CMS COP9 Final Words

Rome was apparently not built in a day.

In a closing press release from the CMS COP, Rob Hepworth, the CMS Executive Secretary is quoted as saying the following: 

"The convention’s development over the last three years has been remarkable – we have doubled our species agreements, trebled our project donations, and run our first high-profile global awareness campaign – Year of the Dolphin. 18 new countries have joined us in the global effort to conserve migratory species. The conference has shown its confidence in our strategy, and increased our budget modestly in real terms despite the global financial crisis.However we now have to stretch our resources that much further still to protect the birds, mammals and marine creatures which journey around planet earth.”

We report here on the final session of the last day.

After lunch it was fast and furious. All the hanging resolutions were swiftly concluded and many delegates had either already disappeared or were clearly ready to do so. This situation may well have created a pressure to move to poor compromises that might not have otherwise happened; but that can also be said to be part of the strategy of some. 

The final outcomes were something like this:

The proposal to list the saker falcon on Appendix I was withdrawn but it was agreed that unless there is improvement in its conservation status, the species will be listed on Appendix I at COP 10.

The cheetah did make it to Appendix I but it is expected that three countries who have it in international trade will take out formal reservations.

The sharks had a difficult meeting but the mako sharks (longfin and shortfin) and the porbeagle shark, were listed on Appendix II. The northern hemisphere population of the spiny dogfish joined them. Denmark, on behalf of the Faroe Islands, placed a formal reservation on the porbeagle shark.

Seven cetacean species were listed on CMS Appendices I and II at the conference: the Irrawaddy Dolphins, the Black SeaBottlenose Dolphin the Atlantic Humpback Dolphin got Appendix I status. The Clymene, Risso's Dolphin, the Mediterranean population of the Bottlenose Dolphin and Harbour Porpoise were given Appendix II protection.

The marine species, by-catch, ocean noise, and climate change resolutions were all concluded but not without there being some disappointments in their language. The budget agreed for the next 3 year period was only a 3.3% increase on the previous. A decrease in real terms and a disappointment to many.

The final comments from WDCS on this meeting, issued as a press briefing can be found here. 

WDCS thanks Italy, FAO and Rome for hosting the meeting. We enjoyed being in the city (although we would have liked more time to have seen it). We thank the meeting chairs and the CMS officials for all their hard work, and also the all the delegates from the 100 countries, 70 NGOs and elsewhere who came to Rome to do their best for the migratory animals.