Secretary-General's statements

Opening remarks of CITES Secretary-General, John E. Scanlon UN Headquarters, New York, 3 March 2017 H.E. Mr. Peter Thomson, President of the UN General Assembly Excellences Distinguished panelists Friends of wildlife

On January 2, new rules related to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) take effect, bringing hundreds of additional timber species under its legally binding global trade controls.   Conferences, declarations and reports highlight the scale of the challenge of sustainably and legally regulating trade in valuable timber. Yet, there is only one international agreement that obliges states across the value chain to ensure legal and sustainable trade in timber, and that is CITES.

CITES and Livelihoods Workshop Opening remarks by Mr John E. Scanlon, CITES Secretary-General 23 November 2016, George, South Africa   Deputy Director-General, Mr Shonisani Munzhedzi, Distinguished guests and friends and colleagues from CITES Parties and international organizations,

Hanoi Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade Intervention by John E. Scanlon, Secretary-General, CITES Plenary Session 17-18 November 2016 – Hanoi, Vietnam   Hon. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam, Dr. Ha Cong Tuan Hon. Ministers Distinguished guests Friends and colleagues It is wonderful to be back in the beautiful City of Hanoi. Vietnam has been a Party to CITES since 1994. It has taken many important measures to implement the Convention since that time.

Remarks on the destruction of confiscated elephant ivory and rhino horn in Hanoi, Viet Nam John E. Scanlon, CITES Secretary-General 12 November 2016   Mr. Ha Cong Tuan, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentDistinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen I would like to express my most sincere thanks to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Viet Nam for inviting me to witness the destruction of 2 tonnes of confiscated African elephant ivory and rhino horn today in Hanoi.

In every corner of our planet, a variety of threats such as habitat loss, climate change, over-exploitation and illegal trade put intense pressure on wild populations of animals and plants. Illicit trafficking in wildlife now takes place at an industrial scale driven by transnational organized criminal groups. The phenomena poses a real and immediate danger to some of our most precious species.

NEW YORK – Poor and rural people around the world rely on plants and animals for shelter, food, income, and medicine. In fact, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 15) on sustainable ecosystems acknowledges many developing societies’ close relationship with nature when it calls for increased “capacity of local communities to pursue sustainable livelihood opportunities.” But how is this to be achieved?

In every corner of the world, wild plants and animals are under intense pressure as a result of habitat destruction, climate change, over-exploitation and illegal trade, which is taking place on an industrial scale. This is why, at the start of CITES #CoP17, I said the Johannesburg World Wildlife Conference was ‘critical’ to securing the future of wildlife.