Daily report for 21 November 2018

The Second Wildlife Forum took place on 21 November 2018, on the sidelines of the fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP14) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Approximately 160 participants attended the Forum, which addressed the overarching theme ‘Sustainable Use for Conservation and Livelihoods.’

The Second Wildlife Forum was organized by the Collaborative Partnership on Sustainable Wildlife Management, a voluntary partnership of 14 international organizations working to promote the sustainable use and conservation of wildlife.

The Forum brought together stakeholders from across the globe to discuss their shared experiences and seek creative solutions on issues related to the health and security of people and wildlife, the wild meat crisis, and the unsustainable use of wildlife.

Discussions from the Forum will feed into the priorities on sustainable wildlife management for the Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework, and the key messages forwarded to the Nature and Culture Summit held at the CBD COP 14 on 22-24 November 2018.

Opening Segment

David Cooper, CBD Deputy Executive Secretary and CPW Chair, welcomed participants to the Forum, stressing that wildlife is threatened through biodiversity loss and remains crucial to livelihoods of people around the world. Sheila Wertz-Kanounnikoff, Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN (FAO) and CPW Secretariat, underscored that the Forum comes at a critical juncture in the achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and preparations for the Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework.

Daniel Kobei, International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity, highlighted the importance of engaging with indigenous populations, particularly in determining ways they can benefit from wildlife use and ensuring that their concerns are considered. Leah Wanambwa-Naess, African Union Commission, underscored the need for coordinated action for the African continent in combating illegal wildlife trade, and also in promoting a participatory approach with communities on the sustainable use of wild flora and fauna.

Session I: People and Wildlife: Health and Security

Cristina Romanelli, CBD Secretariat, moderated the session. Marthin Kasaona, Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Namibia, provided Namibian examples on the adverse consequences of human-wildlife conflicts, noting that it is challenging for local communities to provide evidence for livestock and crop losses from wildlife, and the lack of full compensation for these losses.

Raja Sharma Rymbai, Indigenous Terra Madre Network, discussed human-wildlife relationships, emphasizing that indigenous populations serve as custodians of biodiversity, in the face of changing land-use patterns and emerging threat to ecosystems.

Suneetha Subramanian, United Nations University (UNU), noted that there is an increasing demand for traditional, complementary and alternative medicines, yet underscored the opacity of supply chains related to the herbal trade, especially in the authentication of specimens.

Catherine Machalaba, EcoHealth Alliance, described a ‘One Health’ approach that creates value from sharing monitoring strategies to find mutual solutions to support human and environmental health. She presented case studies from Malaysia and Bangladesh illustrating the use of biodiversity and behavioral data for disease prevention and control.

Jim Desmond, EcoHealth Alliance, presented on the interface between wildlife protection, wild meat trading, and health security in Liberia. He mentioned that through the pandemic prevention programme “PREDICT,” an analysis of human behavior, land-use change, and factors that might contribute to spillover events in circulating diseases among wildlife populations, are identified to better inform public policy to prepare for a response.

Session II: Sharing Wild Meat: Resolving Conflicts between Subsistence and Commercial Uses

John Emmanuel Fa, Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), moderated the session. Philippe Mayaux, European Commission, reported on the Sustainable Wildlife Management Programme, which is supporting African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to protect endangered wildlife species by reducing hunting to sustainable levels, and improving food security through identifying alternative protein sources.

Shane Mahoney, CEO, Conservation Visions, said North American early settlers unlike the First Nations people, undertook massive unsustainable wildlife harvest, driven mostly by the fashion industry and recreational hunting. He showed examples of sustainable wildlife management through eliminating game markets, ensuring legitimate purposes of wildlife harvest, and the use of science to enact wildlife policy.

Sarah Ferguson, Director, TRAFFIC Viet Nam, said pangolins are one of the most commonly encountered mammals in Asia’s illegal wildlife trade. She reported on common motivations for wildlife harvest including traditional medicine, tribal rituals and ceremonies, and demand in urban centers and international markets for prized wildlife parts.

After a lunch break, Sheila Wertz-Kanounnikoff, FAO and CPW Secretariat, launched an animation video illustrating the CPW and its work to address key issues on sustainable wildlife management for achieving food security, improving livelihoods, combating illegal wildlife trade, and conserving biodiversity.

Session III: From Sites in Africa to Shelves in Asia: Solutions to Unsustainable Wildlife Use and Illegal Trade

Roland Melisch, TRAFFIC and CPW Vice-Chair, and Klemens Riha, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) moderated the session. Bennett Mbapeua Kahuure, Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Namibia, highlighted Namibia’s success in wildlife recoveries, and progress in sustainable wildlife management by promoting a conservation strategy outside national parks and in ensuring a legal basis for local communities to benefit from conservation.

Tjavarekua Elmarie Tjijahura, Women for Conservation, Namibia, spoke about efforts of women in community conservancies to curb poaching, stressing that efforts have to “start from the home.”

Phil Franks, International Institute for Environment and Development, outlined the social impacts of protected areas governance and noted that communities often bear the costs of conservation through historical dispossession and exclusion. He described a new platform called ‘People Not Poaching: the Communities and Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) Learning Platform,’ offering examples local communities effectiveness in curbing illegal wildlife trade.

David H.W. Morgan, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), highlighted the role of CITES in promoting legality, sustainability, and traceability in wildlife trade. He illustrated positive examples of recoveries in CITES-listed species, including the vicuna, markhor and African cherry.

Taye Teferi, TRAFFIC, emphasized increased efforts to combat illegal wildlife trade, while establishing a business-case for nature-based enterprises. He introduced the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, which provides an opportunity and resources to strengthen legal and sustainable wildlife trade through certified product markets.

Leah Wanambwa-Naess, African Union Commission, described the Commission’s policies to conserve wild flora and fauna. She highlighted an African strategy to secure political support of its member states against illegal trade in wild fauna and flora.

Session IV: Wildlife and People in 2050: A Vision for Sustainable Wildlife Management

Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, Minister for Environment and Energy, Costa Rica, moderated this session, and with Fabiana Spinelli, CBD, introduced two world café sessions. In the first world café titled, ‘the Future We Want,’ participants provided feedback on the future vision and focus for sustainable wildlife management.

Telling stories of possible futures, Shonisani Munzhedzi, Department of Environmental Affairs, South Africa said the current detachment from nature has led to mass killings of wildlife, loss of livelihoods, loss of identity and connection to nature, and socio cultural conflicts.

Oliver Hillel, CBD Secretariat, presented the process and timelines for the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework to be adopted at COP 15. This process, he said, would include global and regional thematic workshops and consultations to ensure a participatory, transparent, result-oriented, transformative and catalytic process.

On the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) assessment on the sustainable use of wild species, John Donaldson, South African National Biodiversity Institute, noted that the scope of the assessment included an assessment of consumptive and non-consumptive use; enhancement of sustainable use of wildlife species; effectiveness of approaches and practices; and evaluation of conservation benefits.

In a second world café discussion titled ‘Framing a Future for People and Wildlife post 2020,’ participants addressed, inter alia, issues that the IPBES assessment should address; how the Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework should respond to wildlife- related issues; and the future role of the CPW.

Launch of CIFOR and CBD Report

The ‘Towards a Sustainable, Participatory, and Inclusive Wild Meat Sector’ report was launched, with John Emmanuel Fa, CIFOR, explaining the report highlights best practice and recommendations on a sustainable wild meat sector in the tropics and sub-tropics from the report.

2018 Markhor Awards Ceremony

Tamás Marghescu, Director General, CIC, introduced the award. Cristiana Paşca Palmer, Executive Secretary, CBD, commended the award for recognizing the contribution of communities to sustainable use of wildlife.

Mark Ryan, Deputy Director, CIC, announced the Finnish Wildlife Agency’s ‘LIFE+ Return of Rural Wetlands’ project as the 2018 recipient of the Markhor Award. Jarkko Nurmi, Finnish Wildlife Agency, accepted the Award, saying the project’s aims to ensure that wetlands remain a part of the Finnish “living landscape.”

Closure of the Meeting

Sheila Wertz-Kanounnikoff, FAO, on behalf of CPW, presented key messages of the Forum. Hamdallah Zedan, Representative of the Egypt COP presidency, offered closing remarks stressing that “we need biodiversity, but biodiversity does not need us.”

Cristiana Paşca Palmer thanked the members of the CPW and urged for more emphasis on supporting communities’ rights to manage resources. She then officially closed the Forum at 6:02 pm. Participants then attended an evening reception, where an announcement was made of Hungary’s offer to host a CPW Wildlife Forum in Budapest, in 2021.