Secretary-General's statements

CITES Secretary-General, Ivonne Higuero's message for International Biodiversity Day 2023

Joint Statement from the Collaborative Partnership on Sustainable Wildlife Management for CBD CoP15 Made by CITES Secretary-General and CPW Chair, Ivonne Higuero Plenary: CBD/COP/15/L.5 on Sustainable Wildlife Management, 10 December Thank you Chair, Distinguished delegates,

Statement By the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity Working Group I: CBD 15-B (Cooperation with other conventions and international organizations) Montreal, 7 December 2022 delivered by Ms Ivonne Higuero, CITES Secretary-General Thank you, Chair

By CITES Secretary-General, Ivonne Higuero After a few days off to recover from the very busy two weeks in Panama and now moving on to the CBD Open Ended Working Group meeting on the Global Biodiversity Framework and the CBD COP15 in Montreal, I have time to reflect on the outcomes of CITES CoP19. The meeting of the ultimate decision-making body of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora ended one week ago, reaching 365 decisions and covering more than 500 species. And now each of the 2,500 people, representing more than 160 of the Parties to CITES as well as observers, have started working to make sure these decisions turn into action.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends. It’s Friday, the 25th of November - the last day of CoP19. We made it! All of us have worked tirelessly and for a long time to get to this moment and by standing here before you, I am immensely proud; proud of all of you and of what you have accomplished during these two weeks, proud of my country and the way it has welcomed us, and proud of my team. I assure you that you could only dream of having a team like the CITES Secretariat. Please help me to show our appreciation for all your efforts. We should express our gratitude to those who have made us feel so warmly welcomed: His Excellency Mr. president, the vice president, who opened our Conference, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Public Security that has kept us all safe, in addition to all the other parts of the Panamanian government working behind the scenes.

Why more countries should adopt digitalization to curb illicit trade in endangered species As the final week of the World Wildlife Conference, in Panama, gets under way, CITES Secretary-General Ivonne Higuero and UNCTAD’s Director of Technology and Logistics Shamika N. Sirimanne are calling for wider use of digital technologies to help conserve the planet's endangered species.  

 Species Survival Network - CoP19 Side event Clark R. Bavin Wildlife Law Enforcement Awards Wednesday 15 November 2022 – 17h15 (Canal 2 – Committee I)   Ivonne HIGUERO CITES Secretary-General Distinguished delegates, Ladies and gentlemen,

Excellencies, distinguished delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to Panama... welcome to my home, welcome to the CoP of the Americas! It has been 20 years since the last CITES CoP in this hemisphere - CoP12 in Santiago, Chile. This CoP has been organized during the pandemic and it hasn't been easy for the host country or the Secretariat to deal with all the challenges that this brought. Despite everything, we are gathered here and I think it is a happy coincidence that we are holding the World Wildlife Conference in Panama. Gathered here to discuss world wildlife trade in a country that connects two oceans and two continents containing 7 of the 17 megadiverse countries and which has been a centre for trade since the 13th century... in the Olmec, Maya, Aztec and Inca cultures. They were trading on land and sea and I wonder if they would be surprised at the species that will be addressed at this meeting.