IELP Goes to The Hague to Protect Endangered Species

June 15, 2007

The Hague, Netherlands

Today is our last day at the CITES meeting in The Hague! It is with heavy heart, full minds, and excitement that we share our last experience of participating in this impressive forum of international environmental law. As was started yesterday, the last days of a meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP) is held in a Plenary session with all Parties present. The committee chairs recap every proposal and document discussed during Committee I and II meetings of the previous 12 days, and the Parties have one last chance to revote, amend, reject, or approve. As you may imagine, this leaves room for a great deal of exciting and dramatic discussion as 171 Parties re-debate the decisions of the past 2 weeks. Some issues (and species) such as elephants, tigers, whales, sharks, and the budget can be expected to receive ample discussion during the Plenary session.

A decision regarding whales (specifically the review of fin whales – meaning reviewing their listing on the CITES Appendices) received a great deal of debate. Countries intervened and brought up real and perceived procedural problems with the decision. Politics often take over in these settings, which are often very difficult to understand (often impossible). However, after over an hour-and-a-half of discussion, the original decision was finally, grudgingly (by some) re-adopted. Interestingly, after the elephant debates discussed in previous sessions, the Parties did not question the consensus agreement reached yesterday. However, they did debate at length whether the budget for CITES would increase. With over 67 decisions to review, the whale discussion and the budget proceedings threatened to stretch the last day of this CoP into a very long meeting. Eventually, the Parties agreed to a 6% increase to the budget, meaning that each country would have a 6% increase in the amount it pays (based on the United Nations adjusted scale of payment for each country) into the Secretariat to manage the day-to-day operations of CITES and to implement the decisions adopted at this meeting.

Several issues were re-opened for debate, and reversed. Red and Pink Coral species had been proposed (and accepted) for CITES listing during the Committee I meetings. However, in Plenary, the Parties requested a re-vote and the Corals were denied listing. A rare gazelle in Algeria however, which was denied listing on Appendix I during the Committee I meetings, was reviewed, and unanimously placed on Appendix I during Plenary. As you can see, participants must pay great attention not only to procedure and science, but to the attitudes and positions of each Party – during Committee meetings and Plenary. CITES seems to be a constant lobbying session, and the decisions made in the Committees are anything but final!

Well, we must leave early in the morning, so we will have to sign off here. This experience has been extremely rewarding, educational, and fun. We all met many delegates, other NGOers, and were able to participate in one of the world’s largest multilateral environmental agreements. We hope you have enjoyed reading about our experience. Please feel free to ask us questions if you see us. We are all excited to try to attend the next meeting of the Conference of the Parties, and hope some of you will do so as well. (The next meeting will be in Qatar in 2010).

Links

CITES Secretariat
Species Survival Network