On Monday, 26 March, Margarita Clemente, Chair of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Plants Committee (PC), re-convened the 20th meeting of the PC (PC20), thanking the Irish government for arranging the magnificent round setting of Dublin Castle as the venue. She acknowledged the full agenda, and reminded participants of the work completed during the joint meeting of the CITES Animals Committee (AC) and PC, including the establishment of the working group on strategic planning (PC20 Doc 12) and preparation of the Chair’s report for 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP16) (PC20 Doc 22).

In the morning, PC delegates heard initial presentations and established working groups on the Review of Significant Trade (RST), the periodic review of plants species included in the CITES Appendices, proposals for possible consideration at CoP16, including on Madagascar, and annotations. In the afternoon, delegates made rapid progress through the working programme, including: reports on intersessional work on agarwood-producing species; establishing a working group to agree on recommendations for CoP16; discussing timber species issues, including non-detriment findings (NDFs); the report of the intersessional working group on collaboration with the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); nomenclature matters; the RST in multiple Appendix-II species; and collaboration between CITES and the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO).

The PC established eight working groups in total, on: strategic planning and the Chair’s report for CoP16; the RST; the periodic review; Madagascar; annotations; agarwood; mahogany and neo-tropical timber species; and nomenclature. A drafting group on the report of the intersessional working group on bigleaf mahogany and other neotropical timber species was also established to prepare recommendations for CoP16. 

The Secretariat also reported on some of the outcomes of the Fifth meeting of the Chairs of the Scientific Advisory Bodies of the Biodiversity-related Conventions (CSAB), convened on Sunday, 25 March in Dublin. He said that the results of the joint meeting of the AC26/PC20 had been tabled during the meeting and that the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands agreed to finalize the group’s statement on IPBES in preparation for the 2nd meeting of IPBES in April.

At the end of the day PC20 participants enjoyed a reception in Dublin Castle, hosted by the Irish Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.