Pangolins Win, Lions Lose

The latest meeting of CITES has pledged to conserve the last remaining populations of wild species threatened by illegal international trade

THE CONFERENCE has been a game changer that will be remembered as a point in history when the tide turned in favour of ensuring the survival of our most vulnerable wildlife, said John E Scanlon, Secretary General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (cites) as its 17th Conference of the Parties (CoP 17) drew to a closure in Johannesburg on October 5. The meeting saw key decisions taken on species that were hitherto not in the limelight.

While charismatic species, such as lions and elephants, fancied by wildlife traders continued to dominate debates at the CoP 17, lesser-known species like pangolins, helmeted hornbill and rosewood, which were not in the forefront at previous CoPs, were also discussed at length and the parties agreed to drastic motions to conserve their remaining populations.

In total, 152 countries took decision on 62 proposals submitted for upgrading the protection status of species in the appendices of cites. Parties accepted 51 of the proposals and rejected five, while the remaining were withdrawn.

Pangolins get star protection

One of the most celebrated decisions at the CoP 17 was to list all the eight species of pangolins on Appendix I, which offers the maximum protection to a species and prohibits its commercial trade. Two of these endangered species are endemic to India.

The decision was taken in view of sudden spurt in the illegal trade of the world’s most poached mammal. Over a million pangolins have been trafficked illegally from the wild in the past decade to feed the demands from China and Vietnam. Its meat is considered a delicacy, while pangolin scales are used in traditional Chinese medicine as they are believed to treat a range of ailments from asthma to rheumatism and arthritis.