ENVIRONMENT POLICIES EVOLUTION Part 2 Washington, DC CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. 2014-04-03 1
Widespread information nowadays about the endangered status of many prominent species, such as the tiger and elephants, might make the need for such a convention seem obvious. But at the time when the ideas for CITES were first formed, in the 1960s, international discussion of the regulation of wildlife trade for conservation purposes was something relatively new. International wildlife trade is estimated to be worth billions of dollars and to include hundreds of millions of plant and animal specimens. The trade is diverse, ranging from live animals and plants to a vast array of wildlife products derived from them, including food products, exotic leather goods, wooden musical instruments, timber, tourist curios and medicines. Levels of exploitation of some animal and plant species are high and the trade in them, together with other factors, such as habitat loss, is capable of heavily depleting their populations and even bringing some species close to extinction. Many wildlife species in trade are not endangered, but the existence of an agreement to ensure the sustainability of the trade is important in order to safeguard these resources for the future. Because the trade in wild animals and plants crosses borders between countries, the effort to regulate it requires international cooperation to safeguard certain species from over-exploitation. CITES was conceived in the spirit of such cooperation. Today, it accords varying degrees of protection to more than 35,000 species of animals and plants, whether they are traded as live specimens, fur coats or dried herbs. The text of the Convention was agreed at a meeting of representatives of 80 countries in Washington, D.C., the United States of America, on 3 March, and CITES entered in force on 1 July 1975. CITES is an international agreement to which States (countries) adhere voluntarily. States that have agreed to be bound by the Convention ('joined' CITES) are known as Parties. Although CITES is legally binding on the Parties in other words they have to implement the Convention it does not take the place of national laws. Rather it provides a framework to be respected by each Party, which has to adopt its own domestic legislation to ensure that CITES is implemented at the national level. CITES has now 181 Parties. 2014-04-03 2
Roughly 5,600 species of animals and 30,000 species of plants are protected by CITES against over-exploitation through international trade. They are listed in the three CITES Appendices. CITES works by subjecting international trade in specimens of selected species to certain controls. All import, export, re-export and introduction from the sea of species covered by the Convention has to be authorized through a licensing system. Appendix I lists species that are the most endangered. They are threatened with extinction and CITES prohibits international trade in specimens of these species except when the purpose of the import is not commercial, for instance for scientific research. Appendix II lists species that are not necessarily now threatened with extinction but that may become so unless trade is closely controlled. International trade in specimens of Appendix-II species may be authorized by the granting of an export permit or re -export certificate. Permits or certificates should only be granted if certain conditions are met, above all that trade will not be detrimental to the survival of the species in the wild. Appendix III is a list of species included at the request of a Party that already regulates trade in the species and that needs the cooperation of other countries to prevent unsustainable or illegal exploitation. Common name: Giant Panda Scientific name: Ailuropoda melanoleuca Distribution: China CITES listing: Appendix I Common name: Asian Elephant Common name: Wolf, Grey Wolf, Scientific name: Timber Wolf Elephas maximus Scientific name: Canis lupus Distribution: Distribution: Asia, Europe, South and Southeast Asia, China North America CITES listing: Appendix I CITES listing: Appendix II 2014-04-03 3
Warning that CFCs could cause serious harm to Earth's protective ozone layer Nature Journal Sherry Rowland and Mario Molina, chemists at the University of California, Irvine, published the first scientific paper warning that humangenerated chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) could cause serious harm to Earth's protective ozone layer. They calculated that if CFC production continued to increase at the going rate of 10%/year until 1990, then remain steady, CFCs would cause a global 5-7% ozone loss by 1995 and 30-50% loss by 2050. They warned that the loss of ozone would significantly increase the amount of skin-damaging ultraviolet UV-B light reaching the surface, greatly increasing skin cancer and cataracts. The loss of stratospheric ozone could also significantly cool the stratosphere, potentially causing destructive climate change. Although no stratospheric ozone loss had been observed yet, in, CFCs should be banned, they said. Warning that CFCs could cause serious harm to Earth's protective ozone layer 2014-04-03 4
Warning that CFCs could cause serious harm to Earth's protective ozone layer At the time, the CFC industry was worth about 8 thousand million USD in the U.S., employed over 600,000 people directly, and 1.4 million people indirectly. Critics and skeptics primarily industry spokespeople and scientists from conservative think tanks immediately attacked the theory. Despite the fact that Molina and Rowland's theory had wide support in the scientific community, a handful of skeptics, their voices greatly amplified by the public relations machines of powerful corporations and politicians sympathetic to them, succeeded in delaying imposition of controls on CFCs for many years. Warning that CFCs could cause serious harm to Earth's protective ozone layer 2014-04-03 5
1976 Catastrophe or New Society? A Latin American World Model. Fundacion Bariloche Response of the 3rd World to "Limits to Growth claims growth and equity for the 3rd World. 2014-04-03 6