International summit to discuss endangered species
Next month, representatives from 177 member countries will attend the CITES meeting in Bangkok to discuss the worrying decline in particular populations, such as rhinos, African lions and elephants.
CITES is a conservation agreement between governments, aimed at ensuring international trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. The agreement provides a framework for participating countries, who must then draft their own legislation to ensure that CITES is implemented at national level.
Conservation charity the Born Free Foundation will attend the meeting, and have called on the 177 member countries, and particularly the UK as part of the EU, to urgently put in place effective measures to address the rapidly declining numbers of some species.
Speaking just a few days before he and the team begin their journey to Bangkok, CEO of the Born Free Foundation Will Travers said: “The situation is now so bad, the poaching and slaughter of wildlife now so inextricably linked to international organised crime syndicates, that without a dramatic step-change in our efforts and without the resources for effective species conservation, we shall, in my view, end up with a handful of ‘wildlife fortresses’ – heavily guarded National Reserves and Parks, protected by garrisons of armed rangers and wardens – and that’s it.”
These concerns have been echoed in recent statements from UK environment minister Richard Benyon. Commenting on the upcoming meeting, he said: "I hope that there will be a unified voice at the upcoming CITES meeting on key issues like ivory and rhino horn, and that even countries such as the UK which don’t naturally host these magnificent animals are playing our part in supporting the work of organisations such as the Kenya Wildlife Service and their partnership with important charities like IFAW.”
Mr Travers concluded: “The resources and the forces we have at our disposal to resist the tide of poaching, are simply not enough. Until the international community recognises the need to meet this threat head-on, then endangered wild animals will lose their lives.”
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