Highlights and images for 6 May 2021

On Thursday, participants to the 73rd meeting of the Standing Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES SC73) reconvened online.

Participants continued discussions on CITES input in the negotiations on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. They were divided between setting up an intersessional working group or inviting the Secretariat to work directly with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Secretariat after consulting with the Chairs of the CITES Scientific Committees to gather their input. They ultimately agreed to invite the CITES Secretariat to engage directly in such discussions with support from the Chairs of the Standing, Plants and Animals Committees.

Participants also discussed:

• the African Carnivores Initiative and the linkages between CITES and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), agreeing to establish an intersessional working group aiming to make recommendations to the June 2021 meeting of the Animals Committee meeting;
• the correction of non-substantive errors in the Interpretation section of the Convention’s Appendices and in specific resolutions and decisions; and
• the progress report of the Working Group on Electronic Systems and Information Technologies.

In closing, SC Chair Carolina Caceres noted that on Friday discussions would start with the scheduled agenda items followed by those items not completed on Thursday, including stocks and stockpiles of specimens of CITES-listed species, the CITES Big Cats Task Force, tortoises and freshwater turtles and the report of the Working Group on Annotations to the CITES Appendices.