Debate: Key objectives for the CITES CoP meeting in Panama
Date: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022
Speaker: Helena Dalli
Language: EN

The international trade in wild animals and plants is estimated to be worth billions of euros annually and includes thousands of different fauna and flora species. This trade plays an important role in many economies. It ranges from live animals and plants to products derived from them, including food, leather goods, timber and medicines. At the same time, however, we must regulate the international wildlife trade effectively to ensure its sustainability, and to ensure it is consistent with the fight against species extinction. The EU has been actively engaged in advocating for strict global rules on wildlife trade and in the implementation of CITES through the EU Wildlife Trade Regulations. The Commission has also been actively promoting strong EU—wide enforcement of the rules.  Let me now reply more specifically to your three questions. The EU’s main objective for the upcoming CoP 19 in Panama in November is to extend the CITES scope to additional species threatened by international trade. This would be done by including them in the CITES appendices when the relevant criteria are met. For this purpose, the EU has proposed to include a number of animal and plant species in the CITES appendices, and namely several timber and marine species, but also reptile and amphibian species. Demand for some of these species in the EU is significant. So by making proposals for listing, we take responsibility for ensuring that trade is sustainable. We count on partner countries to support the EU proposals.  A second priority is to ensure that the rules in place are transparent and uniformly understood and interpreted. For instance, trade in live elephants can only take place in limited circumstances based on the CITES framework and on transparent and robust scientific scrutiny. The EU has proposed to clarify the framework to ensure that it is as rigorous and as effective as possible. The EU will also continue to encourage building capacities of relevant authorities and strengthening cooperation between source, transit and destination countries.  As regards your second question, the Commission acknowledges that international trade in wildlife may pose a risk for the emergence of zoonotic diseases. At the international level, the EU fully supports the CITES Secretariat in its partnership with the World Organisation for Animal Health and sees the need for CITES to act within its mandate to limit the risks of the transmission of zoonotic diseases in the context of wildlife trade. The Commission has been supporting projects aiming to explore the links between the transmission of zoonotic diseases and trade in wildlife and to limit the risk of these transmissions.  Turning to your last question, we will soon publish the evaluation of the 2016 action plan against wildlife trafficking. This evaluation has found that over the last years wildlife trafficking has clearly risen up the agenda of policymakers, law enforcement agencies and stakeholders in the EU and worldwide. The EU and its Member States have scaled up enforcement measures, for instance, to enhanced cross-border investigations, resulting in more seizures and prosecutions. The EU has also led actions against wildlife trafficking in multilateral fora, notably under CITES, and the EU and Member States’ diplomatic networks have been mobilised, actively engaging in bilateral and regional dialogues. Lastly, the EU has provided substantial funding for local communities’ involvement in the management and conservation of wildlife, capacity building of law enforcement agencies and support for cross-border collaboration to combat wildlife trafficking and dismantle organised crime networks.  Despite these efforts, wildlife trafficking, combined with climate change and environmental degradation, continues to put a serious strain on wildlife, as well as on people’s livelihoods and security. Trafficking routes and trafficked species change, while capacities and resources dedicated to fighting wildlife crime remain limited. This results in a relatively low number of prosecutions and convictions, despite an increase in seizures.  Building on the 2016 action plan and its evaluation, the revised action plan against wildlife trafficking, which we will adopt before the end of this year, will aim to respond to the current challenges in a comprehensive way. It will put more focus on capacity building along the enforcement chain and will encourage coordination and cooperation within and between Member States. It will also renew the EU commitment to fight online wildlife trafficking, harnessing the future adoption of the Digital Services Act to give enforcement actors the necessary tools to tackle wildlife crime online. It will also call for more transparency in decision—making, based on a stronger partnership of the EU and its Member States, with non-governmental organisations, international organisations and the private sector. We aim to establish a more robust framework for monitoring and evaluation of the action plan. This framework will build on existing reporting mechanisms in order to limit the burden on Member States and will take account of the inherent limitations of measuring action against illegal trade.