The 18th meeting of the Plants Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) convened from 17-21 March 2009, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The meeting addressed proposals for amendments to the Appendices for possible consideration at the 15th Conference of the Parties to CITES, progress on the implementation of the action plan for bigleaf mahogany, Review of Significant Trade (RST) in specimens of Appendix II species, and the outcomes of the recent international expert workshop on non-detriment findings. The Plants Committee made many recommendations, including to: exclude mahogany from Peru from the RST; include mahogany from Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras and Venezuela in the next round of the RST; commission trade studies, including on a review of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding Systems (HS Code) applicable to timber trade and associated definitions for specimens in trade and amendments to annotations for tree species listed in Appendices II and III; establish capacity-building workshops to provide guidance for non-detriment findings (NDFs) for timber species and Prunus Africana; task the Bigleaf Mahogany Working Group to address cedar and rosewood; and encourage all range States to list cedar and rosewood in Appendix III.
Link to further information
IISD RS coverage of the meeting