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| Fate
of 60 Species Hangs in the Balance at CITES |
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| The balance of power
among delegates from 151 countries will govern the future
of at least 60 endangered species. |
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| Roughly 2,000 officials
from the 151 governments and a wide variety of nongovernmental
organizations will gather at the United Nations Environment
Programme. The delegates will consider proposals to amend
the lists of species subject to international trade controls
or bans. The proposals cover 60 species, from the African
elephant and the minke whale to Malagasy poison frogs
and the monkey puzzle tree. |
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| Sustainable use
is key to building support for conservation among local
communities while directly raising funds for protecting
endangered species, according to a statement issued today
by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). There
is also an increasing recognition that developing countries
need more capacity building in order to monitor and control
both wildlife trade and wildlife populations, UNEP said.
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| With human population
and activity set to expand dramatically over the next
few decades, the role of CITES in the 21st century will
be to help make species conservation and the satisfaction
of human needs mutually supportive. |
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| Critics of the proposals
say any legal commercial whaling can be used to mask a
black market trade in whale meat. Proposals for resuming
a limited trade in Hawksbill turtle shells are also on
the table. Cuba is interested in making a single, internationally
supervised sale to Japan of up to 6,900 kilograms (6.9
tons) of shells from existing stocks. Cuba would like
this sale to be followed by an annual trade quota of 500
individual turtles. |
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| The Hawksbill turtle
is one of six species of marine turtles covered by a CITES
trade ban. In 1996, Hawksbill turtles were listed as critically
endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals.
Globally these turtles have declined 80 percent in the
past 60 years. Other proposals call for introducing trade
bans endangered species such as Asia's urial, a wild sheep,
and the coelacanth, an ancient fish often called a living
fossil. |
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