VULNERABLE SPECIES PROTECTED AT UN CITES CONFERENCE

20 April 2000

NAIROBI -- As the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) ended in Nairobi, Kenya, today, Greenpeace congratulated member states for recognising the need to implement trade restrictions to protect some of the world's endangered species.

"CITES has reaffirmed the need to consider conservation over cash this week, to the benefit of a number of the world's most vulnerable species. As the ivory sale in 1997 showed, sales in high value products from vulnerable species exacerbate illegal trade" said Peter Pueschel of Greenpeace International.

Today, CITES member states rejected last ditch attempts to overturn two of this week's decisions on international trade bans. Norway attempted once again to overturn the decision to maintain the ban trade in whale products (1) and Cuba sought once more to sell a stockpile of tortoiseshell that it has accumulated from the endangered Hawksbill turtle, found in Caribbean waters.

However, despite strong scientific evidence that demonstrates the urgent need to protect the Basking Shark from international trade, member states failed to list it on CITES Appendix II. (2)

"Greenpeace congratulates member states for standing firm against the countries that clearly have no interest in conserving the world's threatened or endangered species but seek only to consume them," said Pueschel. "It is, however, regrettable that, after such valuable decisions, they fell at the last hurdle and bowed to the intense lobbying efforts of representatives from the fisheries industry that is responsible for shark's serious decline," he added.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

- Matilda Bradshaw, Greenpeace International press on +254 2 72 52 62 85(outside Kenya) or 072 52 62 85 (in Kenya)

For more information please visit Greenpeace's CITES website: www.greenpeace.org/~oceans/cites

(1) Norway mounted an intensive lobbying campaign on CITES member states, that must have cost million of dollars, to downlist the minke whale from Appendix I to Appendix II of the CITES list. However, it got less support for its proposal at this meeting than it did at the last CITES meeting in 1997.

(2) Trade is regulated in species listed on CITES Appendix II Japan and Norway will continue their attempts to legalise their whaling operations at the International Whaling Commission meeting, to be held in Australia, July 2000.