Convention on Life (CITES)

In the coming week (24/09 – 05/10) South Africa will host the 17th conference of the Convention on Life (CITES) where the discussion will focus on black market trade which is a problem on a global scale, as well as human and environmental relations.

The International Convention on Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora is known as one of the most important organizations for nature conservation. The convention was signed in 1973 and ratified by more than 80 countries in 1975 and over the years many countries were added (numbering 182 today) that pledged to adopt the convention's regulations. The convention deals "only" with trade, but it is clear that the more success there is in supervision, the greater the chance of improving conservation.

The goals of the convention are to monitor the trade in animals and plants in general and especially animals and plants that are in danger of extinction. More than 35,000 animal and plant species are on the Convention's control list. Among the species under the supervision of the convention there are many whose trade is allowed provided that the trade does not harm their survival, i.e. sustainable exploitation, but again the main activity is focused on preventing the trade of endangered species.

The convention classifies, prohibits or grants licenses according to the list of animal species and species. Wild species are divided into risk levels from 1 to 3 that reflect the level of risk of extinction and their position on the Red List of the Conservation Organization (Red List of the IUCN) which began in 1964.
Risk level 1 prohibits any trade in species that are at high risk, risk level 2 allows trade under special conditions and supervision, and risk level 3 allows trade with matching and documentation of the origin of the species. To get permission to trade, the applicant must prove that the trade will be sustainable.
One of the most prominent examples are the one-time permits that are given to trade in elephant tusks, permits that take into account the different situation of populations in different regions, at the same time the difficulty in approving trade in ivory stems from a lack of information on how the market will react, since a large amount of ivory is sold on the black market, which prevents access to data that would enable a decision Based on real data for or against the legal sale of ivory.

According to a UN report, the black market trade in wild animals has become a "specialty" of criminal organizations and as such increases the danger to animals and plants. For example, since 2009, there has been an 85% increase in the killing of rhinos in Africa, and according to the estimate, only about 6,000 narrow-lipped (black) rhinos and about 20,000 wide-lipped (white) rhinos remain. In the last survey conducted (Great Elephant Census), about 375,000 elephants were counted, a figure that shows that the wild hunter caused an 8% decrease in the population of African elephants.

In a situation report on behalf of the University of Oxford, it is stated that "most large mammals are harmed by wild hunting but also by damage to habitats", 60% of large mammals are classified as endangered according to the International Organization for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and are listed on the Red List.
On the wild hunter and the reduction of areas another intrusion of flocks of sheep and cattle into areas that are supposed to be reserved which causes violent friction between people and animals.

One of the main topics that will be discussed at the conference will be the trade in elephant tusks. Estimates of the market situation based on the confiscations of seized tusks are not accurate, therefore considering the situation in which the killing of elephants continues, the approach is that a blanket ban on ivory trade is necessary.
This is despite the demand of countries in southern Africa that have elephant populations that are not in danger, which is supported by the claim that in 2017 the total ban on trade expired. Therefore, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe submitted a request that would allow them to sell the tusks collected from dead elephants or those confiscated from criminals.

Another challenge facing the convention is the licensed "trophy" hunter, which is a significant source of income for nature conservation authorities in countries that are mostly used for nature conservation purposes. In order to allow the "bounty" hunter to stop, conservation organizations with the backing of the European Union are pressing to add lions and elephants to risk level 1 of the convention, that is, a declaration that lions and elephants are in danger of extinction which will give absolute legal protection and thus prevent the hunter. To cover the resulting losses, tourist development will be accelerated so that tourism (hunting with cameras) will replace the bounty hunter.

To monitor and enforce the regulations, the Convention uses "The World Conservation Monitoring Center", a branch of the "UN Environment Programme". Data from these entities enable ongoing activity.

These days, the treaty received a significant boost when the "International Criminal Court" (ICC) announced that it would focus on the wild and illegal exploitation of natural resources, black market trade and environmental crimes, by imposing responsibility for these crimes on the managers of Companies and politicians.

The treaty faces many challenges since it began with an attempt to regulate and regulate trade and not to fight criminal organizations, since the treaty has no "teeth" its success depends on the cooperation of international agencies and bodies with power and "teeth". The fact that in many countries there is no enforcement of laws makes implementation and success difficult and endangers animals and plants, therefore, in order to succeed, the convention calls on powerful countries to help others in enforcing laws in general and nature conservation laws in particular.

The supervision of trade in wild animals and plants is one of the most important ways to preserve species and is an important part of preserving nature reserves and open spaces, environmental preservation for everyone.

And I will add that the time has come that instead of controlling the environment for the sake of the human population, there will be control of the human population for the sake of the environment.