CITES: DANES SUPPORT SHARKS, SNAKES, CORAL; AGAINST LYNX

UNCLAS COPENHAGEN 000070 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR OES/ENRC E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV KSCA CITES AORC UNEP DA SUBJECT: CITES: DANES SUPPORT SHARKS, SNAKES, CORAL; AGAINST LYNX AND POLAR BEARS REF: STATE 6668 (U) SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED--NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION. ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In response to demarche points in reftel, Denmark's likely head of delegation to the CITES COP-15 meeting in Doha indicated - pending final EU positions - that her government is likely to support the USG positions on sharks, coral and snakes, but oppose the USG on polar bears and lynxes. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) Regional Environment Officer (REO) delivered ref A demarche to Maj Friis Munk (MFM@sns.dk; tel. 45-72542428 and 45-39273929), Head of Section at the Danish Nature and Forestry Agency (under the Ministry of the Environment) and her colleague Niels Kurt Nielsen (NIN@sns.dk; tel. 45-72542427) on February 4. Munk and Nielsen confirmed they are Danish contact points for all the CITES issues we raised. ¶3. (SBU) Munk had recently returned from an EU CITES coordination meeting in Brussels where all issues were discussed. She said the Danish delegation to CITES COP-15 had not been finalized, but speculated that she will likely lead it. Like all EU member states, she said, Denmark was obliged to support all EU positions at COP-15, except in the event of reservations on behalf of its overseas territories. With the general caveat that EU positions are not yet final, Munk and Nielsen responded issue by issue as follows. ¶4. (SBU) Polar Bear: Munk said the EU position had not been finalized on polar bears, but strongly hinted that Denmark would work within the EU to oppose the U.S. proposal, at Greenland's request. She said separate analyses of the U.S. proposal by the IUCN and the CITES secretariat had not been favorable. According to Munk, those reports noted that habitat destruction due to loss of Arctic ice cover is a long term process, making a CITES listing "premature." ¶5. (SBU) In addition, she said, trade has only a marginal effect on polar bear survival. Greenland has already stopped the export of polar bear products, and since 2006 has imposed hunting quotas to ensure sustainability, calibrated to different bear sub-populations. The Greenland quota has declined from 139 in 2007 to 130 in 2009, divided among four sub-populations (Kane Basin, Baffin Bay, Davis Strait, and East and South Greenland). Under a 2009 MOU, Greenland and Canada have cooperated on data sharing and dividing their quotas on shared populations. Greenland does not permit trophy hunting now (she said it could in future, after making a finding on sustainability),but indigenous hunting is important for both economic and cultural reasons. ¶6. (SBU) Lynx: Munk said that the EU is likely to oppose de-listing the lynx and implied that Denmark would support the EU position. Denmark is not home to any wild feline species, but in formulating its position will be sensitive to the position of fellow EU states that do harbor wild populations. She cited Sweden and the Iberian nations as examples, saying some are concerned that removal of any wild cat species from CITES may cause problems with identification and law enforcement for similar species. Munk inquired if the U.S. might propose adding the lynx to Appendix III, a decision which could be taken at the national level. ¶7. (SBU) Sharks: Munk said Denmark (and the EU) would likely support the U.S. proposal on sharks, and hoped the U.S. would support an EU proposal to list two other shark species (the spiny dogfish and porbeagle sharks),which are also long-lived and threatened as bycatch. ¶8. (SBU) Corals: The EU is co-sponsoring the US proposal. ¶9. (SBU) Snakes: The EU will support the US proposed workshop. ¶10. (SBU) Other: Munk said that in addition to its shark proposal, the EU would make proposals on electronic permitting, and tigers. Nielsen said the EU position on Monaco's tuna proposal is the subject of wrangling between the EU directorate generals on environment and fisheries over how to interpret the last ICAAT meeting. ¶11. (SBU) Process: Munk said another EU working group meeting would take place on March 3 in Brussels, to discuss a proposed EC position paper on these and other issues. If approved, a European Council decision was expected by the March 15 European Council meeting in Brussels at attache level. Once the common EU position is approved, she said, the Danish Environment Ministry will request authority from the Danish parliament to make commitments at the COP-15 meeting in Doha. FULTON