33rd Meeting of the CITES Animals Committee
Opening Remarks by CITES Secretary-General Ivonne Higuero
12 July 2024, Geneva, Switzerland
Chair of the Animals Committee,
Members of the Animals Committee,
Distinguished delegates and participants,
Dear colleagues and friends,
It is my great pleasure to welcome you all to the 33rd Meeting of the CITES Animals Committee. We extend our warm thanks to you for traveling to Geneva to join us for the meeting. We are most grateful to the Government of Switzerland for their generous financial support to hold the meeting here at CICG where we have, exceptionally, 7 days of meetings ahead of us.
To the members of the Committee, I thank you for committing your time, contributing your scientific and technical expertise and generously providing advice to support the decisions adopted by the CoP. Your dedication and expertise are vital in fulfilling the purpose of the Convention. We rely on you to guide us through the complexities of the core CITES processes and provide sound scientific advice to inform discussions. We thank you for your support and dedication, not just at the meeting, but throughout the intersessional period, guiding or chasing working groups to move the work forward.
We have an impressive turnout for this meeting with 76 Parties and 318 delegates registered, along with 88 organizations represented by 165 participants. This demonstrates our collective passion and dedication to the work of CITES, which is also mirrored by the rich agenda. 20 different documents will be discussed during the joint session of the Animals and Plants Committees and over 40 additional documents will be discussed by the Animals Committee on its own.
Almost two years has passed since the 19th meeting of the Conference of the Parties and much progress has been made, as evidenced by the volume of documents. The agenda meeting is extensive, featuring species from across the globe – African vultures to jaguars and queen conch to seahorses as well as circumglobal shark species. Key agenda items include strategic matters such as the CITES Strategic Vision, World Wildlife Trade report, along with updates on initiatives like the Joint CITES-CMS African Carnivore Initiative and the Big Cat Task Force.
The two Committees will discuss several cross-cutting issues, including the new comprehensive guidance on making Non-Detriment Findings (NDFs) that was developed through a highly collaborative process involving the Committee members, Parties and observers. This valuable new resource will serve as a useful tool for Parties to ensure that international trade in CITES-listed species is sustainable.
The Animals Committee has species-specific matters to address for 14 different taxa across aquatic and terrestrial species. Noteworthy items on the agenda include discussions on West African vultures, eels, leopards, tortoises and freshwater turtles, trade in songbirds, marine ornamental fishes, and sharks and rays. You will also examine matters relating to the regulation of trade including the making non-detriment findings for specimens taken from areas beyond national jurisdiction, and terms and units for trade in stony corals.
The Committee will address several core processes of CITES that require thoughtful consideration – the Review of Significant Trade, the review of trade in specimens reported as produced in captivity, the periodic review process as well as nomenclature issues, which are the backbone to the Convention.
As the final Animals Committee before the next Conference of the Parties, you have a lot of work to do but also it is also an exciting time where the Committee can help to guide the work for the next intersessional period.
I would like to express my gratitude for the collaborative and participatory way work has been delivered by the Animals Committee supported by observer Parties and organizations. My sincere thanks also to the Chair and Vice Chair for their leadership and collegiality; it is always a pleasure working alongside them.
At the same time, I am compelled to ask for your support of the hard-working members of the CITES Secretariat. Over the years, we have seen an exponential growth of the workload of the Secretariat, but without the core financial and human resources needed to keep up with this growth. There are only three scientific officers and one programme assistant supported by the core budget resources and one junior officer supported by the trust fund savings as agreed by the CoP until 2025. They prepare most documents for these meetings; and we are lucky to have such generous colleagues who get involved in all work and help as much as possible. However, it has become an unsustainable workload and I fear for their health and well-being. I kindly ask you to please be considerate of the amount of work requested from the Secretariat, especially when it relates to activities that may be outside of the Convention's core work. We are finding it more and more challenging to have the time to do the core work of the Convention, which is servicing the meetings, implementing the programme of work, and providing technical advice and support to the Parties.
With this kind request, I hereby inform you that our dear Elena Kwitsinkaia has retired, and Ms Olga Montero is now the documents assistant – we are fortunate that Elena is able to accompany us during the Plants and Animals Committee meetings so please wish her good luck in this new chapter of her life. Also, our dear Juan Carlos Vasquez has taken a brave step in his career and has joined UNEP in Nairobi on the 1st of July. Sofie Flensborg has been selected on a temporary appointment as Chief of the Legal Unit, congratulations to her. And, finally, we have several wonderful new interns and you will see them working hard to support the meetings.
Finally, I let you know with a sense of sadness that this will be the last meeting of the Animals Committee that our Chair, Mathias Loertscher, will be sitting here on the podium to chair the meeting. He was elected as Chair of the Animals Committee in 2016 and after this meeting will have chaired five Animals Committee meetings between CoP17 and CoP20 (AC29 to AC33), including during the challenging COVID-19 pandemic. Mathias has now retired from his position in the Swiss Management Authority and while we wish him well on his retirement and thank him for his service to the Animals Committee over the years, we are very happy that he will continue in his position as Chair until the Next CoP, including for the Standing Committee in February 2025. However, this will be his official last meeting of the Animals Committee so I hope that you will all help him to make it a memorable and successful one.
Before we all get emotional, I wish you a productive and enjoyable meeting. You have a very busy agenda so let's take this opportunity to work together constructively and effectively to guide us towards a harmonious relationship with nature.
Thank you.