Wildlife Trade Working Group
Chair: Heather Sohl, WWF-UK
Vice Chair: Tom Quinn, International Fund for Animal Welfare
Secretary: Elaine King
The Wildlife and Trade Working Group works to improve the conservation of wild flora and fauna threatened by international trade by seeking to ensure the proper implementation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in the UK.
Update from the group: January 2012
Environmental Audit Committee
On 11 January the International Fund for Animal Welfare met with the Environmental Audit Committee to discuss the scope of the Committee’s inquiry into wildlife crime. IFAW put forward the case that the focus of the inquiry should be on wildlife crime. Link’s Wildlife Trade Working Group supported this view and submitted a letter to the EAC with sign-on from 10 Link members. A focus on wildlife crime is particularly timely as in 2012 the UK will be updating its Control of Trade in Endangered Species (COTES) Regulations and a new National Crime Agency is expected to be introduced this year. Furthermore the Law Commission is already broadly reviewing UK wildlife law.
The EAC announced the scope of its inquiry into wildlife crime on the 20 January. While the scope is broader than hoped, the EAC will be examining the scale of, and risks posed by, the illicit trade in wildlife and wildlife products.
JLG meeting
Members of the Link Wildlife Trade Working Group attended a meeting on 11 January of the Joint NGO Liaison Group (JLG), chaired by Defra’s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and International Species Policy Team. Discussions focused around the EU regulations review which aims to be finalised by April 2012 and preparations for the 16th Conference of the Parties on CITES in March 2013. The next JLG meeting will take place on 16 May in London.
