This document has been prepared by the Animals and Plants Committees to fulfil Decision 13.6 which directs the two Committees to:
“identify those principles and guidelines of most relevance to CITES, taking account of case studies provided by the Parties on how these could be used in specific cases of exports of specimens of Appendix-II species, and report at the 14th meeting of the Conference of the Parties.”
The Committees, using case studies, make several recommendations and comments, concerning the Addis Ababa Principles and Guidelines for the Sustainable Use of Biodiversity (AAPG) that were adopted by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD):
“identify those principles and guidelines of most relevance to CITES, taking account of case studies provided by the Parties on how these could be used in specific cases of exports of specimens of Appendix-II species, and report at the 14th meeting of the Conference of the Parties.”
The Committees, using case studies, make several recommendations and comments, concerning the Addis Ababa Principles and Guidelines for the Sustainable Use of Biodiversity (AAPG) that were adopted by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD):
- They find that although CITES does not have a definition of sustainable use, the case studies show that elements of the AAPG are generally relevant to CITES, particularly for Appendix-II exports
- They find that although the AAPG have broad international support and are of global importance, some elements are not always immediately applicable to the issuance of CITES non-detriment findings (NDF) or other CITES matters
- They recognize that the AAPG could be used in the development of further taxon-specific non-detriment finding guidelines
- Questions were raised on the possible complications of using socio-economic aspects of the AAPG in making non-detrimental findings
- The AAPG support the existing IUCN guidance for the making of non-detriment findings, and would be valuable for the development of taxon-specific guidelines in this regard
- The Committees propose an amendment of Res.Conf. 10.4 Cooperation and synergy with the Convention on Biological Diversity to acknowledge the use of the AAPG as a voluntary additional tool to be used in making non-detriment findings.
In order to implement the final recommendation, above, the Secretariat proposes the following text for an amendment to Res.Conf.10.4:
RECOMMENDS that Parties take full account of the Addis Ababa Principles and Guidelines for the Sustainable Use of Biodiversity in the implementation of the Convention.
| WWF position | SUPPORT and offer additional suggestions |
| For WWF's full position, including the rationale and further information, please see page 26 in WWF Positions CITES COP14. Download PDF (3.6 MB | 48 pages) | |
