatives from more than 180 nations will come together to consider 52 proposals aimed at changing the protection levels set by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
CITES delegates will also take stock of the fight against fraud and vote on new resolutions, such as the increased risk of animal-to-human transmission of disease linked to human trafficking and increasing following the 2020 Covid-19 outbreak became a big problem.
CITES, in force since 1975, regulates trade in around 36,000 plant and animal species and provides mechanisms to combat illegal trade. It sanctions countries that break the rules.
The Meeting of the Parties to the Convention takes place every two to three years.
This year, it takes place in the shadow of two major United Nations conferences concerned with the future of the planet and all of its inhabitants: the COP27 climate conference, currently taking place in Egypt, and the COP15 conference on biodiversity in December Montréal.
At its last meeting in Geneva in 2019, CITES stepped up protections for giraffes and was close to imposing a total ban on sending wild-caught African elephants to zoos.
Delegates also upheld a ban on the sale of ivory in southern Africa and decided to list 18 species of rays and sharks on Appendix II of CITES, requiring the trade to be tracked and regulated.
– ‘Shark Extinction Crisis’ –
This year, delegates will consider a proposal to regulate trade in requiem sharks, hammerhead sharks and guitarfish.
“It would be a historic moment if these three proposals were adopted: we would go from controlling around 25 percent of the shark fin trade to more than 90 percent,” said Ilaria Di Silvestre, the European Union’s director of campaigns for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
Meanwhile, Luke Warwick of the Wildlife Conservation Society warned that “we are in the midst of a very major shark extinction crisis.”
He said sharks, which are vital to the ocean’s ecosystem, are “the second most threatened vertebrate group on the planet.”
“The trade in shark products — particularly fins, which can be valued at around $1,000 per kilogram in markets in East Asia — for use in shark fin soup, a luxury-status dish, is driving the demise of these ancient sea predators around the world.”
Sue Lieberman, the vice president of the Wildlife Conservation Society, told AFP that China — one of the biggest consumers of shark fin soup — has never voted in favor of a CITES marine species proposal, but often “implements it after it’s accepted. “
“I like to say this is the Reptilian COP,” said Lieberman, who has attended every CITES summit since 1989.
Three species of crocodiles, three species of lizards, various snakes and 12 freshwater turtles stand for a total trade ban.
“The world’s freshwater turtles are being unsustainably and illegally exploited for the pet trade, foraging trade and food trade in Asia,” Lieberman said.
– Endangered violin wood –
Trade in specific trees is also being studied, with proposals to include African mahogany and some species of variegated flowering trumpet tree in Appendix II.
Brazil has called for a total ban on the trade in pernambuco wood – which is already protected – and worries musicians around the world because it has been used for centuries as a main source of wood to make bowed instruments such as violins and cellos.
TRAFFIC, CITES’ scientific advisory body, has recommended rejecting the proposal, which is unlikely to get the required two-thirds of the vote.
The meeting in Panama, which runs through Nov. 25, is the first since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Wuhan, China, which many scientists believed originated in bats before infecting humans.
“CITES is all about international trade, and of course, live wildlife markets like Wuhan are not within the purview of international trading corporations,” Lieberman said.
“Nevertheless, CITES needs to make a statement… It seems to us that it would be highly inappropriate for CITES, let alone for its first meeting after the pandemic started. So we’re hoping they’ll adopt something.”
