Summary
On Wednesday, 26 July, the 23rd meeting of the Plants Committee (PC23) spent the morning in working groups on African tree species, annotations for Appendix-II orchids, and rosewood timber species, and convened in plenary in the afternoon.
Noting that orchids are a “uniquely heterogeneous family,” the working group on annotations for Appendix-II orchids, chaired by alternate Europe representative Ursula Moser (Switzerland), discussed the complexity of value chains that involve orchids and the importance and challenge of engaging industry stakeholders in this work.
The working group on African tree species, chaired by Africa representative Aurélie Flore Koumba Pambo (Gabon), discussed how to facilitate the exchange of experiences among range states, importing countries, and others in the sustainable use and management of CITES-listed African tree species.
In the working group on rosewood timber species, co-chaired by alternate North America representative Isabel Camarena Osorno (Mexico) and Europe representative Paulo Carmo (Portugal), participants discussed, among other things, issues related to the lack of information to support the formulation of non-detriment findings for rosewood species.
In the afternoon plenary, PC Chair Adrienne Sinclair praised participants for their efforts on the “complex” issues addressed in working groups. Participants considered documents and agenda items on: agarwood-producing taxa (Aquilaria spp. and Gyrinops spp.); African cherry (Prunus africana); the outcomes of the international workshop on CITES-listed tree species; and possible amendments to Resolution Conf. 10.13 (Rev. CoP15) on implementation of the Convention for timber species. They also noted regional reports.
IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, has provided daily web coverage and a summary and analysis report from the 29th Meeting of the CITES Animals Committee, Joint Meeting of the CITES Animals and Plants Committees, and 23rd Meeting of the CITES Plants Committee. The summary and analysis is now available in HTML and PDF.
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Rosewood Timber Species
View of the dais in the working group on rosewood timber species
César Beltetón, PC representative for Central and South America and the Caribbean
Thomasina Oldfield, TRAFFIC
Delegates in the working group on rosewood timber species
Ankit Yogi, Overseas Traders
PC Chair Adrianne Sinclair, Canada, consulting with Greg Leach, PC representative for Oceania
Karen Winfield, Global Eye
Jago Wadley, Environmental Investigation Agency
Annotations for Appendix-II Orchids
View of the dais in the working group on annotations for Appendix-II orchids
Catherine Rutherford, Switzerland
Jacob Phelps, International Union for Conservation of
Nature (IUCN)
Luisa Corbetta, Italy
African Tree Species
Paticipants in the working group on African tree species
Rosemarie Gnam, US
Chair Aurélie Flore Koumba Pambo, PC representative for Africa
Nils Bourland, Belgium
Narcisse Lambert Mbarga, Cameroon
Plenary
View of the dais during the afternoon plenary
Susanne Breitkopf, Environmental Investigation Agency
Noeleen Smyth, UK
Interpreters at work during the plenary session
Delegates from Italy
Marco Ciambelli, France
Ali Mahamane, PC representative for Africa