Secretary-General's statements

The global community observed UN World Wildlife Day for the third time on 3 March 2016 with countries and people from right across the globe rallying around the theme “The future of wildlife is in our hands”. This special day for wildlife on the UN calendar has once again given the world a chance to reconnect with our planet’s wild side and to acknowledge our collective responsibility to bring illegal wildlife trade to an end. The CITES Secretariat, as the UNGA-designated global facilitator for the observance of the Day, is delighted to advise that the response to WWD2016 was a tremendous success with the scale of participation and level of engagement of countries, organizations and people from around the world exceeding all expectations.

Keynote Address - Plenary Opening Session By John E. Scanlon CITES Secretary-General CITES – galvanizing a global collective effort to save wildlife   “CITES…an international agreement that stands at the intersection between trade, the environment and development”1 ----- Hon. Martijn van Dam, Chair of the Conference, Minister for Agriculture of the Netherlands

John E. Scanlon, CITES Secretary-General 26 January 2016   Religious dignitaries Hon. Gamini  Jayawickrema  Perera,  Minister for Sustainable Development and Wildlife  Hon. Ravi Karunanayake, Minister of Finance Cabinet Ministers, State Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Members of Parliament, Diplomats, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen and dear children. -----

Keynote Address 'CITES and wildlife trade – how CITES works and how it links to wildlife tourism’ John E. Scanlon Secretary-General, CITES Secretariat Colombo, Sri Lanka 25 January 2016   Good morning and thank you to our colleagues from Sri Lanka Tourism for organizing today’s Public Seminar and for giving me the opportunity to address you.

Sixty-sixth meeting of the Standing Committee Geneva (Switzerland), 11 January 2016 Opening remarks by John E. Scanlon, CITES Secretary General Thank you Chair and I would like to join with you in wishing everyone a Happy New Year – bonne année , feliz año – and to extend a very warm welcome to the Standing Committee Members, Party Observers, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as the private sector and the media. We extend a special welcome to the European Union, which has become a Party to CITES since the last time we met and hence joins us today as a Party Observer for the first time.

  Corruption as an enabler of wildlife and forest crime Joint Statement of Mr Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of UNODC and Mr John Scanlon, Secretary-General of CITES  Saint Petersburg, 3 November 2015 As the world turns to realising the new development agenda with the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, we are concerned that spiralling wildlife and forest crime, fuelled by corrosive corruption, can impede vital progress.

Workshop on illegal trade in cheetahs 3 – 5 November 2015 Kuwait Welcoming remarks by John E. Scanlon, CITES Secretary General   His Excellency Sheikh/ Abdullah Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah - Director of the Environmental Public Authority of the State of Kuwait & Chairman of the Board Distinguished guests, friends and colleagues We are most grateful to the Environmental Public Authority of the State of Kuwait for hosting and financing this week’s workshop on illegal trade in cheetahs.

Corruption is “an insidious plague” that is present in the wildlife sector just as it is in other sectors, indeed in virtually any form of human activity. A clear message of the determination of the international community to work to prevent and combat corruption was sent with the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) of the UN Convention Against Corruption in 2003 and its entry into force in 2005.