No whale trade: CITES keeps ban in place
Posted by Dave (in Anchorage, Alaska)
Well, it looks like we're smack bang in the middle of conference season. Some delegates from the IWC in Anchorage barely had time to pack their Alaskan souvenirs before they were on planes again, jetting off to the Hague for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species conference (CITES). Damn - even conservation creates a carbon footprint...
So, less than a week since I wrote a blog called "Commercial whaling ban reinforced at IWC in Anchorage", parties to CITES have sucessfully rejected an effort by whaling nations to undermine a related ban on the international trade in whale products.
The proposal to end the ban was made - surprise, surprise, by the Japanese government. 26 countries voted in favour, while 54 opposed and 13 abstained. It would have needed 2/3 majority to pass - so I think its fair to say that the majority of the world's governments realise that international trade in whale products has no place in the modern world.
Japan could still try bringing its proposal back for reconsideration before the conference ends, but this seems unlikely, given the strong opposition by the pro-conservation CITES Parties.
COP14: Fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties »
IWC Draft resolution on CITES
CITES: Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
Wikipedia: CITES
