After years of anticipation, months of preparation and two hectic weeks in South Africa, the 17th Conference of the Parties (CoP17) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) draws to a close. Here's a summary of some of the key outcomes of the conference
At the CITES CoP17 meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, countries pledged to do more to curb poaching and illicit trade in totoaba fish which threatens the survival of the critically endangered vaquita porpoise. This is a positive sign but international cooperation is vital to ensure enforcement actions take place.
A recent survey by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) of marine product sellers in southern China and Hong Kong revealed a continuing illegal trade in a banned fish species which, if left unchecked, will lead to the extinction of the vaquita – the world’s most endangered marine mammal.
A key recommendation directed to the Hong Kong authorities to counter the illicit trade in Siamese rosewood has finally been accepted. In an EIA-hosted event at CITES, the Hong Kong Management Authority announced that enactment of the legislation has been scheduled for November
On the eve of Hong Kong’s formal destruction of about three tonnes of ivory – 10 per cent of its stockpile, the remaining 27 tonnes of which are due to be destroyed in a further dozen incinerations – EIA joined a coalition of 61 organisations to call on the Government of Hong Kong to ban all ivory sales
Screened as the three-part mini-series Crimes Against Nature 2 on National Geographic Channel (Asia), the programmes were a year in the making and take viewers into the murky and high-stakes underbelly of global environmental crime, from Scandinavia to Africa and Asia