Secretary-General's statements

La 16e session de la Conférence des Parties à la Convention sur le commerce international des espèces de faune et de flore sauvages menacées d’extinction (CoP16 de la CITES), réunie à Bangkok, Thaïlande, du 3 au 14 mars 2013, a pris des mesures décisives pour enrayer l’escalade inquiétante de l’abattage illégal d’éléphants et de rhinocéros d’Afrique et de la contrebande de leur ivoire et de leurs cornes, thème du présent article. Les Parties ont également pris des décisions cruciales pour d’autres espèces subissant les pressions du commerce illégal: les grands félins d’Asie, les grands primates, les pangolins, les tortues terrestres et les tortues d’eau douce, certaines espèces ligneuses et l’antilope du Tibet; elles ont aussi décidé de demander une étude du commerce légal et illégal des guépards sauvages pour en évaluer les effets sur la conservation de l’espèce dans la nature. Avis spécialisés sur la crise qui frappe

With numbers as low as 2,000 in 1973, when the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was signed, the population is now more than 19,000. More than 90 percent of these animals are in South Africa as a result of both public and private management efforts, for which CITES provides a framework.

Bangkok, Thailand, 3 March 2013 Your Excellency Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, Yingluck Shinawatra Chair of the CITES Standing Committee, Øystein Størkersen Executive Director of UNEP, Achim Steiner Distinguished delegates Colleagues Sawasdee krup.  Welcome. It is a great pleasure to be here in the beautiful and vibrant City of Bangkok and we express our deep gratitude to the Kingdom of Thailand and its people for the extraordinary generosity in hosting this critical meeting.  Prime Minister, it has been a real joy to work with your ever courteous and highly professional staff both here and in Geneva as we have prepared for this event.

Illegal trade in wildlife has now reached a scale that poses an immediate risk to wildlife and to people. Over the past five years, we have seen a dramatic spike in the poaching and illegal trade in elephants and rhinos. In 2011 an estimated 25,000 elephants were poached across Africa and in South Africa alone 668 rhinos were lost to poachers in 2012.

at an event to celebrate the 40th anniversary of CITES 13 February 2013, Palais des Nations, Geneva   Click to see photos from the event Director-General, Excellencies, CITES authorities, friends of CITES.

Opening Presentation of CITES Secretary-General Mr. John E. Scanlon* at the joint side-event during CBD CoP11 18 October 2012, Hyderabad, India Good morning and welcome to this joint side event being convened by the CITES Secretariat together with the Secretariats of the CBD, CMS, UNEP and IUCN. We have an excellent group of presenters and panelists to join us today from each Secretariat and they will present on the topic from their own particular perspective.

  Opening Remarks at the 62nd Meeting of the CITES Standing Committee by CITES Secretary-General John E. Scanlon 23 July 2012 Good morning and I join with the Chair in extending a very warm welcome to our Standing Committee members and alternates, together with Observers from CITES Parties, IGOs and NGOs. To those distinguished participants who are observing the month of fasting, I wish to say Ramadan Kareem and wish you a happy and blessed month.

Travelling from the Odeon Cinema in downtown Rio de Janeiro – where we launched our film Rhinos under threat, to Riocentro in Barra de Tijuca – where the Rio+20 negotiations took place, can be a long trip. Several hours in a bus gives one a lot of time to think about a longer journey: the one that the international community has made from Stockholm in 1972 to Rio in 2012