Highlights and images for 20 February 2020

Summary

Highlights for Thursday, 20 February 2020

Chair Akankwasah Barirega (Uganda) opened the Committee of the Whole (CoW) with reports from Chairs of Working Groups: the Budget and Terrestrial Species Working Groups reported that they are on track to finish their work by the end of the day. The Chair of the Avian Working Group said that a contact group will meet in the evening to discuss outstanding issues, including illegal killing.The CoW Chair also noted that nominations for COP-appointed councillors had been received in each subject area, and requested that Australia chair an open contact group to review them and make selection recommendations.The CoW then proceeded to consider and adopt listing proposals in CMS Appendices, including:

Jaguar, proposed for inclusion in Appendix I and II, due to severe threats to its migratory corridors and habitats;

Urial sheep, proposed for inclusion in Appendix II, with annotation that the listing concerns only populations within the Central Asian Mammals Initiative (CAMI) range;

Great Indian bustard, proposed for inclusion in Appendix I, including the development of a concerted action, due to the highly endangered status of the species;

Bengal florican, proposed for inclusion in Appendix II;

Little bustard, proposed for inclusion in Appendix I and II, due to severe declines;

Antipodean albatross, proposed for inclusion in Appendix I, due to its endangered status and its importance for the Ngāi Tahu, a Māori indigenous tribe in New Zealand; and

Oceanic white-tip shark, proposed for inclusion in Appendix I, due to its critically endangered status and it being targeted for its fins and meat.

There were also two proposals with different geographical scope to list the smooth hammerhead shark; one by Brazil for the regional population occurring in the exclusive economic zone of Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and adjacent international waters, and one by the EU for all populations worldwide. In their introductory statements, Brazil referred to the species' unfavourable conservation status and it being targeted by artisanal and industrial fisheries, while the EU emphasized that the species was highly migratory. While many parties supported a global listing, Australia opposed the listing for its population, deploring that it had not been duly consulted before the proposal was made, and explaining that the population in the vast Australian waters does not meet the migratory criterion. After Australia's proposal to exempt its population from the scope had received both support and opposition by parties, the matter was put to a vote: With 9 in favor, 47 opposed, and 5 abstentions, Australia's proposal was rejected. In the subsequent vote, the EU's global listing proposal was approved with 58 in favor, 1 opposed, and 3 abstentions. In both votes, the EU voted with 28 votes including the UK, while several votes by other parties could not be counted due to unconfirmed credentials. The proposal was forwarded to the COP for adoption.For more details on the day’s negotiations and to hear what delegates said in the corridors, see our daily Earth Negotiations Bulletin.

IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, has provided daily web coverage, daily reports, and producde a summary and analysis report from CMS COP13 which is now available in HTML and PDF.

Photos by IISD/ENB | Sean Wu

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