International Expert Workshop on CITES Non-Detriment Findings
Cancun, Mexico, November 17th to 22nd, 2008
 
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Background information

IUCN Checklist
Answers to CITES Notification to the Parties No. 2007/032
Answers to CITES Notification to the Parties No. 2008/044
Regional and species-specific workshops and exercises

The proposal of having this Workshop was first raised and discussed during the XI Annual Meeting of Canada/Mexico/United States Trilateral Committee for Wildlife & Ecosystem Conservation and Management (2006).

After being well received during the joint meeting of the Plants and Animals Committees (PC16/AC22, July 2006) and at the 54th meeting of the Standing Committee (October, 2006), a formal proposal was presented by Mexico and Canada (CoP14 Doc. 35) at The Hague (June, 2007) and approved through Decisions 14.49, 14.50 and 14.51 by the 14th Conference of the Parties.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. Because the trade on them crosses borders between countries, the effort to regulate it requires international cooperation to safeguard certain species from over-exploitation.

 

CITES Scientific Authorities of exporting countries, and sometimes also from importing countries, are continually challenged to determine whether a particular export will be detrimental to the survival of a species and to define which information and parameters are relevant to determine this. Therefore, it is important that the Parties be provided with some basic criteria and guidelines, as well as documented methodologies, in order to facilitate the formulation of Non-Detriment Findings (NDFs), and to make more complete and scientifically sound the evaluations required to improve the implementation of the Convention.

IUCN Checklist

In order to attend the above mentioned need, the IUCN - The World Conservation Union, through its Species Survival Commission (SSC), assisted by the CITES Secretariat, Parties and other organizations, convened two workshops in order to develop some practical assistance for Scientific Authorities; these resulted in very useful and comprehensive materials.
The results, incorporated into a publication (Rosser, A. R. and Haywood, M. J. Comp. 2002. Guidance for CITES Scientific Authorities: Checklist to assist in making non-detriment findings for Appendix II exports) were a first step in improving the capacity of countries to make proper NDFs and represent a useful tool that includes a detailed checklist that can be used by Scientific Authorities when making NDFs.

IUCN/SSC Guidance for CITES Scientific Authorities – Checklist to assist in making non-detriment findings for Appendix II exports:

* Preliminar: Contents, Acknowledgements, Workshops Participants
* Part I: Introduction and rationale
* Part II: Presentations made by Scientific Authority staff from producer and consumer Parties
* Part III: Technical considerations in making non-detriment findings
* Part IV: Guidelines to assist the Parties in making non-detriment findings
* References
* Annex I: French and Spanish translations of the Checklist
* Annex II: Background Documents, Text of the Convention

 

IUCN -The World Conservation Union

 

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Answers to CITES Notification to the Parties No. 2007/032

Following-up with Conference of the Parties Decision 14.49, the CITES Secretariat issued the Notification No. 2007/032 where, on behalf of the Steering Committee, invited exporting Parties to provide information about the use of the IUCN Checklist or other methodologies employed to formulate NDFs.

Answers to the above mentioned Notification were sent by:

*  Cuba
*  Czech Republic
*  Canada
*  United Kingdom
*  United States
Cervidae

 

Answers to CITES Notification to the Parties No. 2008/044

Following-up with Conference of the Parties Decision 14.103, the Secretariat issued Notification to the Parties No. 2008/044 on implementation of listings for shark species focused specifically on obtaining from Parties´ Scientific and Fishery Authorities case studies on the development of non-detriment findings for shark species. The Secretariat was directed to collate and summarize these for provision to the NDF Workshop, and four replies were received.


    

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Regional and species-specific workshops and exercises

Following the above mentioned efforts and as recommended in the IUCN Checklist document itself, some regional and species-specific workshops and exercises have been developed on technical and biological aspects of making NDFs:

* Trading Nature. A report, with case studies, on the contribution of wildlife trade management to sustainable livelihoods and the Millennium Development Goals (TRAFFIC, 2008).

*  Developing a Non-Detriment Finding Methodology for Agarwood-Producing Taxa (PC17 Inf. 4, Geneva, 15-19 April, 2008).

* International Workshop of Experts on NDF on Bigleaf Mahogany (Cancun, April 2007): Endorsement and Adoption of Guidelines for Making NDFs for Mahogany.

*  Stock Assessment Approach for the Napoleon Fish, Cheilinus undulatus, in Indonesia: A tool for quota-setting for data-poor fisheries under CITES Appendix II Non-Detriment Finding requierements (FAO, 2007).

* Draft Non Detriment Finding for the purpose of proposed export of Freshwater Sawfish: Pristis microdon (September 2007).

* Trade in Seahorses: Notification to the Parties 2005/014 (March 2005).

*  ISSC-MAP Meetings g Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants: Workshop on potential implementation strategies for the International Standard (Teslic, Bosnia & Herzegovina -May 5th, 2006) at the 1st IFOAM Conference on Organic Wild Production.

*  International Workshop on CITES Implementation for Seahorse Conservation and Trade (Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico – February 3rd-5th, 2004).

*  First Mesoamerican workshop: current status and harmonization of procedures for the sustainable use of Swietenia macrophylla (Managua, Nicaragua – November 23rd-24th, 2004).

*  Non-Detriment Report under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora regarding the export of Grizzly Bears (Ursus arctos) (September 2004) from British Columbia, Canada.

* Making a Non-Detriment Finding for Swietenia macrophylla; Quota Setting. Second Meeting of the Bigleaf Mahogany Working Group (Brazil, October 2003).

*  CITES Training Workshop for Scientific Authorities in the CITES Region of Central and South America and the Caribbean (Managua, Nicaragua - September 16th-19th, 2002).

*  Humphead Wrasses Awareness Campaign: IUCN Specialist Group for Groupers and Wrasses - CITES.

* Guidance from the European Union Scientific Review Group (EU SGR)

 

 

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