International Affairs-CITES

At the First Pangolin Range States Meeting (Vietnam, June 2015), co-hosted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) and the government of Vietnam, delegates developed a unified conservation action plan to protect pangolins, the most trafficked mammals in the world. The action plan includes a suite of recommendations to address management and enforcement issues to protect pangolins against over-exploitation as a result of trafficking and unsustainable legal trade. Among other things,participants of the meeting including African range country representatives present evaluated the status of and trade in African pangolin species and agreed that each African pangolin species qualifies for inclusion in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix I. In addition, the meeting participants recommended the urgent adoption of law enforcement and management measures to fight against illegal trade in pangolins. With the Seventeenth meeting of the CITES Conference of the Parties (CoP17; September-October 2016, Johannesburg, South Africa) fast approaching, the CITES Management Authority of Senegal has invited the U.S. government, through U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service International Affairs Program (AIA), to co-organize and sponsor a West and Central Africanâ¿¿U.S. CITES coordination meeting to be held in Dakar, Senegal, February 24-26, 2016. Within the Service, AIA is responsible for implementing CITES and serves as the U.S. CITES Management and Scientific Authorities. The purpose of the proposed meeting is to facilitate consultations between West and Central African countries to help identify priorities and issues of common interest to promote at CoP17, including additional conservation measures for African pangolins. The Service is providing this funding opportunity to plan, organize, and manage a meeting in collaboration with the Government of Senegal in order to facilitate government-to-government coordination between key West and Central African range countries and the United States which supports three of AIAs high priorities for the African region combatting wildlife trafficking, CoP17 preparation, and CITES capacity building.