The 50th Standing Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) concluded a week-long session in Geneva on 19 March. Particular attention was paid to ivory and caviar trade, leading to mixed feelings from environmental groups. The Standing Committee announced that it might take action against four countries revealed to have ivory available on domestic markets, while several countries set to legally sell ivory stockpiles faced opposition from some CITES Parties. On the other hand, key caviar-producing states were granted more time to verify their compliance with rules to regulate the trade.

Possible action against four countries

Recent CITES investigations revealed that Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti and Nigeria all had ivory widely available in unregulated domestic markets (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 19 March 2004). The Geneva meeting called for 'refinements' to a draft plan for Parties to take action against the four countries by next year if trade in ivory had not ceased. The draft would then be submitted for approval to the 165 Parties to the Convention at COP-13, to be held this October in Thailand.

The draft seeks a cessation of all domestic sales of raw, semi-worked or worked ivory and legislation banning the products as soon as possible. In addition, law enforcement and border control agencies should make every effort to enforce existing or new legislation, while public awareness campaigns on existing or new bans of ivory sales should begin immediately. The eventual goal is "to bring a halt to once and for all the illegal trade in ivory", the Secretariat said. The African countries would have to report on action taken by the end of this year. If such measures had not been taken, the CITES Secretariat could propose a ban on trade in all wildlife products with those countries.

Opposition to the legal sale of ivory

Further weighing in on the ivory trade, the CITES Committee ruled that South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana should not yet carry on with the sale of 60 tons of stockpiled ivory (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 19 March 2004). In November 2002, CITES gave permission to the three countries to sell their ivory stocks, but not before May 2004 and only if certain conditions had been met (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 7 November 2002). At the meeting Kenya reported that the agency responsible for keeping track of elephant populations and poaching figures, called Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE), had not provided statistics to the CITES Secretariat because it had not received numbers from elephant range states. Kenya also noted that Botswana and Namibia had not yet reported on how the proceeds from CITES' first permitted sale of ivory in 1999 had been used, possibly violating the condition that profits from the ivory trade are to be used exclusively for elephant conservation or community development programmes within the elephant range.

Regardless of the outcome, a number of wildlife and conservation groups were pleased with CITES' effort to control the domestic ivory trade. Peter Pueschel, the International Fund for Animal Welfare's program manager on wildlife trade, said "It is imperative that stringent conditions for trade and verification of those conditions are met by both the export and import countries before any ivory trade proceeds."

Extension on caviar compliance granted

In contrast, the CITES Committee's decision on the caviar industry did not resonate so well with environmental groups. The Committee agreed to give four Caspian Sea countries -- Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan -- an extra three months to fulfill international obligations on conservation. The move upset many ecologists seeking a suspension in the international trade of beluga caviar, which are harvested from sturgeon populations. Caviar Emptor, a coalition of three groups seeking to protect Caspian sturgeon, said, "The CITES reprieve means that the spring fishing season, the biggest of the year, will go forward."

The three groups -- the Natural Resources Defense Council, Seaweb, and the University of Miami's Pew Institute for Ocean Science -- insist that the global premium placed on Caspian sturgeon has led to over-fishing and illegal trade that is threatening the existence of the ancient species. They accused the four countries of taking no steps to manage sturgeon populations or illegal trade of the species; populations are estimated to have plunged by 90 percent since the 1970s. However, UN spokesman Michael Williams defended action taken thus far, saying, "These states have done a lot. There's no lack of political will." The extension will be used for the four countries to fill in information gaps that have been "unclear and incomplete", he added.

The 13th Conference of the Parties will be held from 2-14 October in Bangkok, Thailand. Meanwhile, the 20th Animals Committee meeting will be held from 29 March - 2 April in South Africa.

ICTSD reporting; "UN Allows Caspian Countries More Time on Caviar Practices," UN WIRE, 22 March 2004; "Ecologists Upset That UN Prolongs Caviar Trade," REUTERS, 22 March 2004; "CITES Gets Tough With Ivory Trade," ENS, 19 March 2004; "UN Body Considers Action Over Ivory Trade," REUTERS, 19 March 2004.