MAURITANIA'S RESPONSE TO USG CITES COP15 PROPOSALS

UNCLAS NOUAKCHOTT 000081

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KSCA SENV UNEP CITES AORL MR
SUBJECT: MAURITANIA'S RESPONSE TO USG CITES COP15 PROPOSALS

REF: STATE 6668


1. (U) Embassy Nouakchott's ECON/EST Officer met with the
Director and Deputy Director of the Mauritanian Office of
Nature Conservation to discuss the USG proposals for the
upcoming CITES summit to be held in Doha, Qatar. The
Government of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania (GIRM)
intends to send a representative to the CITES summit, but has
not finalized its representation. The GIRM will likely be
represented by Cheikh ould Sidi Mohamed, the Deputy Director
of the Office of Nature Conservation who will possibly be
joined by Dr. Idrissa Diarra, the Minister Delegate in Charge
of Environmental Affairs and Sustainable Development.


2. (U) The Director of the Office of Nature Conservation
explained that the objective of his office is to protect
flora and fauna in Mauritania and that his office frequently
works closely with Arab and African partners to gain support
for their most important issues. At the moment, his office
is most concerned with supporting his African partners to
defend CoP15 Proposition 6 (sponsored by the Government of
Mali) to maintain a moratorium on the hunting of elephants
and trade in ivory products. While Mauritania does not
itself have domestic elephant species, or a market for ivory
products, he cited the importance of supporting fellow
African countries as the reason for his office's staunch
support of this initiative.


3. (SBU) The Deputy Director mentioned that he communicates
regularly with his international CITES colleagues, including
those in the USA. He was grateful for the opportunity to
discuss USG CITES proposals but indicated that he could not
provide any definitive feedback at this point. In theory,
the deputy director supports the USG proposals, but he
mentioned in particular that the USG submission regarding
shark fins could be problematic, due to Mauritania's interest
in international fishing markets. He repeatedly emphasized
that while his office is solely concerned with the protection
of wildlife in Mauritania, there is a constant dialogue with
other ministries, particularly the Ministry of Fisheries,
because the economic impact of environmental legislation is
always considered before making a decision. This is
particularly relevant in the domain of fishing, one of
Mauritania's largest export markets.


4. (U) The Director of the Office was pleased to have the
opportunity to discuss the USG CITES submissions and repeated
his insistence that Mauritania's primary objective in the
upcoming CITES summit will be to support its fellow African
and Arab countries in their proposals, particularly those
concerning the protection of domestic African elephants. He
welcomed any USG support regarding elephant protection
initiatives to be discussed at CITES.
BOULWARE