CITES to improve protection for polar bears, tigers and sharks
3 March is the international day of species conservation. This year, the date is particularly significant: only 10 days later, negotiations will commence at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Doha, Qatar. Issues on the agenda are the improvement of conservation of elephants, polar bears, tigers, tunas and sharks.
"2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity. We have the obligation to do everything in our power to root biological diversity even more deeply in the global political agenda. Our target must be to set a new course for an effective international conservation of species and to initiate an urgently needed trend reversal. Biodiversity, and thus the wealth of our planet, continues to disappear at an alarming rate," Federal Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen warned in the run-up to the conference.
This year, the conference will focus in particular on endangered fish species. Germany wants to achieve a better protection for the spiny dogfish and the porbeagle – two shark species which also live in German waters. Their meat is sold as a specialty called "Schillerlocken" or as fish and chips. The depletion of the stocks of both species through overfishing has reached a critical stage. Germany's aim is therefore to list these species in Appendix II of the Convention. Although this status of protection allows for international trade, the trade is limited to stocks which are not adversely affected by fishing. The US has proposed including 6 more shark species in Appendix II, and the protection of marine species such as Corallium spp. and Paracorallium spp. will be negotiated intensively as well.
Tunas have become the issue of heated debates. The strong demand for tuna in Japan has resulted in a catastrophic decline in stocks in particular in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean. For this reason, Monaco proposed listing the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna in the more stringent Appendix I in order to temporarily ban trade in this species. Intensive discussions are being held in the European Union on whether to support this proposal.
The protection of polar bears is on the agenda as well. The US submitted a proposal to list this symbol of climate change in Appendix I as well so that any trade in this species or its fur will be banned. Both Germany and the EU Commission support this proposal.
Ivory will be a hot topic at the conference once more. Tanzania and Zambia proposed transferring their elephant populations from Appendix I to Appendix II and allow one-off sales from ivory stocks. However, elephant poaching has increased and is currently higher than in previous decades, which adds fuel to the discussion. Germany advocates precautionary action as long as the causes for poaching are not clear, as releasing ivory stocks may lead to another increase in poaching.
Germany also welcomes the resolution submitted by the EU on tightening the CITES resolution on the conservation of tigers. The resolution aims to ensure that the breeding of Asian big cat species in captivity only serves the purpose of species conservation. There are only 3,500 tigers living in the wild. Trade in tigers bred in captivity or in tiger bones and fur must not be allowed because in this case as well, poaching may reach dangerous levels if trading is permitted again.
In 1973 the international day of species conservation was introduced, as on 3 March of that year the text of the CITES Convention was agreed. This was the first successful step in the conservation of species endangered by international trade.