Highlights for Monday, 20 April 2009
On Monday, 20 April 2009, David Morgan opened the 24th meeting of the Animals Committee (AC24) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) on behalf of CITES Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers. He stressed the need for members to make practical recommendations to the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP15), by considering the challenges faced by customs officials and others who implement CITES.
AC Chair Thomas Althaus (Switzerland) welcomed participants and lamented that the AC would not be meeting back-to-back or jointly with the Plants Committee (PC) this year. He noted that such meetings allow for the streamlining of the CITES scientific committees’ work on issues such as cooperation with other international instruments, evaluation of the review of significant trade (RST), and the international expert workshop on non-detriment findings (NDFs).
The AC established six working groups on: the RST; ranching; periodic review; sturgeon; sharks; and sea cucumbers.