REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON CITES LEGISLATION IN ACTO MEMBER COUNTRIES

Minutes of the Meeting

  1. In Tena, Ecuador, October 30-31,2012, Representatives of the Governments of Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela attended the Regional Workshop on CITES Legislation in ACTO Member Countries, aimed at providing a working forum to exchange of experiences and information regarding CITES legislation. The workshop benefited from the participation of Juan Carlos Vásquez, Officer of the CITES Secretariat, Representatives of the Chancellery and the Ministry of the Environment, staff from the Institute for the Ecological Development of the Amazon Region (Instituto para el Ecodesarrollo Regional Amazónico—ECORAE), and Authorities from the Province of Napo. The complete list of participants atthe meeting can be found in Annex 1.
  1. The meeting was convened by the Permanent Secretariat of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty(PS/ACTO) in the framework of implementation of the Strategic Agenda for Amazon Cooperation (Agenda Estratégica de Cooperación Amazónica—AECA), as a result of the Ecuadorian Government’s request to host the meeting and support from the CITES Secretariat. The meeting was held in line with the agenda adopted atthe plenary session (Annex 2).

DEVELOPMENT AND RESULTS OF THE MEETING

Openning

  1. The event was inaugurated by Mr.Gonzalo Aguirre, Provincial Director for Napo of the Ministry of the Environment;Ms. Nely Shiguango,ECORAE Technical Secretary for the Province of Napo; Mr. Antonio Matamoros, Environmental Coordinator of PS/ACTO; Mr. Franklin Quishpe, official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador; and Mr. Juan Carlos Vásquez, Officer of the CITES Secretariat. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Franklin Quishpe of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador.
  1. The Provincial Director welcomed the delegations and mentioned the importance of holding this workshop in Tena, one of the cities of Ecuador’s Amazon region noteworthy for its very high biological diversity and pressure from illicit trafficking. In this context, he indicated that legislation should not only provide for sanctions, it should also promote the use of wildlife for its conservation. He thanked PS/ACTO and the CITES Secretariat for organizing the event.
  1. The ECORAE Technical Secretary for the Province of Napo thanked the delegations, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the CITES Secretariat, for being in Tena. She highlighted the importance of building up biodiversity conservation management in the province and the territory of the Amazon region. She mentioned the importance given to the Amazon Region by Ecuador’s new Constitution, which deems that it is a strategic region for biodiversity, thus recognizing nature as a subject of right.
  1. Mr. Antonio Matamoros, Environment Coordinator of PS/ACTO,extended greetings on behalf of the Secretary General,Ambassador Robby Ramlakhan,and stressed the importance given to CITES implementation processes in the region, in compliance with the mandates issued at the ACTO Foreign Ministers meetings.He also indicated that processes supporting Member Countries for implementation of the Convention have a longstanding record in the organization and have led to actions such as the organization of preparatory meetings, regional training workshops and implementation of the Electronic Permits Project.He reiterated that PS/ATCO shall continue to support the various processes that the Member Countries decide should be implemented in the future.He thanked the authorities of the Government of Ecuador for their hospitality and organization of the event, as well as the CITES Secretariat and the Amazon Regional Program (BMZ/DGIS/GIZ) for their support.
  1. Mr. Franklin Quishpe extended, on behalf of the President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, and the Foreign Minister, Ricardo Patiño,greetings to all the participants of the workshop and to the PS/ACTOfor their support of this meeting. He stressed the importance of the ACTO’s Strategic Agenda for Amazon Cooperation as a guideline for working with Member Countries, which together constitute the planet’s largest source of biodiversity, which coexists with indigenous peoples, local communities and peoples voluntarily living in isolation.
  1. As for Mr. Juan Carlos Vásquez, representative of the CITES Secretariat, he extended greetings on behalf of the Secretary General of CITES, Mr. John Scanlon, and highlighted the work done by ACTO, which has become a model of regional work to implement CITES. He commended the attendance of local authorities who control and monitor trade in species.

Presentations

  1. The Representatives of Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela made presentations on the status of their legislation and aspects involving its enforcement. The presentations are attached herewith as Annex 3.
  1. PS/ACTO made a presentation on CITES and the Strategic Agenda for Amazon Cooperation.In this context, the Delegates were informed of the “Regional Program for the Management, Monitoring, and Control of Wildlife Fauna and Flora Species Endangered by Trafficking”, and the importance of having the Focal Points support its implementation in the countries was stressed. The CITES Secretariat made an introductory presentation on the Convention and another on the National Legislation Project of CITES (Annex 4).
  1. In follow-up to the agenda adopted by the Delegations, the following aspects were remarked upon and examined: (I)domestic measures to designate a scientific authority and an administrative authority; (II)domestic measures to forbid trading in specimens that infringes provisions of the Convention; (III)domestic measures to penalize trading in specimens that infringes the provisions of the Convention; (IV)domestic measures to confiscate specimens that are the target of trafficking or illicit possession.
  1. As for itemV, other topics of interest for the region to be addressed in the framework of CITES, the Regional Technical Advisor for the E-Permit Project, Ximena Buitron, made a presentation on this topic. The PS/ACTO submitted a proposal for a framework of actions and activities to be implemented in compliance with what was requested by Member Countries in order to strengthen implementation of CITES in the Amazon region, as well as the next Conference of the Parties to be held in March 2013 in Thailand.

Conclusions

  1. The Regional Workshop, as expressed by the delegates, was a forum that generated positive results, in the process of integration and exchange of experiences among Delegations of ACTO Member Countries.
  1. We can highlight the commitments of ACTO Member Countries to comply with implementation of CITES, with the corresponding support of the CITES and ACTO Secretariats.
  1. The event enabled the PS/ACTO to make a proposal on actions to be implemented in order to support the participation of countries in the upcoming Conference of the Parties in 2013.
  1. It reiterated its commitment to support the Workshop on Technical Capacity Building of ACTO Member Countries to establish Non-Damaging Extraction Rulings for CITES Species scheduled to be held in Brasilia on December4-6, 2012. For this purpose, once the invitation to Member Countries has been made, they will be ready to support and organize the Delegations of Member Countries that will attend this event.

Recommendations

  1. The Delegations attending this Regional Workshop, after the corresponding presentations, debates and conclusions were reached, made the following technical recommendations:
  1. For the PS/ACTO to develop a regional study that includes among other issues: the identification of best practices for the appointment and functioning of the Scientific and Enforcement Authorities, identifying viable organizational structures according to national needs and aspects of funding; identification of case studies of application of CITES national regulations; implementation costs of CITES.
  1. Ecuador expressed its interest in participating in the assessment of wildlife policies at the national level and put to the consideration of the countries of the Amazon region, the possibility of a regional examination, with support from ACTO.
  1. For the PS/ACTO to facilitate the development of a regional capacity building proposal for enforcement authorities in ACTO Member Countries.
  1. For the CITES and ACTO Secretariats to consider offering their support to implement legislation studies that will identify the gaps and generate recommendations in order to reach category 1 in CITES, for countries that require it..
  1. For the PS/ACTO in coordination with CAN, to promote the drafting of cross-border (Protocol) manuals for fauna and flora control purposes (procedures) in accordance to what was requested at the 61st Regional Preparatory Meeting of the Permanent Committee of CITES held in July 2011 in Bogota, and ratified during the Amazon Biodiversity Workshop held in Quito in July 2011.
  1. To request the PS/ACTO to support the participation of ACTO Member Countries in the CITES 16th Conference of the Parties to be held on March 3-14, 2013 in Thailand, by carrying out the following actions:
  1. To seek cooperation support to achieve a participation level of one Delegate per Member Country
  1. (ii). To hold a CoP regional preparatory workshop in February 2013, reiterating at the same time our thanks to the Government of Peru for hosting this event. The PS/ACTO will submit the ACTO Work Plan 2013 considering regional topics of interest related to CITES.
  1. (iii). To carry out, together with the CITES Secretariat, a parallel event during the 16th CoP, to present the experiences of the implementation of CITES in ACTO Member Countries
  1. (iv).The PS/ACTO shall submit a document, to be considered by Member Countries, on the progress of the Strategic Agenda for Amazon Cooperation on the issue of CITES and role of the ACTO as a regional organization facilitating implementation processes of said Convention. This informative document would be presented to the 16th CITES CoP.
  1. To support the process of implementing the CITES Electronic Issuance of Permits in Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) Member Countries, a project that is being implemented by the PS/ACTO and CITES Secretariat. The delegates, upon evaluating this initiative, to avoid duplicating efforts, requested other initiatives on this topic that could be implemented in the region, to complement this project which is now in an advanced stage of implementation. This can be, at the same time, a process consolidating implementation of the CITES Convention in the Amazon region of ACTO Member Countries.

Finally, the Delegations thanked the Government of Ecuador and the PS/ACTO for organizing the Regional Workshop and for their hospitality, as well as the CITES Secretariat and the BMZ/DGIS/GIZ Amazon Regional Program for their support in holding this event.

After remarks by the Presiding Officers of this Regional Workshop, the Chair of the event, Mr. Franklin Quishpe, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, closed the meeting wishing the Delegations a pleasant return to their countries.

Tena, October 31, 2012

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