The Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) and Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Secretariats signed an agreement at Rio+20 to work together on developing an e-permitting system in the region.
The system aims to improve ACTO governments' ability to track and control trade in wild animals and plants, and reduce fraud and illegal trade in such species.
19 June 2012: The Secretariats of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) signed an agreement for a joint project to develop electronic CITES permitting in the eight ACTO nations (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela) for the traceability of specimens of CITES-listed species in international trade.
The agreement was announced on 19 June 2012, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20).
Under the agreement, the CITES Secretariat will assist ACTO members in sharing technology and expertise, and designing and implementing an e-permitting system that better allows ACTO member governments to track and control trade in wild animals and plants, and reduce fraud and illegal trade in such species. CITES and ACTO had discussed the possibilities of such cooperation during an ACTO meeting in Brasilia, Brazil, in October 2011.
Financial support for the project will come from the EU and German international technical cooperation agency’s (GIZ) Amazon Regional Programme. [CITES Press Release] [IISD RS Story on the Brasilia Meeting]