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Enhancing National Capacities to Assess Wildlife Trade Policies in Support of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

Annual Call for Projects 2005

Summary

This two-year multidisciplinary project, approved by the Geneva International Academic Network (GIAN) in 2005, will promote sustainable development by enhancing the capacities of developing countries and countries with economies in transition to assess, design and implement effective national wildlife trade policies. Well-designed wildlife trade policies can play an essential role in protecting biodiversity, reducing poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

A key aim of this project is to improve the availability of information for conducting analyses of wildlife conservation efforts, which in the past have often been based on intuition or anecdotal evidence. The project also aims to ensure that national development plans incorporate wildlife trade and conservation considerations.

The project responds directly to calls by governments for international support in the review of their wildlife trade policies, and will bring together the expertise of the Graduate Institute of Development Studies (GIDS), the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and the joint United Nations Environment Programme and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Capacity Building Task Force on Trade, Environment and Development (UNEP-UNCTAD CBTF).

Specific objectives of the project include:

Assisting developing countries and countries with economies in transition to better implement CITES by developing national action plans that incorporate environmental, social and economic considerations into national wildlife trade policies;

• Exchanging national experiences among participating countries on best practices for the development and implementation of national wildlife trade policies;

• Refining a general assessment framework and developing a toolkit of wildlife trade policy methodologies that can be used by participating countries as well as other countries to assess their wildlife trade policies.

The core of the project is the implementation of pilot studies in four developing countries or countries with economies in transition. As an initial step, an International Advisory Group, consisting of the project partners and international wildlife trade experts, will coordinate the refinement of a general assessment framework and development of a toolkit of wildlife trade policy assessment methodologies, drawing on assessment methodologies developed by CITES and UNEP.

Each country will then select its preferred methodologies from the toolkit of assessment methodologies and the national institutions will customize these to reflect their particular national circumstances. Once the methodologies have been finalized, national institutions, with the support of the International Advisory Group, will use the methodologies to assess the economic, social and environmental impacts of the wildlife trade policies. Integrated national responses, including regulations, social and economic incentives, and voluntary measures, will then be developed based on the outcomes of the integrated assessments. Results gathered during the integrated assessments will be set out in Country Project Reports. Following the completion of the four Country Project Reports, the results will be compiled into a final synthesis report for wide dissemination.

Several studies will be undertaken by the GIDS concurrently with the implementation of the country projects to contribute to the development of national institutional capacity, to assure a self-sustaining follow-up and to assess the impact of the project. Specifically, the GIDS will develop a background study examining the historical, legal and socio-political considerations in national CITES implementation. The GIDS will also assess the governance process adopted by the national implementing institutions, and develop a post-capacity building study assessing the social impacts of the project. The outcomes from these studies will also be summarised in the final synthesis report.

Through these activities, this project aims to provide the foundation and impetus for assessing, designing and implementing future national wildlife trade policies that support CITES and sustainable development.

The grant provided by the GIAN for this project totals SFr 300,000

> See shorter summary

Project Team

Related Links

> CBTF Project Link , UNEP-UNCTAD CBTF Website Project Description.

Related Conferences

Enhancing National Capacities to Assess Wildlife Trade Policies in Support of CITES – The Hague, World Forum Convention Center, 5 June 2007, 12:30 – 13:45
The project partners of this GIAN-supported research project will convene a side event at the 14th meeting of the...
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Research Output

Wildlife Trade Assessment Framework for Reviewing National Wildlife Trade Policies (available in English only) > more

National Wildlife Trade Policy Reviews: 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), The Hague (Netherlands), 3-15 June 2007 (available in English only) > more

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