CBD CoP16 Biodiversity Law & Governance Day 2024: Opening Plenary Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity in International Treaty Regimes
Remarks by CITES Secretary-General Ivonne Higuero
26 October 2024, Cali, Colombia
Esteemed colleagues and participants,
It is always an honour and a privilege to join you to discuss issues of biodiversity law and governance and implementation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora or CITES. It is even more interesting to discuss now after the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and how we can collaboratively engage to achieve its goals and targets.
Many thanks to the International Law Association, la Universidad de Costa Rica, la Universidad Javeriana Cali, and la Universidad Externado de Colombia, and the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law for inviting me to speak on Biodiversity Law and Governance Day 2024.
I would like to share with you five key messages on how treaty regimes foster these goals:
1. Treaty regimes provide legally binding provisions that must be implemented and enforced at the national level.
Treaty regimes, such as CITES, are critical and instrumental for the implementation of the Framework, in particular Targets 4 and 5.
The Convention requires its – soon 185 – Parties to ensure that the international trade in over 40,900 species is legal and sustainable and therefore directly contributes to Target 5.
National CITES scientific authorities make what is called a Non-Detriment Finding, or NDF, to assess the sustainability of trade in a CITES-listed species. Unsustainable trade is a violation of the Convention.
Importing Parties can raise questions and ultimately decide to reject the import if they are not convinced of the sustainability of the trade. This collaboration is one of the pillars of the Convention.
2. Some treaty regimes, including CITES and others, provide procedures for monitoring compliance with the regime and the possibility of adopting measures if a Party is not compliant with the regime.
CITES is sometimes referred to as “the Convention with teeth” and has several mechanisms for monitoring compliance, including with regard to the sustainability of trade, lack of adoption of adequate national legislation and lack of submission of annual reports for consecutive years.
After thorough discussions in the CITES Standing Committee, it may be recommended to suspend trade in one or all species with the Party concerned until the Party complies with the Convention.
Such recommendations can be coupled with technical assistance to the Party to support the implementation of the recommendations so that the Party can achieve long-term compliance, including under the Compliance Assistance Programme.
This leads me to my third point:
3. Accession to a Treaty regime is a sign of high-level political commitment by the State – which can be a leverage for support and funding at national and global level.
In the context of CITES – but also in the context of many other treaty regimes – Parties have access to capacity-building, training workshops and in a few instances direct financial support for the implementation of the instrument in question. Such support is dependent on the political will of the Party to deliver on the instrument in question. Similarly, legally binding commitments can be a leverage for the allocation of resources at the national level, even if it is often insufficient.
4. Synergies should be considered in the context of the implementation of treaty regimes at the national level.
Countries should try to adopt a synergistic approach to the implementation of the different treaty regimes and other commitments and many Parties do so in the context of biological diversity. The Framework and its global approach and reach provides a good platform for enhancing synergies. In particular, it recommends that countries develop their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans with the Framework in mind and address priorities across all multilateral environmental agreements.
CITES has done a full mapping exercise to show which of the Targets in the CITES Strategic Plan 2021-2030 contributes to the Framework’s Targets. We have also included the references to the Framework’s Targets and the SDGs in the implementation reporting format facilitating Parties’ monitoring and reporting to the other two regimes.
5. To effectively strengthen biodiversity governance, international regimes must be data-driven and adaptive, continuously responding to emerging biodiversity challenges.
CITES exemplifies this approach by regularly updating its species listings using the latest scientific information and essential tools like Non-Detriment Findings, supported by wildlife officials working on the ground.
Fostering collaboration and data-sharing among treaty regimes, scientific bodies, and enforcement agencies is crucial for this success.
CITES partners with organizations such as United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the World Custom Organization, INTERPOL, and the World Bank through the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime or ICCWC, enhancing global cooperation in the fight against illegal wildlife trade. These partnerships enable real-time data exchange and improve enforcement efforts, which are essential for addressing transboundary biodiversity threats.
Additionally, the CITES Programme on Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants supports rangers in Africa and Asia in monitoring illegal elephant killings, ensuring that collected data directly informs decision-making for elephant conservation, thereby reinforcing the framework of effective biodiversity governance.
International treaty regimes like CITES are uniquely positioned to drive the ambitious goals of the Framework. As legally binding agreements, they compel Signatory States to implement and enforce vital conservation measures at the national level and require strong international commitment and cooperation.
I am certain that synergies cultivate a collaborative approach to addressing biodiversity challenges, while data-driven and adaptive management empowers Parties to make informed decisions.
Together, such dimensions of CITES are crucial for strengthening biodiversity governance to ensure our use of natural resources is sustainable and conservation efforts support both biodiversity and livelihoods.
Thank you so much!