DUTCH TO PROPOSE MINISTERIAL IN CONJUNCTION WITH CITES COP

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000061

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR OES/ETC Rowena Watson

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV ETRD KSCA NL
SUBJECT: DUTCH TO PROPOSE MINISTERIAL IN CONJUNCTION WITH CITES COP
14

REF: STATE 00713


1. (SBU) Summary. Emboff asked Stefan Verbunt, CITES Management
Authority for the Netherlands, and Senior Executive Officer with the
Department of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, about Dutch
plans to propose a ministerial meeting prior to the CITES COP 14,
which will be held in The Hague in June. Verbunt stated that the
Dutch intend to invite CITES representatives to a ministerial-level
meeting on June 13 to discuss improving the implementation of CITES
and the enforcement of trade in "high commercial demand" wildlife,
particularly timber and marine species. End Summary.


2. (SBU) Verbunt indicated that the GONL wants to discuss ways to
improve the protection of species in high commercial demand through
further implementation of CITES. He added that while CITES'
regulatory system has effectively helped combat worldwide
biodiversity loss, the treaty is often not considered to be
important in regard to species that are at the center of large
global trade chains, citing timber and certain marine wildlife as
examples of high commercial demand species. Verbunt provided Emboff
a written summary of the proposal for the Ministerial meeting, which
indicates the objective is to send a "clear international political
signal that CITES can and should play a more important role when it
comes to realizing the international goal of stopping the loss in
biodiversity by also focusing on species that are in high commercial
demand."


3. (SBU) The written summary indicates that the GONL will also
propose listing species for protection under CITES while they may
still be relatively abundant, but demonstrate a clear and rapid
decline in population or numbers. As Verbunt put it, the GONL wants
to discuss using CITES to protect species before they have become
"economically extinct." He went on to state that governments should
protect species not only for biological reasons (preventing
biodiversity loss) but also for economic reasons (trading them on a
sustainable basis). He said that in proposing a more active role
for CITES, the Dutch do not wish to make CITES a barrier to trade,
but rather an instrument for sustainable trade.


4. (SBU) Verbunt said the GONL considers CITES to be one of the most
powerful and successful global treaties in force. Verbunt noted
that the licensing system enforced by CITES effectively controls
trade in endangered species, and that no species listed for
protection under CITES have gone extinct. The GONL would like
further actions to protect wildlife to be taken through CITES
because substantial media and public interest in CITES will ensure
that such actions will be matched by political will to enforce those
actions.


5. (SBU) Emboff also contacted the MFA about the proposed
ministerial. MFA officials indicated that the Agriculture Ministry
is the CITES Management Authority in the Netherlands, and provided
no further insight into the ministerial meeting's agenda.

Blakeman