Summary
On Monday, John Scanlon, Secretary-General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), welcomed participants to Geneva for the 69th meeting of the Standing Committee (SC), likening the gathering to a “mini-CoP.” He highlighted a recent UN General Assembly Resolution on tackling illicit trafficking in wildlife and called for increased efforts to put trade in CITES-listed timber on a legal and sustainable footing. He stressed the SC’s “supportive and non-adversarial” approach to CITES compliance matters. SC Chair Carolina Caceres (Canada) noted the packed agenda at SC69 and urged participants to summon a “spirit of collaboration” in order to complete the work required before SC70 and the 18th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP18). The SC then considered administrative, financial and compliance issues, including on introduction from the sea of specimens from the North Pacific population of the sei whale. Switzerland announced it would provide 1 million Swiss Francs to the CITES Secretariat each year, starting in 2019, pending approval by its parliament for the budget increase. Sri Lanka announced the dates for CITES CoP18 in Sri Lanka (May 22 - June 3 2019).
IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, has provided daily web coverage, and a summary and analysis report from the 69th Meeting of the CITES Standing Committee. The summary and analysis is available in HTML and PDF.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Kiara Worth
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Morning Plenary
View of the dais during the morning plenary
Carolina Caceres, Standing Committee (SC) Chair, Canada
John Scanlon, Secretary-General, CITES
Levente Kőrösi, Hungary
Craig Hoover, US
Christo Janse van Noordwyk, South Africa
Teona Karchava, Georgia
Ravinatha Aryasinha, Sri Lanka
Simon Nemtzov, Israel
Sandeep Bhambra, UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
Thomas Jemmi, Switzerland
Claudia Sobrevila, speaking on behalf of the World Bank (WB), the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP)
Hesiquio Benítez Díaz, Mexico
Øystein Størkersen, Norway
Wahito Yamada, Japan
Afternoon Plenary
View of the dais during afternoon plenary
João Loureiro, Portugal
Rod Hay, New Zealand
Staci McLennan, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
Abba Sonko, Senegal
Ana Silvia Morales, Guatemala
Jorge Rodríguez Romero, EU
Patrick Omondi, Kenya
Osakuade Michael, Nigeria
Daven Joseph, Antigua and Barbuda
Ali Laouel Abbagana, Niger
Ilse Kiessling, Australia
Zhang Yue, China
Sue Fisher, Animal Welfare Institute
Eugène Lapointe, IWMC World Conservation Trust
Evening Reception Hosted by the EU
Delegates gather for the evening reception hosted by the EU
Jorge Rodríguez Romero, EU (right), welcomes delegates to the reception
Around the Venue
Delegates between sessions
Delegates from Lao People’s Democratic Republic and China
Delegates from the Russian Federation
Delegates from Madagascar confer
Delegates from the United Arab Emirats (UAE)
Members of the Secretariat before the start of the meeting
Benoit Doamba, Burkina Faso; Kofi Adu-Nsiah, Ghana; and Narcisse Lambert Mbarga, Cameroon
Media around the venue
Delegates speak informally
