CoP18 continues fight to protect endangered species – and rhinos get a break

Colombo hosts CoP18, the Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), with news from China about rhino horn and an outcry over South Africa’s plan to export more lion skeletons likely to move onto the agenda.

The organization’s new Secretary-General, Ivonne Higuero, a Panamanian, will chair the meeting.

Reuters reports that China has postponed the lifting of a ban on the trade of rhino horn and tiger parts for medicine and other uses, after a storm of protest from conservation groups over a plan to water down the decades-old prohibition.

Elephants also appear to be getting a break. The analysis prepared by the CITES Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) program shows that the poaching trend of African elephant has now dropped for six consecutive years, since its peak in 2011.

South Africa’s doubling of lion bone exports promises to draw condemnation at the meeting. Already in decline throughout Africa, lions face a new threat: growing demand for their body parts. In July 2018 South Africa announced that it would nearly double the number of lion skeletons that may be exported from captive breeding facilities to 1,500. National Geographic, which reported the plan, notes that the bones are sought for use in traditional medicines and trinkets, mostly in Southeast Asia.

Dr. Paul Funston, a director of the Pantheras Lion Program, warns that the legislation of a trade in lion bones would stimulate the market and endanger both captive and wild lion populations. Other conservation organizations also criticize the plan.

Other issues for the meeting include the illegal trade in European eels and prized rosewood.

CITES stresses that wildlife crime is serious, but that assessing its scale is very difficult because it remains outside mainstream criminality. The organization regulates international trade in over 36,000 species of plants and animals, including their products and derivatives, to ensure their survival in the wild with benefits for the livelihoods of local people and the global environment. The CITES permit system seeks to ensure that international trade in listed species is sustainable, legal and traceable.

CITES was signed in Washington DC on Mar 3, 1973, and entered into force on Jul 1, 1975.