9 November 2015
Workshop on Illegal Trade in Cheetahs Makes Recommendations to CITES SC66
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With the goal of furthering the work of the Intersessional Working Group on illegal trade in cheetahs, established at the 65th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES SC65), Kuwait, under the leadership of Shereefa Al-salem, organized a workshop to review and exchange information on the illegal trade in cheetahs, and formulate targeted recommendations to combat it, including recommendations concerning the disposal of confiscated cheetahs.

CITES5 November 2015: With the goal of furthering the work of the Intersessional Working Group on illegal trade in cheetahs, established at the 65th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES SC65), Kuwait, under the leadership of Shereefa Al-salem, organized a workshop to review and exchange information on the illegal trade in cheetahs, and formulate targeted recommendations to combat it, including recommendations concerning the disposal of confiscated cheetahs.

The workshop brought together representatives from CITES authorities and enforcement agencies from 13 Parties, the Chair of the CITES Animals Committee (AC), and cheetah experts from international and non-governmental organizations. Workshop participants reviewed recent information on the conservation status of cheetahs, the recommendations from the study commissioned by the Secretariat in accordance with Decision 16.71, the recommendations of the AC, the results of the questionnaire commissioned by the Working Group, the challenges and advances made by Party participants and the perspectives of the participating non-governmental organizations.

Workshop participants addressed the key challenges, including lack of basic knowledge; lack of public awareness and need for demand reduction; legislative challenges; the role of social media; lack of capacity and resources; poor internal communication at the national level; poor international cooperation and communication; poverty and corruption; human-cheetah conflict; and fraudulent captive breeding. They made several recommendations, including on public awareness campaigns, enforcement, capacity building tools and regional cooperation and information exchange, all of which will be transmitted to SC66.

In a video statement, John Scanlon, CITES Secretary General, highlighted that cheetahs face a variety of pressures that threaten their existence in the wild, including habitat loss, bush-meat hunting of their prey base, conflict with livestock owners and illegal trade.

The workshop was convened in Kuwait City, Kuwait, from 3-5 November 2015; hosted and funded by the Environment Public Authority of the State of Kuwait and also supported by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). [Statement by CITES Secretary-General John Scanlon] [IISD RS Sources]

 

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