International Environmental Law Project (IELP) Goes to CITES

NOVEMBER 4, 2002

Santiago, Chile

The first day of an international meeting always seems very slow, but appearances are deceiving. The delegates receive messages from the host country's president and other high ranking officials. When the business of CITES' 160 Parties (those countries that have joined the international treaty at issue) begins, the Parties must first adopt rules of procedure and officers for the meeting. None of this appears that exciting, except that we are in the beautiful city of Santiago with a towering mountain range as the backdrop to this meeting (Mt. Hood and the Cascades seems a bit insignificant in comparison to the Andes). Behind the scenes, however, governmental delegates and nongovernmental environmental groups are working furiously, scrambling for votes that may be days away.

The day began with an 8:00am strategy meeting of environmental groups. Various coalitions of groups (the pet industry, hunting organizations such as the Safari Club, and conservation and animal welfare organizations) meet in their respective "strategy" rooms each morning day to review new information concerning issues of interest to those groups. For IELP, those issues included Patagonian toothfish, whales, sharks, the rules of procedure, among others.

The first vote came on the rules of procedure as several governments tried to limit the participation of environmental groups. Environmental groups quickly organized and found sympathetic governments, such as the United States, Kenya, and Argentina, that successfully argued that environmental groups, including Greenpeace, the Safari Club, IELP, and about 150 others, should have full rights to communicate with delegates. In a sign of the contentious debates to come, the Parties took about two hours to adopt the rules of procedure.

The day is finally ending long after midnight as Prof. Wold finishes a late meeting with representatives from Defenders of Wildlife and Humane Society International to devise an overall strategy to address marine species issues. This "slow" day lasted about 16 hours and included about a dozen meetings with Parties and environmental groups, in addition to the actual meeting of the CITES Parties.

Links

CITES Secretariat
Twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP12)