From the C.I.T.E.S. website


Countries will vote to accept, reject or modify these proposals for amending the CITES Appendices at a conference to be held in The Hague, the Netherlands, from 3 to 15 June 2007. CITES Appendix II lists species that are at risk and whose import and export are controlled through a permit system and Appendix I lists species that are endangered and that may not be commercially traded.

The proposals may be fewer this time than at previous conferences but they confirm growing interest in commercially valuable timber and marine species.

Amongst the species targeted at the forthcoming meeting also feature the black caiman, the bobcat, several ornamental and medicinal plants and CITES’s well-known flagship species: the elephant.

The proposals on the African elephant reflect opposing views on how to improve the conservation and sustainable use of this species. Indeed, Botswana and Namibia have now submitted a proposal to maintain elephant populations of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe in Appendix II, and the United Republic of Tanzania is recommending that their elephant populations be transferred from Appendix I to Appendix II. They argue that trade in ivory of their elephant populations is sustainable and a valuable instrument of conservation. On the contrary, Kenya and Mali are recommending a trade ban in raw or worked ivory for a period of 20 years. They argue that allowing any trade in ivory will increase the killing of elephants.

The CITES Secretariat will publish its preliminary technical and scientific assessment of the proposals, together with its preliminary recommendations, at the end of February.

Tanzanian elephant absolutely should be downlisted to CITES Appendix II.

In the same vein, leopards everywhere should be downlisted to CITES Appendix II.

And anything Kenya and Mali have to say on this subject should be answered with vigorous opposition, not to say ridicule.

Especially Kenya. A regime whose wildlife conservation policies are utterly bankrupt, and whose politics are hideously corrupt even by African standards, has no standing to contribute anything to this debate.

Let us hope the decision makers somehow get to the right result.

But even if they do, the sad thing is that here in the USA we have the USFWS second-guessing and contravening much of what CITES and individual nations do anyway.

Often I think it's a wonder we can hunt big game in Africa at all anymore.

quote:

Originally posted by mrlexma:
Tanzanian elephant absolutely should be downlisted to CITES Appendix II.

In the same vein, leopards everywhere should be downlisted to CITES Appendix II.

And anything Kenya and Mali have to say on this subject should be answered with vigorous opposition, not to say ridicule.

Especially Kenya. A regime whose wildlife conservation policies are utterly bankrupt, and whose politics are hideously corrupt even by African standards, has no standing to contribute anything to this debate.

Let us hope the decision makers somehow get to the right result.

But even if they do, the sad thing is that here in the USA we have the USFWS second-guessing and contravening much of what CITES and individual nations do anyway.

Often I think it's a wonder we can hunt big game in Africa at all anymore.

Well Said!