CITES CoP15

For CoP13 (Thailand, 2004) and CoP14 (The Hague, 2007), Species Management Specialists (SMS) produced an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of all working documents and amendment proposals. Many Parties found the assessments useful, and encouraged SMS to prepare similar guides for future meetings of the Conference of the Parties.

SMI is pleased to have been able to produce a Guide for CoP15, in the three working languages of CITES. The Guide is available in electronic form here (see below), and will be available as a printed publication for delegates attending CoP15 (Doha, March 2010).

SMS members are united in the belief that effective management actions, rather than words - no matter how compelling, passionate, philosophically charged or politically expedient - ultimately determine conservation success. When SMS experts examine the many complex issues with which the Parties to CITES are confronted, they try to distinguish and support proposed actions that are practical to implement, cost-effective, have a reasonable probability of success, contribute directly to in situ wildlife conservation, and avoid disadvantaging the local people who share their world with wildlife.

We hope the SMS Guide will assist the Parties in their important deliberations at CoP15.