CITES is a large world-body of an organization and stands for Convention on International Trade
In Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora, aimed to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. Meetings are held every two to three years somewhere in one of the worlds big cities.
I have been to 4 of these 10-day events. The first one was in 1977, when I traveled to Harare/ Zimbabwe to be an observer for the Oakland Zoo. I paid for my own attendance because I was immensely curious what this international body is all about. Having personally such dedicated interest in elephant welfare and protection I was spiritually pulled to go.
The opening was a spectacular display of cultural performances that kept everyone smiling and clapping. Then president Mugabe opened the conference with a spirited speech.
It was a high-profile conference with heavy focus on elephants. The ivory sale was hotly discussed, emotions ran high and Zimbabwe fought hard for sustainable use. Basically, that means the elephant has to pay for its way to be protected. The people of the country should benefit from the sale of ivory in order to help for their conservation. That was the opinion and mood of many of the delegates, especially the one from Zimbabwe which was large in numbers and full of passion. I will never forget witnessing such strong display of emotions that run so unleashed through the halls of the conference. It was strangely electrifying, I must admit, to find myself amongst delegates who rooted for something I had no heart for.
At that time the conference had about 134 countries (now 184) participating. Each country sends a delegation numbering in the range from 2 to 20 people. Besides the government delegations many wildlife NGO’s are also present. NGO’s are holding meetings and presentations to sway delegates to vote more heart-centered to protect especially vulnerable species. Giving voice to an animal’s right to be respected, saved from exploitation and not viewed as a commodity. I met many world leading figures in elephant conservation. One in particular, Vivek Menon, head of Wildlife Trust of India, became a friend and invited me to practice bodywork on captive Indian elephants.
CITES is a dysfunctional entity where countries with great economic power entice a poor country to vote for a certain proposal in exchange for financial help and investment. It was depressing to sense and hear about the amount of corruption that has been going on for years.
My next CITES visit was in the year 2000 held in Nairobi/ Kenya. I had visitor status this time which did not give me access to all meeting groups but in the large committees I could sit in every day.
Again, I went as a visitor to the 2007 CITES conference in The Hague /Netherlands.
It was a deeply depressing conference with an agreement of an ivory stock pile sale.
See data on the auction below.
My last one was in 2016 which was held in Johannesburg/South Africa. As the previous ones,
Elephant topics dominate and have been prone to the most stressful discussions. African nations like Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa have an on-going big interest in getting rid of their ivory stockpiles. Profiting from the Asian demand for ivory is a relentlessly strong drive by this southern African Countries. The wish to decide over their own resources is repeatedly expressed by their representatives.
For instance, ivory stockpiles had been constantly pushed up for sale and so 12 years ago in 2007 a one-off sale of ivory was agreed on by the parties. It proved to be devastating for the African Elephant. Sadly, poaching went up dramatically, benefitting the poaching industry because of the difficulty identifying legal from illegal ivory. Poaching syndicates found often twisted ways with the help of corrupt government officials to smuggle the highly desired ivory to their customers in Asia.
At the end of each conference the parties will vote on a long list of proposals and the result is supposedly binding till the next CITES date. Unfortunately, there are incidents, loopholes which are hardly addressed by this body. A lot has to do with the more recent years of shipping elephant babies from Zimbabwe to China. A cruel, traumatic act of hardship for this young, vulnerable, elephants and very upsetting. The bottom line is that it is a headachy and weak organization that has failed the species it was designed to protect. Enforcement is lacking, perhaps not even doable, unless CITES reforms.
The 2019 conference, which I did not go to, produced a highlight for elephants which was greatly applauded and for some came quite as a surprise.
Elephants from the wild will no longer be shipped to zoos and circuses around the globe, delegates at the 18th Conference of Parties (CoP) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) decided on August 27, 2019.Aug 28, 2019
For the reader of this blog my focus has been on elephants only but CITES deals with many other species and I want to leave that to the specific interest of the reader to search for that wider information. Countless animal and plant species on this planet need help and engagement and I applaud anyone whose heart calls for activism.
Here is a link to an opinion piece about CITES:
Details about the auctions
- At the first ivory auction, held in Windhoek, Namibia, on 28 October 2008 7,226 kg of ivory were sold for a total of USD 1,186,260.
- At the second auction, held Gaborone, Botswana, on 31 October 2008, 43,153 kg of ivory were sold for a total of USD 7,093,550.
- At the third auction, in Harare, Zimbabwe, on 1 November 2008, 3,700 kg of ivory were sold for a total of USD 500,000.
- At the fourth auction, held in Pretoria, South Africa, on 6 November 2008, 47,356 kg of ivory were sold for a total of USD 6,703,000
And more Info from U.S. Fish and Wildlife:
