ITTO-CITES: Working together to sustain tropical tree species
Opening Statement
John E Scanlon, Secretary General, CITES
Side event at 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity
Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea, 15 October 2014
Chair, Emmanuel Ze Meka, Executive Director, ITTO, Astrid Schomaker, Head of the Unit for Global Sustainability, Trade and Multilateral Agreements, Director General of the Environment European Commission, friends and colleagues.
Thank you for joining us today and apologies for not being able to be with you in person. I am however very well represented by Milena Sosa Schmidt from our Secretariat who has led CITES contribution to this significant programme since 2006.
We have come a long way since 18 tree species were originally listed under CITES back in 1975. Today international trade in about 600 tree species come under the control of the Convention, with many of them being commercially traded.
As has been mentioned by our good colleagues from ITTO, both the ITTO and the CITES Secretariats embarked on this joint and intense programme back in 2006. The aim was to strengthen the capacity of countries to effectively implement CITES requirements for trading in CITES-listed tree species in the context of promoting sustainable forest management in tropical forests.
A particular characteristic of this programme is that participating countries set their own priority areas of work. They usually start with activities to strengthen capacities to better manage and regulate their logging techniques and to make inventories. Achieving a sustainable harvest is an early priority after which countries often seek to strengthen their chain of custody and tracking systems.
All these activities are interconnected and are critical to achieving sustainable, legal and traceable trade in a number of CITES-listed tree species, with the number of listed species continuing to increase rapidly. It is for these reasons that the demand to participate in the ITTO-CITES programme continues to far exceed the available financial resources.
During Phase I of the programme thirty-four activities were funded and implemented and currently under Phase II a further 35 activities are being funded across Latin-America, Africa and Asia.
The ITTO-CITES Programme has been possible thanks to generous grants from the European Union (EU) through the European Commission (EC), and government agencies from Germany, Japan, Norway, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United States of America and the timber industry.
This joint programme has shown that effective and pragmatic cooperation is possible between Governments, international agreements and industry. It is the first programme of its kind under CITES that has achieved such a close level of cooperation with the private sector, especially in Africa with the African Cherry.
Today we will watch a short video that shows you some of the great work that has been done in three participating countries across three continents (Cameroon, Peru and Indonesia).
We will learn from the panel about the experience of some of these participating countries as well as the views of the major financial contributor to the programme: the EU through the EC, whose generous contribution we would like to specifically acknowledge.
The CITES Secretariat would like to sincerely thank all of the people and organisations – both public and private – who continue to contribute towards the successful implementation of this joint ITTO-CITES programme on effectively implementing CITES.
Colleagues, CITES is a powerful, pragmatic and effective tool for helping achieve sustainable forest management. This joint ITTO-CITES programme serves to strengthen national capacities to better manage tropical forests and is a key mechanism to ensure the conservation of these natural resources.
Thank you and I wish you well with today’s event.