54th Meeting of the CITES Standing Committee
2-6 October 2006 | Geneva, Switzerland

ENB Summary

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Daily highlights:
Monday, 2 October - Tuesday, 3 October - Wednesday, 4 October - Thursday, 5 October - Friday, 6 October

Highlights for Wednesday, 4 October 2006

On Wednesday, delegates to the 54th meeting of the CITES Standing Committee (SC-54) considered the CITES Strategic Plan 2008-2013 and guidelines for the compliance with the Convention. Discussions on species trade and conservation issues focused on sturgeons and paddlefish, great apes, tigers and elephants.
International Caviar Importers Association and delegates from the Russian Federation discuss caviar export quotas during SC54.
CITES Strategic Plan 2008-2013
Chair of the Strategic Plan WG and SC Vice-Chair Alfred Oteng-Yeboah (Ghana), introduces the Strategic Plan, saying it takes note of key global challenges of meeting the Millennium Development Goals and the 2010 biodiversity target and places greater attention on timber and aquatic species.
Discussing the Strategic Plan, Israel stressed the importance of stricter domestic measures, and highlighted user fees as a way of securing the financial basis of the Convention.
Finland, on behalf of the EU, welcomed the draft Strategic Plan and a new strategic approach taken by CITES, noting that reducing the rate of global biodiversity loss should be the overarching objective of the Plan.
The DAVID SHEPHERD WILDLIFE FOUNDATION and JAPAN disagreed over the role of the Standing Committee in addressing non-compliance with CITES.
Sturgeons and Paddlefish
SC Chair Maquieira confers with the delegates from Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation on the proposed sturgeon WG.
The RUSSIAN FEDERATION presented its proposed strategy for sturgeon conservation.
On sturgeon export quotas for 2006, IRAN noted the common objective of long-term conservation of the species and requested flexibility so that livelihoods could be taken into account.
Great Apes
INDONESIA reported on national activities on orang-utan conservation, highlighting ASEAN-WEN’s role in generating momentum for strengthening national law enforcement.
CAMEROON, the current GRASP Council Chair, reported on national activities on great ape conservation and welcomed the recent decision of South Africa and Malaysia to repatriate the “Taiping Four” gorillas to Cameroon.
John Sellar, CITES Secretariat, reported on the CITES/GRASP technical mission to Indonesia, emphasizing combating illicit trade in relation to great apes.
Elephants
TRAFFIC reported increasing seizures and resurgence of illegal ivory markets, and urged punitive action against parties that do not report on compliance measures.
BOTSWANA encouraged cooperation between producer and consumer countries to contribute to conservation and sustainable management of elephant populations.
CHINA highlighted its efforts in combating illegal ivory trade, noting it is a global problem, and urged the SC to recognize it as a trading partner for ivory stockpiles.
Tigers
INDIA noted high-level political commitment to address tiger trade issues and highlighted management and enforcement challenges.
WWF, on behalf of 13 NGOs, called for urgent action on tigers before COP-14.
The US introduced its report on illegal trade in tigers which recommends, inter alia, establishing parameters to measure range States’ progress in combating international tiger parts trade.
Daily highlights:
Monday, 2 October - Tuesday, 3 October - Wednesday, 4 October - Thursday, 5 October - Friday, 6 October
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