RESULTS OF CITES STANDING COMMITTEE 55 AND COP14

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 THE HAGUE 001402

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV KSCA ETRD EFIS NL
SUBJECT: RESULTS OF CITES STANDING COMMITTEE 55 AND COP14
MEETINGS IN THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS, JUNE 2-15, 2007

REF: A. A) KATHMANDU 878


B. B) BEIJING 003213

SUMMARY:

1. The United States achieved key objectives at the
fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES COP14),which met June 3-15 in
The Hague, Netherlands. The delegation of approximately 30
interagency representatives, as well as a representative from
the states was led by Department of the Interior Deputy
Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Todd
Willens and Department of State Oceans, Environment, and
Science Bureau Deputy Assistant Secretary Dan Reifsnyder.
Among the biggest successes were adoption of the U.S.
proposal to list sawfish, adoption of the U.S. proposal for
enhanced cooperation between CITES and ITTO, progress on the
"Introduction from the Sea" issue, and resolutions addressing
wild tiger conservation and elephants and the ivory trade.
The U.S. also played a positive role in facilitating range
state dialogues.

2. Negotiations on budget and the strategic vision were
challenging, while the unsuccessful outcomes on coral and
bobcat listings were disappointing. The U.S. submitted eight
species proposals and four other documents pertaining to
implementation issues. In the end, the COP adopted four of
the species proposals, while the other documents achieved
positive results, even if some went forward with significant
amendments. The Dutch government also hosted a Ministerial
Roundtable on June 13, resulting in a Chair's Summary. END
SUMMARY.
STANDING COMMITTEE MEETING:

3. The 55th meeting of the Standing Committee took place
June 2, the day before the COP opened, and took two
significant actions. First, it affirmed Japan's status as a
"trading partner" (i.e., recipient) of the ivory approved for
the one-off sale. China made a bid for approval as a second
trading partner, which was forced to a vote that did not
carry. The committee signaled that it might approve China as
a trading partner at its next meeting, however, and there
were indications that the sale may be delayed pending that
approval. The second key result was the adoption of
recommendations by the Committee for Peru regarding trade in
bigleaf mahogany timber. Peru is the largest exporter of this
timber species, and the United States is the largest
importer. Peru committed to further reductions in exports,
zero tolerance for illegal logging, and further cooperation
with other entities to ensure that timber exports are based
on sustainable levels of harvest and come from legal sources.
BUDGET AND FINANCE

4. The COP approved documents on Financial Reports for
2005-2006 (Doc. 7.1) and Estimated Expenditures for 2007
(Doc. 7.2) by consensus. However, adjustments to the
assessment of contributions by the Parties proved to be a
two-week negotiated process that only came to conclusion
during a drawn-out - and cantankerous - plenary debate
through a series of votes. The costed work program and the
funding of the Secretariat were the subject of a working
group (chaired by Ireland) and friends of the Chair of
Committee II group (chaired by China-Hong Kong SAR). Votes to
increase the budget by 7.5% and 15% failed to garner the
necessary three-quarters, as did a split budget proposal for
a 3% increase in contributions combined with a 4.5% budget
increase from the CITES Trust Fund's strategic reserve.
Eventually, after plenary adjourned briefly (essentially to
cool off),a 6% increase put forward by Ireland garnered
nearly 87% of the vote.

5. The United States abstained on the 6% proposal (as still
too excessive),our first-ever abstention in CITES. The
costed program of work will now go to the Standing Committee
for revisions in light of the new budget. While a 6%
increase is significantly higher than recent increases
approved by the COP, it fell well short of the Secretariat's
requested 30% increase. COP14 approved a new permanent
Budget and Finance Subcommittee of the Standing Committee to
provide input to the Secretariat on budget and financial
matters.
STRATEGIC VISION

6. The proposed Strategic Vision produced by a Standing
Committee working group proved problematic, so COP14
established an open-ended working group to draft a Strategic
Vision for 2008-2013. The working group met throughout the
COP and hammered out a consensus document (Doc. 11). The
final product largely reflects the U.S. position and our
concerns with the original document. To gauge the
implementation of the new Strategic Vision, the Standing

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Committee will have the job of developing indicators for the
document's goals and objectives.
JUNE 13TH MINISTERIAL

7. The Dutch government convened a one-day Ministerial Round
Table during the COP. The meeting was chaired by Minister of
Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality Gerda Verburg. About 40
countries took part. Many important CITES parties, notably
Japan and Brazil, did not participate. The Round-Table
focused on four areas: CITES contribution to the broader
biodiversity agenda; strengthening implementation and
enforcement of CITES; timber species; and marine species.
Following an initial round of statements in the morning, the
Dutch rather assertively handed out a six-page "Minister's
Declaration" after lunch expecting its approval that
afternoon. The U.S. delegation, together with Mexico,
Argentina and Guatemala, indicated concern about being able
to analyze and negotiate such a long declaration in one
afternoon while EU countries and others indicated their
willingness to go along with the Chair's plan. In the end, we
were successful in converting the document into a Chair's
summary and to delete its most problematic elements. Our
general assessment is that the Ministerial was not a useful
addition to the CITES COP.

8. BOBCAT: The State fish and wildlife agencies appealed to
our CITES management authority stating that the numbers of
bobcats in the United States are high and the administrative
burden of their Appendix II listing is unwarranted, resulting
in the U.S. proposal to the COP to remove the bobcat (Lynx
rufus) from Appendix II. The original listing stemmed from
the bobcat's similar appearance to other Lynx species in
Appendices I and II, in CITES terms referred to as a
look-alike listing. Parties opposed to the delisting argued
that failure to regulate trade in bobcat skins and parts
under CITES could potentially facilitate the illegal trade of
similar medium-sized cat species. To address these concerns,
the United States proposed placing the bobcat in Appendix III
instead of delisting it altogether, but this approach also
failed to receive the required two-thirds majority in
committee. In the end, there was no change to the CITES
status of bobcat and it is listed on Appendix II. The United
States will continue its efforts to address the look-alike
issue and its work on the Felidae review in the CITES Animals
Committee. Removing the bobcat from CITES Appendix II remains
a priority issue for State fish and wildlife agencies in the
United States.

9. TIGERS: The United States was successful in securing a
strong resolution on wild tiger conservation as the state of
the species has reached a crisis point. This was especially
important given China's recent efforts to secure
international support to lift its domestic ban on trade in
tiger parts under the guise of conservation. (Note: Chinese
tiger farmers have accumulated thousands of animals and are
lobbying the government to re-open trade. See REF A and B End
Note.)

10. During the first week of the COP, the U.S. delegation
met with several range countries (China, India, Nepal,
Russia) to encourage a firm stance against China's move to
lift its tiger trade ban and to work jointly on focused
decision language for conservation out of Resolution 12.5 on
Asian Big Cats. Committee II noted reports and annexes from
Asian Big Cat range states and the CITES Secretariat's report
on its Verification and Assessment Mission to China. India
announced establishment of a long-awaited Wildlife Crime
Bureau, much needed as India's wild tiger numbers continue to
dwindle.

11. China, Russia, India and Nepal introduced a draft
decision document with toned-down language loosely promoting
wild tiger conservation efforts. The U.S. delegation proposed
amendments to strengthen the text, and included the phrase:
"tigers should not be bred for trade in their parts and
derivatives." Although China objected to this direct
reference to its captive-breeding facilities, India, Bhutan,
Nepal, and Swaziland supported the amendment. The Decision
(COP14 Com. II. 33),directs the Parties and the CITES
Secretariat to uphold Resolution Conf. 12.5 for Asian Big Cat

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conservation, lays plans for workshops on tiger trade
enforcement and on conservation strategy, and discourages
captive breeding of tigers for trade. Committee II adopted
the Decision by consensus and passed amendments through
voting. In the later plenary session, the agenda item was not
re-opened, although China made an intervention to express
dissatisfaction with the process and outcome.

12. ELEPHANTS AND IVORY: As at other recent COPs, the U.S.
delegation arrived in The Hague without declaring an official
position on three draft elephant proposals (from Kenya and
Mali; Botswana; and Botswana, Namibia and South Africa). This

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deliberate "undecided" position allowed the U.S. delegation
to function effectively as a facilitator among range
countries as well as other countries with a significant
interest in elephants (e.g., the European Community).

13. MIKE and ETIS: The MIKE (Monitoring Illegal Killing of
Elephants) program, among other activities, evaluates the
effect of an individual sale on levels of elephant poaching.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has provided over
$1,161,200 in grant funds to support MIKE since its inception
in 1999. The MIKE report for COP 14 comprised administrative
changes, baseline data results, and future planning. The U.S.
delegation was gratified to see that the program had
collected baseline elephant population and illegal killing
data from 51 sites in Africa.

14. The MIKE coordinator reported that the program will
report baseline information annually to identify trends. As a
major donor, the United States expressed support of MIKE
while noting concerns about its administrative history. We
are satisfied that the new MIKE Coordinator has answered our
questions and will continue a dialogue, including by visiting
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Washington, D.C. The
MIKE report was adopted by consensus.

15. The director of ETIS (Elephant Trade Information System)
reported on trends, sources, and possible causes of illicit
ivory seizures. The ETIS report, based on ivory seizures
data, indicated that there was no increase in illicit trade
following the first one-off sale, there was a decline in
ivory seizures between 1999 and 2004, and an increase from
2005 to the present primarily due to increased demand in
China and organized Chinese criminal activity, mostly in
Central and Western Africa. However, China's improved law
enforcement drew praise. The report was adopted by consensus.

16. Negotiations on elephants and ivory trade began at the
African Elephant Range States Dialogue meeting right before
the COP and continued well into the second week of the COP
itself. Informal drafting groups met a number of times on the
margins of the COP. The EU and the U.S. delegations served
significant roles as facilitators in the search for
compromise. Finally, Chad and Zambia submitted a new document
which the COP adopted by consensus.

17. Current Consensus Agreement on Elephants and Ivory: For
those elephant populations in CITES Appendix II in Botswana,
Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, the CITES Parties agreed
to continue to allow trade in hunting trophies for
non-commercial purposes; limited trade in live elephants;
trade in hides, hair, and leather goods; non-commercial trade
(tourist souvenirs) in some ivory carvings and jewelry items;
and most importantly, trade in raw ivory from existing
stockpiles registered by January 31, 2007, subject to certain
conditions. The raw ivory will be added to the existing ivory
stockpiles approved for a one-off sale at COP12 (Santiago,
Chile; 2002). However, the Parties gave this approval with
the agreement that no further proposals to allow trade in
elephant ivory from these populations may be submitted to the
COP until 9 years following the sale of the approved ivory
stocks.

18. The Parties also decided that the African elephant range
states should develop an overall African elephant action plan
to improve elephant management, and that the CITES
Secretariat should establish an African elephant fund, to be

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administered by the CITES Standing Committee to implement the
action plan. The United States expressed particular concerns
about the adequacy of enforcement and controls on ivory trade
in Zimbabwe. The Secretariat gave assurances that it will
monitor and verify the ivory controls in Zimbabwe. We are
satisfied that the consensus agreement at CoP14 acknowledges
the conservation efforts of some African elephant range
countries while continuing the strict trade prohibitions for
most populations.
MARINE ISSUES

19. SAWFISH: The United States and Kenyan proposal to list
sawfish (Pristidae spp.),a highly endangered shark-like
species, in Appendix I was adopted as amended by Australia.
The U.S. had proposed to list all seven species of sawfish in
Appendix I. Australia's amendment provides that one species,
Pristis microdon, will be listed in Appendix II to allow for
limited trade in live specimens for aquaria. Because
Australia is likely the only CITES Party that trades in live
sawfish and can make the non-detriment finding required for
trade under Appendix II, the U.S. delegation did not believe
Australia's amendment would adversely impact wild sawfish
populations. CITES Parties from every region supported the
U.S./Kenyan proposal.

20. CORAL: The U.S. proposal to list pink and red corals
(Corallium) in Appendix II was adopted in Committee, but
overturned by secret ballot in the final plenary session. If

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the COP had approved the proposal, the listing would have
regulated trade and promoted sustainable harvest of these
precious deepwater corals for international trade. The U.S.
delegation worked extensively with Italy (acting on behalf of
the EU) to modify the proposal to address implementation
issues raised by several Parties. The United States will
evaluate when, whether, and how to propose the listing of
Corallium at future COPs.

21. CARDINAL FISH, SPINY LOBSTER AND EUROPEAN EELS: After
consulting with Indonesia, the United States withdrew its
proposal to list in Appendix II the Banggai cardinalfish, a
coral reef species endemic to Indonesia and heavily traded in
the U.S. hobbyist aquarium market. The United States will
monitor the effectiveness of local conservation programs the
Government of Indonesia committed to implement for this
species. Brazil withdrew its proposal to list Brazilian
populations of spiny lobster (Panulirus argus and P.
laevicauda) in Appendix II. The United States will work with
Brazil and countries in Central America and the Caribbean to
develop appropriate regional management initiatives for spiny
lobster. The EU's proposal to list European eels (Anguilla
anguilla) in Appendix II passed by a large majority. The
United States will need to consider how to ensure effective
conservation and management of American eels, which are not
currently listed on CITES, given possible problems in
distinguishing between European and American eels and their
products in trade.

22. SHARKS: Germany, on behalf of the European Community
Member States, proposed to list two commercially traded shark
species in Appendix II: porbeagle (Lamna nasus) and spiny
dogfish (Squalus acanthias). Both proposals failed to achieve
the required two-thirds majority of Parties voting during
committee, and the spiny dogfish proposal failed again after
a re-opening of debate in plenary. After much deliberation,
and extensive consultations with the EU, the United States
agreed to support both shark proposals, in part because the
EU committed to developing a comprehensive management plan
for sharks in internal EU waters. We will continue to work
with the EU to promote effective shark conservation and
management through appropriate fisheries management bodies.

23. WHALES: The United States and other whale-conservation
countries successfully defeated a proposal by Japan calling
for a CITES scientific body (the Animals Committee) to review
the biological status of all whale species subject to
management by the International Whaling Commission (IWC). The
IWC currently maintains a moratorium on commercial whaling,
and its Scientific Committee is responsible for reviewing the
status of whale species under its jurisdiction. Additionally,
the United States supported an Australian proposal, which the
COP passed, to prohibit CITES periodic reviews of great whale
species, including North Atlantic fin whales, while the IWC
moratorium is in place.

24. INTRODUCTION FROM THE SEA: After years of discussion and
debate, the Parties adopted a resolution, by consensus,
containing a definition of "the marine environment not under
the jurisdiction of any State." The United States endorsed
the agreed definition and sees it as an important first step
in the process to clarify various aspects of the introduction
from the sea provision under CITES. In addition to the
resolution, the Parties adopted a decision directing the
Standing Committee to establish a working group on
introduction from the sea to make progress on other issues
identified in the final report of the 2005 CITES Workshop on
Introduction from the Sea Issues. The United States fully
supported the formation of the working group and plans to
continue to participate in the work on this important issue.
COOPERATION WITH THE FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE
UNITED NATIONS

25. MARINE SPECIES AND FAO: In an effort to ameliorate
long-standing tensions between the CITES Secretariat and the
UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) regarding the
treatment of marine fish species proposed for listing on
CITES appendices, the United States promoted the development
of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two
organizations. Under this MOU, the FAO convenes an Expert
Panel to evaluate all marine fish listing proposals. All
CITES Parties receive the FAO Expert Panel's recommendations,
in addition to the recommendations of the CITES Secretariat.
This year, the CITES Secretariat and the FAO Expert Panel
gave widely divergent advice on the marine listing proposals,
and the tension between the recommendations of the two
organizations was a dominant theme at COP 14. At the end of
the day, the advice of the FAO Expert Panel prevailed for all
seven marine proposals, but the CITES Secretariat, the FAO
Committee on Fisheries, and all CITES Parties should evaluate
implementation of the MOU in advance of the next CITES COP.

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26. TIMBER SPECIES AND FAO: The United States was supportive
of increasing informal cooperation with FAO on timber and
non-timber forest product issues, but did not support
formalizing this relationship through negotiating an expanded
MOU. The U.S. delegation proposed amended text to Document
18.1, deleting references to formalizing that relationship,
and our intervention specified that we supported only
informal cooperation. Numerous other Parties who also did not
support more formal mechanisms supported our approach, and
the amended text was adopted. The U.S. Forest Service will
contact FAO-forestry staff and reaffirm the desired
cooperation and approach from the FAO side.

27. GUIDE TO CITES AND COMPLIANCE PROCEDURES: Since COP 12,
a working group has met during COPs and Standing Committees,
and electronically, to develop guidelines for compliance.
Throughout this long process the United States has diligently
argued that the document must be purely descriptive of
existing CITES compliance practices. Others had sought to
have the document create new compliance procedures. In the
end the new Guide, which was taken note of as an annex to a
COP 14 resolution, is purely descriptive in nature.
TIMBER SPECIES

28. LISTING OF PERNAMBUCO TIMBER: The United States
supported the Appendix-II listing of Caeselpinia echinata,
with the caveat that the COP could adopt an appropriate
annotation exempting musical instruments (finished products,
such as bows). There was widespread support for this
proposal, and it was adopted by consensus with an annotation
specifying trade in "Logs, sawn wood, veneer sheets,
including unfinished wood articles used for the fabrication
of bows for stringed musical instruments."

29. LISTING OF SPANISH CEDAR AND CENTRAL AMERICAN ROSEWOOD
TIMBER SPECIES: The United States was undecided on the
Cedrela and Dalbergia timber listing proposals (by Germany on
behalf of the EU) pending consultations with the range states
on the most effective way to support forest management
efforts in the region. Consultations among Parties from the
Central and South American and Caribbean region resulted in
unanimous range state opposition to the proposals. Hearing
little support for its proposals, Germany withdrew them. A
working group formed to draft a decision creating a workplan
for collecting additional information to inform the Parties
on the merits of future listing proposals and to promote
conservation of these species. This workplan will be
facilitated by the Plants Committee. The decision also
directs range states to consider listing these species in
Appendix III.

30. As a range state for Cedrela odorata, the United States
could consider whether an Appendix III listing for all
neotropical populations of this species is appropriate, given
the implementation issues currently caused by the listing of
this species only in Peru and Colombia. The environmental
NGOs expressed concern that the workplan focused on Cedrela
odorata rather than Cedrela spp. as in the listingproposal.

31. During consideration of this decison, Norway proposed
additional language that woud replace the Bigleaf Mahogany
Working Group (BMG) with a "Timber Working Group." Although
sympahetic to the need to address cross-cutting timber
species issues, the United States and other Parties rejected
this language and acknowledged the importance of having a
forum for the mahogany range states to discuss their specific
issues. The Chair of the Plants Committee expressed some
willingness to address other species as appropriate in the
work of the BMWG.

32. REPORT OF THE BIGLEAF MAHOGANY WORKING GROUP: The United
States is highly supportive of the work of the BMWG. All
parties expressed support for the decisions contained in the
report, and the range states shared information about a
translation error that had created difficulties for national
reporting. These decisions were adopted by consensus with
small refinements in language, including correction of the
translation error that had caused confusion for the Working
Group previously. Mexico will host a workshop on
Non-detriment Findings in late 2007, which will include a
module on timber. The Parties did not consider a Secretariat
proposal in the report suggesting creation of an additional
"Timber Working Group," although such concerns about
cross-cutting implementation issues mean such a proposal may
be appropriate for the United States to propose at COP15.

33. COOPERATION WITH ITTO: The United States proposed a
resolution urging additional cooperation between CITES and
the International Tropical Timber Organization. A drafting
group formed to amend the U.S. document, and the U.S.
delegation worked extensively with the EU, Mexico, and Brazil
to develop acceptable language. The revised text was adopted
by consensus.

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34. PHYSICAL INSPECTION OF TIMBER SHIPMENTS: The United
States supported the proposed document and its two draft
decisions. The first draft Decision directed the Secretariat
to consult with Parties and other relevant organizations to
compile timber identification tools and timber
inspection/measurement protocols, to provide information on
how Parties could access them, and to identify what gaps
existed and needed further work. The second Decision of this
document instructed the Standing Committee to take the
results of the Secretariat's finding and develop guidelines
to the Parties on timber enforcement, especially dealing with
timber measurements.

35. Italy (on behalf of the European Community Member
States) introduced the document with an amendment to the
Decision directed to the Secretariat. The amendment
instructed the Secretariat to form an "electronic" working
group that would help compile existing timber identification
tools and inspection protocols. Brazil also offered several
substantive amendments to the draft Decisions. The United
States intervened to state that it supported the language in
the original proposal and requested to see, in writing, the
newly proposed amendments by Italy and Brazil before
proceeding further. Brazil requested, and the Chairman of
Committee II agreed, to have a drafting group re-draft the
proposed Decision and report back to Committee II at a later
date. The United States along with Italy (on behalf of the EC
countries),Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Peru, and
several other Parties, worked to redraft the Decisions, which
Committee II later adopted by consensus.
PLANTS

36. The United States submitted four proposals regarding
plant listings in the CITES Appendices, including three for
native species. We proposed to remove Oconee bells (Shortia
galacifolia) and Arizona agave (Agave arizonica) from the
Appendices, and these proposals were adopted by consensus.
Oconee bells is an endemic species from the Carolinas that,
while somewhat rare and restricted in range, is not affected
by collection for trade. Arizona agave, which used to be
listed under the Endangered Species Act, has been determined
to be a sterile natural hybrid between two unlisted species.

37. A third native species, also native to Mexico, Dehesa
bear-grass (Nolina interrata),had been listed in Appendix I
since 1983. However, this species has not been observed in
trade and is protected under domestic laws. The Parties
supported the U.S. proposal to transfer this species to
Appendix II, adopting it by consensus. The fourth U.S. plant
proposal was to amend the annotation to the Japanese yew
(Taxus cuspidata) to allow for trade in hybrids and
cultivars, as a replacement for a similar annotation adopted
at COP13 but later determined not to be consistent with the
treaty. Switzerland, as Depositary Government on behalf of
the Standing Committee, had submitted a similar proposal
covering three additional species of Taxus and which allowed
parts and derivatives to remain controlled while exempting
live nursery plants. The United States ultimately withdrew
its proposal in favor of the Swiss proposal, which was
adopted.
INTERNET TRADE IN WILDLIFE

38. Germany (on behalf of the European Community Member
States) submitted a proposal on internet trade in specimens
of CITES-listed species. (Doc. 28). The United States
supported this proposal and has commenced training and
investigations into the illegal sale of wildlife on the
internet. After some questions from the floor, the document
achieved consensus.
NEXT CITES VENUE

39. Qatar offered to host COP 15 and the Parties accepted
the invitation by acclamation. However, in the past, even
though one or more countries made such offers, the
Secretariat has solicited additional ones through a

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Notification to the Parties. Whether the COP takes place in
Qatar will depend on that country meeting all the
requirements for hosting it.
A FINAL NOTE

40. The U.S. delegation thanks Posts for their assistance in
ascertaining the positions of CITES Parties and securing
support for U.S. proposals prior to the COP. For further
information or questions, please contact Rowena Watson,
OES/ETC, watsonrp@state.gov or Amanda Johnson Miller, OES/OMC
(JohnsonMillerAX@state.gov , 202-647-4824). Information on
specific proposals, resolutions and decisions taken at CoP14,
can be found at the CITES website, www.cites.org.
GALLAGHER