UK trophy ban still being debated

1.  Feedback on the Controversial UK TROPHY BAN.
Despite much publicity, and input from various African Governments, NGOs and scientists, the House of Commons approved the Trophy Ban bill, but it still needed the approval from the House of Lords. Two amendments were added before passing the Commons: (1) limits the ban to CITES listed species (they can’t add more species to the ban beyond what’s included in “Council Regulation (EC) No. 338/97 of 9 December 1996”), and (2) an advisory board will be established to advise the Secretary of State on matters related to trophy imports.

After two readings in the House of Lords, no decision could be taken. While many Lords did not want to approve the Bill, there is still a lot of opposition, and hence the Bill was referred to the Committee of the Whole where it will be debated, and amendments be made before going to the Third reading by the House of Lords.

In the meantime, there seems to be some pushback from elsewhere in Europe. First it was reported that Finland is looking at introducing a trophy import ban by mid-2023. But recently we were informed by the Nordic Safari Club that the newly elected Finnish Government has a strong and outspoken support for hunting and has cancelled all plans for a ban. This was echoed by the European Commission on 23.6.2023 in strong support of legal, well-regulated hunting. They also came out in support of the potential benefits to communities.

It is to be hoped that sanity will prevail, because if it does not, there are more dominoes to fall, and we may end up with a total ban on trade in all animal products.

2. The feedback on the latest CITES meeting is still in draft format and still needs to be approved by Suco.
The 32nd Animals Committee of CITES took place from 19 to 23 June 2023 in Geneve, Switzerland. It was the first in-person meeting since 2018 for this committee. The SUCo-SA delegation consisted of Richard York (representing SUCo-SA), Antonie Meiring (representing Parrot Breeders Association SA) and Pieter Swart (representing SATTA).

General

• Thea Carroll has been appointed as temporary head of Scientific Authority of CITES. She was some years ago the Chief Director, Biodiversity Planning and Management of the South African department of Environmental Affairs and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. 
• Energy offset of meetings to be taken into consideration in future.
• The 32nd Animals Committee had 50 Agenda points for consideration.
• SUCo-SA, PASA and SATTA were included in 3 in session working groups and 5 inter-session working groups.
• Nomenclature working group: Scientists have determined that the African elephant (Loxodonta africana) actually consists of two species, namely the African Savana Elephant (Loxodonta africana) and the African Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis). This working group needs to determine how to list Loxodonta cyclotis on the CITES annexures.
• Working group - Role of CITES in reducing risk of future zoonotic disease emergence associated with international wildlife trade. This issue is drawing a lot of attention, and can be potentially very detrimental.
• Review of Significant Trade in specimens of Appendix-II species [Resolution Conf. 12.8 (Rev. CoP18)] - The working group was tasked to evaluate all 318 cases and select 20 species/country combination to be included for review. The following relevant mammals were included for review: Giraffe, Hippopotamus, Vervet Monkey, Baboon and Elephant. Fortunately, none of these were included.
• REVIEW OF TRADE IN ANIMAL SPECIMENS REPORTED AS PRODUCED IN CAPTIVITY - In total, 190 species and 267 species/country combinations met at least one of the seven selection criteria. Over 40 species of birds were up for review, none were selected. Other mammal species on the review list include Cheetah, Lion, Elephant, and White Rhino. None were however selected on the final review. Interventions and data provided by SUCo SA teams played a major role.
• The Humane Society International made an intervention about quotas, specifically of Leopard. They demand that all quotas be reviewed, and a moratorium be placed till such review has been finalised. Their intervention did not receive any support.
• The joint efforts of the Sustainable Use groups and their alliance partners produced a positive impact.  

The next CITES meeting is the Standing Committee meeting in November followed by the joint Animals and Plants Committee meeting in July 2024. SUCo-SA plans to send a delegation to continue building on our successes.

3. We hope to start on a membership and sponsorship drive for SUCO soon – all of these initiatives and meetings do not come cheaply, and we need support.