§ Mr. DafisTo ask the Secretary of State for the environment if he will make a statement to the House on the outcome of the Conference on International Trade in Endangered Species meeting in Florida.
§ Mr. Tony BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement about the recent CITES meeting in Fort Lauderdale.
§ Mr. AtkinsThe CITES conference on the parties agreed new measures to strengthen the operation and effectiveness of the convention. Twenty-seven species presently included on appendix II will be uplisted to appendix I, and 25 species presently on appendix I or II will be downlisted, including seven which will be deleted from the appendices altogether. The current listing of a further eight species will be unchanged but attached conditions will be relaxed. Thirty-seven species will be added to the convention for the first time.
The United Kingdom was instrumental in securing progress on several important issues. A new enforcement resolution identifies priorities for funding including the 242W secondment of law enforcement officers to the CITES secretariat; the development and implementation of regional law enforcement agreements; additional training and technical assistance; and closer international liaison between CITES, national enforcement agencies and existing international bodies, particularly the World Customs Organisation and Interpol.
There was overwhelming support for a United Kingdom proposal that a group be established to find solutions to technical problems associated with the listing of timber species on CITES, and to address other related matters. The group will bring producing and importing countries together to discuss issues of timber in trade in preparation for the next CITES conference in 1997.
Through our scientific authorities, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the United Kingdom played a prominent role in drawing up new criteria to guide CITES parties in deciding what level of control to apply to species in the future. No parties voted against the new criteria which will introduce more objectivity while allowing flexibility in some cases.
There was a constructive debate on South Africa's proposal to downlist its elephant populations to allow trade in hides and meat only. The debate produced a strong commitment to continuing the dialogue among African range states begun at the recent meeting in Botswana organised by the United Kingdom on behalf of the European Union. In the absence of support from other African range states, South Africa withdrew its proposal.
Germany withdrew its proposals to include a number of African and one Asian timber species on appendix II, but there was a full and considered discussion of the Netherlands proposals to list American mahogany—Swietenia macrophylla. The United Kingdom voted in support but the proposal failed by a small margin to secure the necessary two thirds majority. However, a number of producer countries announced their intention to list the species on appendix III.
The conference agreed a proposal to allow trade in live white rhinos from South Africa for conservation purposes only. In addition, a resolution on rhino conservation in Asia and Africa was adopted to strengthen law enforcement co-operation and to encourage the development of recovery plans for endangered populations.
Tiger range states collaborated with countries where trade in tiger parts persists to produce a resolution call for greater co-operation and stronger legislation to combat illegal trade. On behalf of my right hon. Friend, the United Kingdom announced £50,000 to assist in the work of the recently formed global tiger forum. This is additional to the £97,500 previously announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs for a study into the Asian medicine trade to find ways of eliminating illegal trade and reducing demand for medicinal products derived from endangered species such as rhinos, tigers and bears.
The conference agreed to expand membership of the convention's standing committee to make it more representative of the 126 parties. The United Kingdom and the Russian Federation were chosen as the European representatives on the committee which is chaired by Japan. The United Kingdom and Trinidad and Tobago are vice-chairmen. The committee can expect a heavy work 243W load and we will play an active part in progressing key issues between now and the next conference which is to be hosted by Zimbabwe.
§ Mr. Tony BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what information he has on those countries currently overdue in their payments to the CITES secretariat;
(2) if he will list those countries currently in arrears with their payments to the CITES secretariat.
§ Mr. AtkinsAt the recent CITES meeting in the USA it was reported that for the four years 1990–93, 53 parties owed a total of 530,000 Swiss francs in outstanding contributions to the trust fund. For the current year, 1994, only 34 per cent. of contributions due had been received. Details of individual parties in arrears or with contributions overdue were not made available to the meeting but only to the budget committee chaired by the United Kingdom. It would not therefore be appropriate to publish this information. The United Kingdom is not among those countries which are in arrears or whose contribution is overdue.
§ Mr. Tony BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to send Ministers to future meetings of CITES.
§ Mr. AtkinsMy right hon. Friend decides before each conference whether the United kingdom delegation should be led by a Minister. Ministerial representation at CITES conferences is rare among delegations from most of the parties.
§ Mr. Tony BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what support is offered by his Department to non-governmental organisations to assist in their work relating to CITES.
§ Mr. AtkinsWe are presently supporting three major projects at a total cost of £215,000. These are
'Support for the implementation of CITES in the Uinted Kindom' carried out by TRAFFIC International 'and jointly funded with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF);The appointment of a scientific co-ordinator for the African Rhino Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union (IUCN); andAssistance to the IUCN's African Elephant Specialist Group for a scientific/programme officer.In addition, we provide strategic funding to Wildlife and Countryside Link, which fields a CITES liaison group, at a cost this year of £17,450.
§ Mr. Tony BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proposals he has to promote within the European Union a funding and enforcement implementation programme for CITES.
§ Mr AtkinsWe are keen to see enforcement and implementation issues properly addressed in the new draft regulation on wildlife trade and continue to encourage progress in the negotiating process. The European Commission helped to provide funding for the recent meeting in Botswana on the African elephant and, resources permitting, we will encourage it to consider further financial support for CITES issues, for example in assisting further dialogue on elephant issues among the range states.
§ Mr. Tony BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to convene a donor range state liaison forum to develop mechanisms within CITES for the disposal of the elephant products currently stockpiled in African countries.
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§ Mr. AtkinsAt the recent CITES meeting in the USA there was general agreement that African elephant range states should continue their recently renewed dialogue on elephant issues within CITES and this process was set in hand by meetings of the African regional group. In addition, the CITES standing committee, of which the United Kingdom is vice-chairman, was asked to consider the issue of stockpiles in liaison with the African range states and to report to the next conference on the parties. The United Kingdom does not therefore need to take a specific initiative but expects to be involved in the relevant discussions via the standing committee.
§ Mr. Tony BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will place in the Library copies of the infractions report from CITES.
§ Mr. AtkinsCopies of the report are today being placed in both Libraries.
§ Mr. Tony BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the current level of financial support provided to CITES by Her Majesty's Government.
§ Mr. AtkinsOur annual subscription to CITES is currently £130,000. In addition, we provide a contribution of £10,000 per annum to support the attendance at CITES meetings of delegates from developing countries.
§ Mr. Tony BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the effect on stockpiles of vicuna products resulting from the downlisting of vicuna from Al to A2 of CITES; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. AtkinsThe downlisting will not take effect until 90 days after the conference of the parties. We shall be discussing with other European Union member states how the Community should implement the downlisting in so far as current stockpiles are concerned.