IELP CITES

International Environmental Law Project (IELP) Goes to CITES

FINAL DAILY REPORT

In "Wild" Meeting, CITES Parties Protect Sharks, Bottlenose Dolphins, and Mahogany

In an unprecedented meeting, the Parties to CITES imposed trade restrictions on several commercially exploited species and marine species, including whale shark, basking shark, bottlenose dolphin, and mahogany. The protection for the two shark species as well as the bottlenose dolphin came after the Parties first rejected the proposals. However, governments and environmental groups lobbied successfully to reopen debate on these issues and then, in a second vote by secret ballot, the Parties adopted the proposals.

The battle to protect the Black Sea population of bottlenose dolphin was particularly satisfying for Prof. Chris Wold, because the government of Georgia asked him to be their legal advisor during the debate. Because the Georgians wanted to prohibit the trade in dolphins to dolphinaria and "swim-with-the-dolphin" facilities, they originally asked for a ban on both commercial and non-commercial trade. "The Georgians feared that exporters of these dolphins would claim that dolphinaria and "swim-with" programs were noncommercial educational or therapy programs. But the proposal to ban noncommercial trade was ruled out of order on technical grounds and we had to resort to Plan B: a zero export quota on trade for commercial purposes."

The intensity of the debate was reflected in an effort to evict Prof. Wold from the delegate area where he was providing advice to the Georgians. "I had been sitting with the Georgians all day and suddenly, five minutes before the debate on the dolphins, a delegation asked if I had permission to sit in the delegates-only area. I think someone was trying to intimidate the Georgians." The plan backfired and after the vote was announced many delegations came over to congratulate the Georgian delegation, which was attending its first CITES meeting. "The challenge now is to ensure that all countries interpret trade to dolphinaria and "swim-with" programs as commercial," Wold added. "If not, trade to dolphinaria will continue to endanger this population."

The conservation community also delighted in the protection given to mahogany and the two shark species. Similar proposals have been rejected at previous meetings and these new proposals faced stiff opposition from many countries, including Japan, Iceland, China, and Norway, among many others. When the whale shark vote was announced, the Philippine Ambassador who proposed the protection, gave anyone near her a big hug. That victory was important because the Philippines is a developing country that trades significantly in whale shark meat. Yet, the Philippines thought that protecting them for biological reasons and for ecotourism provided them with greater economic incentives for conservation than killing them.

IELP member Rick Till provided important support for this proposal and the United Kingdom's proposal to protect basking sharks. "I got sick of delegations making ridiculous arguments about how CITES would actually undermine efforts to conserve sharks." Rick's analysis got into the hands of the United Kingdom and environmental groups, who used the information to support the shark proposals.

The meeting was also educational for the other Lewis and Clark law students who attended the meeting. Former IELP Member Sarah Baker, who has been working with the CITES Secretariat, said that the meeting provided "a remarkable experience for seeing how international environmental law is made." IELP members Mario Williams and Adam Lavinthal, who attended for Oceana, noted that classroom lectures could never adequately convey the energy and chaos that ultimately creates international law. Mario summed up the meeting by saying, "it's wild."

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DAILY REPORTS