Webinar: Civil Society’s Role in the Creation, Evolution and Implementation of CITES

2 March 2023

14.30-16.00 CET

REGISTER

Background

The need for a global convention to regulate international wildlife trade was first identified in a decision of the IUCN General Assembly held in Nairobi, Kenya back in 1963.

The 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm, Sweden called for negotiations on a convention to be concluded as soon as possible.

The U.S. Government heeded this call and hosted a Plenipotentiary Conference in 1973 to conclude negotiations, which was called the ‘World Wildlife Conference’ and co-hosted by the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of the Interior.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), was signed in Washington DC on 3 March 1973, its 50^th anniversary being 3 March 2023.  It entered into force on 1 July 1975.

Following a Resolution adopted at the 16^th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (Bangkok, 2013), the UN General Assembly in December 2013 recognized 3 March, the date of the signing of CITES, as UN World Wildlife Day. The first observance of UN World Wildlife Day – ‘Let’s Go Wild for Wildlife’ – was celebrated in the UN Palais des Nations, Geneva, on 3 March 2014.

Civil Society and CITES

Civil society has played a constructive and critically important role in the creation, evolution and implementation of CITES since before 1963. The Convention’s practice and procedures have evolved to enable increasing levels of involvement by civil society in decision making.

This evolution has not been without controversy or tension, and has involved striking a delicate balance between the involvement of civil society, while preserving the pre-eminent role of States Parties to the Convention.

Celebrating CITES 50^th Anniversary

To celebrate CITES’ 50^th anniversary, ADM Capital Foundation is hosting a special on-line event on 2 March 2023, to showcase the role played by civil society in the creation, evolution and implementation of CITES since it was first contemplated in 1963. The event will be in English and take place over 90 minutes and will be conducted in a conversational ‘question and answer’ panel format. Questions from attendees will be built into the panel discussions.

The programme includes speakers from an array of organisations, regions and backgrounds and will be moderated by John Scanlon AO, who served as CITES Secretary-General from 2010-2018.

Sponsored by:

Co-sponsored by:

Panellists

Panellist Biographies

	Sophie le Clue CEO ADM Capital Foundation	Sophie le Clue has thirty years in the field of environmental protection and conservation, principally in the Asia Pacific region, Sophie joined ADMCF a year after its founding in 2007, as director responsible for developing the Foundation’s environmental programme. Today, ADMCF focuses almost solely on environmental issues, while maintaining some legacy children at risk projects.
	John E Scanlon AO CEO, Board Chair/member, and strategic adviser on environment and sustainable development	John Scanlon served as Secretary-General of the CITES Secretariat from 2010-2018. Amongst other roles, he is now CEO of the Elephant Protection Initiative Foundation, Chair of the Global Initiative to End Wildlife Crime, Chair of the UK Governments’ IWT Challenge Fund, Trustee of the Royal Botanical Gardens Kew and Strategic Advisor – Environment with Ithaca Impact.
	Dr. Rosemarie Gnam Head of the Division of Scientific Authority, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service	Rosemarie Gnam has been working as a Chief, Division Scientific Authority at US Fish and Wildlife Service for 16 years. At CITES CoP19 Rosemarie was elected as Chair of the CITES Standing Committee and she has previously served as the Vice-Chair of the CITES Plants Committee.
	Prof. Christina Voigt Chair, IUCN WCEL	Christina Voigt is an expert in international environmental law and Professor at the Department of Public and International Law, University of Oslo, Norway. Christina also holds multiple roles under the UN, including Co-chair and member of the Paris Agreement Implementation and Compliance Committee (2019-2024).
	Susan Lylis Executive Vice President, the ICCF Group	Susan Lylis is co-founder and Executive Vice President of the International Conservation Caucus (ICCF) Group, which fosters political will for conservation governance through supporting multi-party conservation caucuses in 23 legislatures across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Susan serves on the steering group of the Global Initiative To End Wildlife Crime and serves on the US Board of Trustees of The HALO Trust, the world's largest humanitarian mine clearing organisation.
	Dan Ashe President and CEO, Association of Zoos and Aquariums	Dan is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), an organiaation of over 250 aquariums, zoos and science centres, more than 7,000 individual members, across 13 nations. Prior to Dan served for 22 years within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, including Assistant Director for External Affairs, Chief of the National Wildlife Refuge System, Science Advisor to the Director, and Deputy Director. Then-President Barack Obama nominated Dan to be U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director, and in June 2011, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate, serving for nearly six years, including as U.S. Head of Delegation to two CITES COPs: Bangkok (2013) and Johannesburg (2015).
	Dr. Susan Lieberman Vice President, International Policy, Wildlife Conservation Society	Dr. Susan Lieberman is Vice President, International Policy with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). She has worked in international biodiversity conservation, at the intersection of science and policy, for more than 30 years. She has extensive experience with intergovernmental bodies, including the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), and the UNESCO-World Heritage Convention
	Will Travers OBE Co-Founder and Executive President, Born Free Foundation	Will Travers is an internationally-renowned wildlife expert who has dedicated his life to wildlife issues, in 1984, he co-founded the wildlife charitable organisation The Born Free Foundation. Will is also a Board Member of Born Free USA and is President of the Species Survival Network (SSN), an international coalition of more than 100 organisations committed to the promotion, enhancement and strict enforcement of CITES. Will has participated in every CITES meeting since 1989 and advises on the precautionary application of Convention. Will was awarded Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in June 2012 for Services to Conservation and Animal Welfare in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.
	Jonathan Barzdo Independent CITES Consultant. Former CITES Secretariat, Chief of Governing Bodies, Chair of CITES CoP17 Committee 2	Jonathan Barzdo is an independent consultant on wildlife trade regulation and the use of wild animals and plants. He was a member of the CITES Secretariat staff for 24 years, where he supported and advised States Parties on implementation of the Convention, latterly as the Chief of Governing Bodies and Meeting Services. He was the Head of the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Unit of the World Conservation Monitoring Centre and the Director of TRAFFIC International.
	Dr. Winnie Kiiru Executive Director, Mpala Research	Dr. Winnie Kiiru is an Elephant biologist and the Executive Director of Mpala Research Center in Kenya. Mpala is one of the leading ecological research centers in Africa and a partnership between Princeton University, the Smithsonian Institution, Kenya Wildlife Service and the National Museums of Kenya. She was formerly the Head of Government Relations at the Elephant Protection Initiative. Dr. Kiiru is well versed with the structure and working of CITES  and she continues to play a major role in supporting African governments.
	Vivek Menon Founder and Executive Director, Wildlife Trust of India	Vivek Menon has founded five environmental and nature conservation organisations including Wildlife Trust of India. Menon is the current counsellor of the IUCN, and Chair of the IUCN Asian Elephant Specialist Group, Chair of the IUCN Governance & Constituency Committee, a Member of the Advisory Board of the IUCN Strategic Initiative on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, a member of the Species Survival Commission Steering Committee and Member of the Conservation Translocation Specialist Group of IUCN with over 25 years serving on various Specialist Groups. He is also the Chairperson of the Amphibian Survival Alliance Global Council.
	Jinfeng Zhou Secretary-General, The China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation	Dr. Jinfeng Zhou is the Secretary-General of China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF). He is also an Executive Committee Member of the Club of Rome, a member of the World Commission on Environmental Law of IUCN, and an expert of the Global Pact for the Environment, and a researcher at the Theoretical Research Base of Environmental Justice of the Supreme People's Court of China. Born in 1962, he earned his PhD in Peking University and Purdue University.
	Prof. Maria Ivanova Professor and Director, Northeastern School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs	Professor Ivanova is an international relations and environmental policy scholar. Her current work examines national performance on global environmental conventions, and she engages with countries in East Africa to inform policy. She currently serves as the Director of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University.