Secretary-General's statements

Statement by John E. Scanlon, CITES Secretary-General 4th Regional Dialogue on Combating Trafficking in Wild Fauna and Flora Bangkok, Thailand, 11-15 September 2017   Mr. Thanya Netithammakun, Director General, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Distinguished country delegates Representatives of governmental and international agencies Ladies and Gentlemen

  Statement by John E. Scanlon, CITES Secretary-General International Snow leopard and its ecosystem conservation forum Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, 23-25 August 2017  (Delivered by Sofie H. Flensborg, CITES Legal Support Officer)   President Atambayev, President of the Kyrgyz Republic. Deputy Prime Minister, Abulyuziev, Chairman of the Forum Organizing Committee. Distinguished delegates from across the 12 Range States of the snow leopard. Friends and colleagues from intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, and in particular the Forum co-organizers. ----

World Ranger Day 2017 Message from CITES Secretary-General, John E. Scanlon On World Ranger Day 2017, we join you to "stand with the park rangers of the world in their fight to protect wildlife"! 31 July 2017 World Ranger Day honours park rangers across the world who have been injured or lost their lives in the line of duty, and also celebrates the role rangers play in protecting our natural resources, including wild animals and plants.

Twenty-third meeting of the Plants Committee Geneva (Switzerland), 22-27 July 2017 Opening Remarks John E. Scanlon, CITES Secretary-General 22 July 2017 Welcome to beautiful and humid Geneva! This is the first time we have met in Geneva since 2011, with the Plants Committee having met in Dublin, Ireland, Veracruz, Mexico and Tbilisi, Georgia since that time. We are most grateful to the Government of Switzerland for making this venue available to us, where we have another 5 days of meetings ahead of us for our joint meeting and this Committee. You missed out on the beautiful sunny weather when the Animals Committee started but you also missed the problems with the Wi-Fi!

  Twenty-ninth meeting of the Animals Committee Geneva (Switzerland), 18-22 July 2017 Opening Remarks John E. Scanlon, CITES Secretary-General 18 July 2017   Welcome to Geneva on this beautiful sunny day! This is the first time we have met in Geneva since 2012, with a joint Animals and Plants Committee meeting being held in Dublin, Ireland, and meetings of this Committee being held in Veracruz, Mexico and Tel Aviv, Israel since that time.

Foro Económico Mundial  Reunión Anual de los Nuevos Campeones 2017  Dalian, China, 28 de junio  ‘Cortar de raíz el aumento del comercio ilegal de especies silvestres de fauna y flora silvestres’   John E. Scanlon, Secretario General, CITES (watch the recorded live speech online)

Wildlife-based tourism is growing rapidly worldwide as the number of tourists continues to grow and as we, as travellers, seek out new and more enriching personal experiences with local cultures and wildlife. 

John Scanlon says bold action by countries like China are a major blow to elephant poachers and ivory smugglers, but the world needs to do more to tackle both supply and demand. International media and the wildlife conservation community hailed China’s announcement last year that it would close down its domestic ivory market. Some described it as a game-changer and a huge blow to elephant poachers and smugglers of ivory.