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A tourist takes a picture of a shark at Sydney Aquarium
Photo: © David Gray / Reuters/ REUTERS
For two weeks, the representatives of 184 countries discussed cites at the World Species Conference in Panama – in the future, more than 470 wild species are to be better protected.
The trade in sharks in particular should be more strictly controlled.
This emerges from the adopted protection package for animals and plants.
The Cites Convention is a nearly 50-year-old treaty that regulates global trade in endangered species.
Animal and plant species are divided into protection categories of varying severity in order to ensure their survival in nature.
Trade is then either strictly regulated or banned entirely.
More than 38,000 animal and plant species are already listed.
"The conference was a complete success, especially for marine animals," said the environmental foundation WWF.
Luke Warwick of the non-governmental organization Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said: "This will go down in history as the day we turned things around to prevent the world's sharks and rays from becoming extinct".
Implementation is now crucial.
The main decisions of the Panama conference are:
Sharks and rays:
animal rights activists welcomed this decision as historic – the trade in around 100 species of sharks and rays is being more strictly controlled.
Newly protected were 54 ground shark species, six small hammerhead shark species and 37 small guitarfish species.
As a result,
90 percent of the species traded for their fins and meat will be protected
in the future .
So far, only a quarter of them have been protected, especially the larger ones.
Elephants
: Everything stays the same in the dispute over elephants.
Most important point for conservationists: The global
trade ban on ivory
has been confirmed.
A request for stricter protection for elephants from southern Africa was rejected.
The organization Pro Wildlife was disappointed.
Exotic Animals:
Frogs, turtles and lizards also came under the protective umbrella of Cites.
Global trade has been restricted or even banned
for a good
30 reptile and 160 amphibian species .
In particular, closer surveillance of 158 species of glass frogs will be crucial to curbing the fast-growing trade in exotic pets, according to the International Animal Welfare Fund Ifaw.
Rhinos
: The
trade in rhino horn remains prohibited
.
In addition, Namibia will in future be allowed to sell live animals for conservation purposes within its range in Africa.
For Pro Wildlife, this weakened rhino protection in Namibia.
According to the WWF, however, the decision can benefit ailing populations across the continent.
Sea Cucumbers
: All
three sea cucumber
species of the genus Thelenota from the Indo-Pacific region have been protected.
They may now only be traded if their survival in nature is assured.
This decision enables sustainable trade while safeguarding marine biodiversity, the Ifaw said.
According to experts, there are more than 1200 species of these animals, only four of which have already been listed.
Animal protection organizations were satisfied with the results.
"Governments at the Cites conference have shown that they are beginning to understand the effort required to deal with nature's crisis," the International Fund for Animal Welfare said.
Pro Wildlife's Daniela Freyer said: "We are relieved that Cites has taken such a strong stand against the plundering of biodiversity."
kko/dpa/AFP
