Secretary-General's statements

Talk of prohibiting, preventing and countering corruption must take centre stage when signatories to the Cites treaty on regulating the international trade in wildlife meet in Johannesburg this weekend. The world is witnessing an unprecedented surge in wildlife trafficking that is stealing the irreplaceable natural wealth of countries, greatly hindering development, paralysing efforts to eradicate poverty, and undermining conservation efforts. This illicit trade in wildlife is well organised, transnational and happening across every region. As countries prepare to meet in Johannesburgthis weekend for the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to Cites (CoP17), there is increasing recognition that to curb the global surge in wildlife trafficking we must counter the corrosive corruption that enables it.

Consumers and collectors want sturgeon caviar, snakeskin bags, shark meat and fins, wild snowdrop bulbs, precious rosewood furniture, and quality agarwood oil, as well as rare birds, reptiles, cacti and orchids. But they rarely stop to think about their origins. There are now over seven billion people consuming biodiversity every day in the form of medicines, food, clothing, furniture, perfumes and luxury goods. Demand for products drawn from nature is increasing, and with it pressure is growing on some of our wildlife species.

  Representatives of Parties to CITES and the CBD, country representatives from hosting countries, colleagues from Convention Secretariats, regional partners, resource persons, ladies and gentleman. A very warm welcome to this regional preparatory briefing on the upcoming CITES CoP17 and CBD CoP13. We are delighted to be partnering with our good friends and colleagues at the CBD Secretariat in co-hosting these four regional meetings and we are express our deep appreciation to the European Union for providing the funding that has made these highly valuable briefings  possible.

Keynote Remarks Caribbean Regional Wildlife Enforcement Workshop John E. Scanlon, CITES Secretary General Bahamas, 20- 22 July 2016   The Hon. Kenred Dorsett, Minister of Environment of the Bahamas Her Excellency, Lisa Johnson, Chargé d’Affaires to the Bahamas from the United States of America