Approximately 2,000 people representing 160 countries as well as wildlife conservation groups, animal protection and environmental organizations, wildlife industries, and law enforcement will converge on Santiago, Chile, in November to help decide whether to increase or decrease trade protections for more than 50 types of wild animals and plants.

The decisions made at the 12th Conference of the Parties (COP12) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which meets from November 3–15, will have a major impact on the conservation and protection of the species under consideration. Parties are those nations that have signed and ratified the CITES treaty and are bound by its rules.

CITES is a 29-year-old United Nations treaty that seeks to protect certain species of wild fauna and flora from extinction caused by international commercial trade. Every year, millions of wild animals and plants, and their parts, are traded internationally, both legally and illegally. This trade includes elephant ivory, whale meat and blubber, cat fur, bear gall bladders, live parrots and reptiles used as pets, crocodile skin, fish for human consumption and for aquaria, coral jewelry, tropical timber used for furniture and oils, rare cacti used as ornamental plants, and herbs and roots used for medicine.

At COP12, the Parties will decide whether to increase or decrease CITES protections for 54 species of wild animals and plants, including controversial proposals to jump start the ivory trade and another proposal to downlist two species of whales to allow international trade in whale meat and blubber despite an international ban on whaling. (See Species Proposal Highlights below.)

CITES bans international commercial trade in species listed on Appendix I of the treaty, which are those species that are threatened with extinction and which are or may be affected by trade. CITES allows regulated trade in species listed on Appendix II—these species are not necessarily threatened with extinction now, but may become so unless international trade is strictly regulated. The Parties will also decide how to improve implementation of the treaty (see Other Issues Highlights below).

Species Proposal Highlights

• Five southern African countries (Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Zambia) want to reinstate the international elephant ivory trade, which was banned by CITES in 1989 after more than 50% of Africa's elephants were lost to poachers in only one decade. The nations have proposed to sell 87 metric tons of ivory (equal to about 11,000 elephants) first, 13 metric tons (equal to about 1,600 elephants per year) each year thereafter, and an unlimited amount of ivory souvenirs and other trinkets. Japan is the main market. Kenya and India, which have experienced increased elephant poaching in recent years, have proposed to keep the ivory trade ban in place.

• Japan wants to move two species of whales—minke and Bryde's—from Appendix I to Appendix II so that they, and other Parties (Norway and Iceland), can trade internationally in whale meat and blubber. The International Whaling Commission bans commercial whale hunting, but Japan and Norway undertake annual whale hunts and market the meat and blubber anyway.

• India and the Philippines want to regulate international trade in the whale shark by listing the species on Appendix II, while the United Kingdom (on behalf of the European Union) wants the same for the basking shark. Wild populations of both shark species are declining because of over-fishing and trade in their meat and fins in Asia.

• Australia wants to regulate international trade in Patagonian toothfish, marketed as "Chilean sea bass" in restaurants and stores, by listing it on Appendix II. Currently, almost half of all trade in this fish is illegal and unregulated, and some populations of the species are shrinking. Chile is the main exporter; Japan and the United States are the main consumers.

• Georgia wants to stop international trade in Black Sea bottlenose dolphins by transferring them from Appendix II to Appendix I. These animals are falling victim to capture and export for public display.

• Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia want to trade in the wool and wool products made from vicuña, a South American relative of the llama, by transferring some populations of the species from Appendix I to Appendix II. Wild vicuña are rounded up, or are kept confined on ranches, and sheared. Mortality during capture, abortions during or after capture, and separation of calves from mothers are of concern.

• Costa Rica, Mexico, Germany, and South Africa want to ban international trade in four species of parrots by transferring them from Appendix II to Appendix I. The yellow-naped parrot and yellow-headed parrot of Central America, the blue-headed macaw of South America, and the Cape parrot of South Africa are threatened by over-collection for the pet trade.

• China, India, Germany, and the United States want to regulate trade in 21 types of Asian freshwater turtles and tortoises by placing them on Appendix II. Capture for sale as food in China is threatening the survival of these species.

• New Zealand wants to regulate international trade in New Zealand geckos by placing them on Appendix II. Fully protected in New Zealand, the only place where they occur naturally, the lizards are being poached and traded illegally as pets in the U.S., German, and Czech markets.

• The United States wants to regulate international trade in seahorses by listing them on Appendix II. Dead seahorses are used in traditional Asian medicine and sold worldwide as curios; live seahorses are traded for display in aquaria. Some wild populations are declining.

• The United States wants to regulate international trade in the humphead wrasse, a coral reef fish found in the Indo-Pacific, by listing it on Appendix II. Live wrasse are traded as food in Asia, where they command high prices as a delicacy. Wild populations are declining.

• Germany wants to regulate international trade in two species of butterflies—the Sri Lankan rose butterfly and African swallowtail butterflies—by placing them on Appendix II. Both live and dead butterflies of these species are traded to collectors in Europe, North America, and Japan. Wild populations are declining.

Other Issues

In addition to the species proposals, delegates will discuss resolutions and other documents presented by the Parties.

• The Parties will discuss changing the criteria for listing plant and animal species on Appendix I and II. If it becomes more difficult to list species on the CITES Appendices—or easier to remove species from the lists—wild populations will be harmed.

• Japan, a pro-whaling Party, is attempting to sever the supportive ties between CITES and the International Whaling Commission (IWC), so that CITES will stop helping enforce the IWC's ban on commercial whaling. Mexico, on the other hand, has submitted a proposal that would strengthen the relationship between the two treaties.

• The CITES Secretariat has proposed to reduce CITES regulation of exports of leopard trophies. Meanwhile, Tanzania, has asked to double its annual leopard trophy export quota, even though there is no scientific justification for the current quota, much less the proposed increase.

• The Parties will also examine the trade in bear parts (particularly bile and gall bladders) and rhinoceros horns, all of which are used in traditional Chinese medicine. At the previous COPs, the Parties pledged to take action in these areas, and they will now discuss whether to continue their efforts or to modify or delete them.

• Parties will decide whether CITES should continue its role in addressing the harmful trade in wild-animal meat, also known as bushmeat.

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