Whales and whale products are also high on the agenda.
People get very emotional when their survival is seen as being at risk.
Delegates from 150 countries will discuss possible changes to trade controls on a wide range of plants and trees during the two-week meeting. They will hear calls for a further sale of stockpiled ivory from elephants that have died naturally. Last year, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia were permitted a one-off sale to Japan. But opponents of the measure, including Kenya, say that a partial lifting of the ivory ban last year led to an increase in elephant poaching, and should not be repeated. Another contentious proposal would allow a softening of the global ban on trading in grey and minke whales.