KEEP AN EYE ON THE REALLY 'BIG' ISSUES FOR CITES 1997, GREENPEACE URGES

KEEP AN EYE ON THE REALLY 'BIG' ISSUES FOR CITES 1997, GREENPEACE URGES
Harare, Zimbabwe, 9 June 1997
Greenpeace today urged the parties to the CITES convention not to lose sight of whales and mahogany - two very big species whose future could hinge on decisions made in the next two weeks.
Speaking on the opening day of the conference, Greenpeace biodiversity campaigner Isabel McCrea warned that proposals from Japan and Norway to downlist several populations of three whale species from Appendix I to Appendix II were in danger of slipping through unnoticed.
Currently both nations are killing whales in defiance of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) - the UN treaty which regulates whaling.
She said if the proposals to downlist the whales succeeded, the door would then be wide open for the return of international trade in whale meat.
'What we're seeing is a strategic attempt to manoeuvre the CITES parties into undermining the IWC commercial whaling moratorium,' Ms McCrea said.
A further proposal from Japan aims to repeal a critical resolution of CITES that urges parties not to allow any international trade in whale species protected by the IWC.
The other threatened giant which CITES could help safeguard is bigleaf mahogany - the rainforest tree whose survival is at risk from uncontrolled intensive logging in Latin America.
A proposal put forward by Bolivia - the second largest exporter - and the US - the largest importer - to list mahogany on Appendix II faces enormous pressure from the timber industry lobby.
Ms McCrea said while Appendix II listing was not a ban on logging it would at least help producer countries to bring the trade under control.
If successful it would bring about better international monitoring and control of a trade which is currently unsustainable and mostly illegal.
Many scientists agree that mahogany is currently being logged at unsustainable rates and that a large proportion of wood exported is being done so in violation of national laws.
A recent Brazilian government audit of existing forest management plans in the Amazon, will result in around 70 per cent being cancelled or suspended as a result of 'irregularities' on the part of the logging companies.
'In the five years since the first proposal to list mahogany at CITES, fears that the species may be heading toward commercial extinction have grown,' Ms McCrea said.
The rate of deforestation (caused by a variety of activities including logging) in the Brazilian Amazon have increased from 11,130 sq km per year in 1991 to 29,792 sq km for the period 1992-4.
Ms McCrea said the next two weeks would be make or break for these and many other threatened species.
'The next CITES meeting will take place in the new millennium and the challenge for this meeting is to ensure that whales and mahogany are still in existence then,' she said. p>

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Isabel McCrea or Elisabeth Mealey cell phone: 111-601450