Illegal trade in CITES-listed timer species

Transcription

1 Joint International Meeting on Forestry Crime INTERPOL General Secretariat, Lyon June 2016 Illegal trade in CITES-listed timer species Pia Jonsson Enforcement Support Officer CITES Secretariat

2 Outline 2 Short introduction to CITES Illegal trade in CITES-listed timber species CoP17 ICCWC activities/tools

3 What is CITES? Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora Multilateral Environmental Agreement Agreed in Washington, D.C. on 3 March 1973 Entered into force in 1975

4 Currently 182 Parties to CITES 4

5 CITES Objectives 5 Ensure that wild fauna and flora in international trade are not exploited unsustainably, through ensuring: Legality Sustainability Traceability

6 CITES Appendices: Scope 7 Appendix I Appendix II Appendix III Species threatened with extinction Species not necessarily threatened with extinction, but for which trade must be controlled to avoid their becoming so Species for which a country is asking Parties to help with its protection

7 CITES Appendices: international commercial trade is 8 Appendix I Appendix II Appendix III generally prohibited permitted but controlled and supported by NDF permitted but controlled

8 CITES Permits and Certificates 10 Provides information for: Legality: Origin & sourcing, duration of validity Sustainability Non-detriment findings (NDFs) Traceability Trade data & transaction details

9 CITES Species CITES regulates international trade in approximately species of animals and plants Around 29,500 Plants and 5,500 Animals

10 CITES Tree Species Back in 1975 when the Convention entered into force, 18 tree species were listed under CITES. To date, more than 600 tree species are included in the CITES Appendices, including around 400 used for their timber. More than 200 commercially valuable timber species from across Africa, Asia and Latin America were CITES listed at CoP16 in CoP17 several proposals to include new timber species

11 Illegal trade in CITES-listed timber species 13 Illegal trade in commercially valuable CITES listed timber species such as red sanders, Malagasy rosewood, Siamese rosewood, Honduran rosewood. The illegal trade in rosewood is lucrative, well organized, transnational, involves corruption and poses an immediate risk to people This crime must be tackled as other serious transnational organized crime!

12 Seizures of Malagasy rosewood 14 January 2014: Tanzania, Zanzibar Port Authority seized 6 containers with 781 logs of rosewood weighing 110 tons March 2014: rosewood logs/3,372 tons/3,065 m 3 were seized in the port of Singapore. April 2014: 28 containers containing 3,669 logs/420 tons of rosewood were seized in Sri Lanka May 2014: 35 containers containing 4,400 rosewood logs/ 640 tons rosewood were seized in the port of Mombasa, Kenya

13 15 Main seizures of rosewood (tons)

14 Challenges to combat illegal timber trade 16 Inadequate enforcement measures and weak legislation, cooperation/information sharing among authorises at national and international level, species identification, verification of authenticity of documents accompanying consignments, storage and disposal of illegal timber consignments and associated costs, tracking and tracing suspicious container and vessels, involvement of organized criminal groups and corruption.

15 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties September - 5 October 2016 CoP17 Web portal:

16 Several proposals for amendment of Appendices I and II to be discussed at CoP17 18 Transfer of African Rosewood (Pterocarpus erinaceus) species from Appendix III to Appendix II, without annotation. Proposal to include 13 timber species of genus Dalbergia (native to Mexico and Central America) in Appendix II Include the genus Dalbergia (approximately 250 species in the tropics) in CITES Appendix II with exception to the species included in Appendix I. Siamese rosewood (Dalbergia cochinchinensis) proposal to delete the current annotation #5 logs, sawn wood and veneer sheets and replace it with annotation #4

17 CoP17 19 Illegal timber trade Will be discussed under agenda item 25 (Enforcement matters) Draft decision: to convene a Task Force to develop strategies, identify measures and concrete actions to combat illegal trade in CITES-listed tree species Anti-corruption Will be discussed under agenda item 25 and 28 Draft decision: through ICCWC develop guidance for Parties how to take anti-corruption measures Draft resolution on anti-corruption

18 CoP17 20 Timber identification (agenda item 48.1) Summary of the ongoing work led by UNODC within the framework of ICCWC, to strengthen the development and use of tools and technologies to address illicit trafficking of timber. Draft decisions addressing and prioritizing problems associated with regulating the trade in timber of CITESlisted tree species, identifying methodologies that will be legally defensible (i.e forensic) and facilitating the sharing of reference samples between relevant institutions.

19 National reporting 21 New mandatory annual illegal trade report The first annual illegal trade report is due on 31 October 2017, covering data from 2016, see Notification to the Parties No. 2016/007 Countries are encouraged to report!

20 Disposal of illegally-traded and confiscated specimens 22 Resolution Conf. 9.9 Confiscation of specimens exported or reexported in violation of the Convention Resolution Conf (Rev. CoP15) Disposal of confiscated and accumulated specimens

21 CITES Virtual College Capacity-building activities and materials on-line 25 On-line Courses in English, French and Spanish: Introduction to CITES for Customs Training course for enforcement officers Information module for prosecutors and the judiciary CITES Train the Trainers Presentations Green Customs Knowledge Series Identification material

22 ITTO/CITES report on timber tracking sustainability 26 Review of electronic and semi-electronic timber tracking technologies The report is available on-line at ainability.pdf

23 Tools available at CITES Virtual College Manual for Controlled Deliveries A Technique For Investigating Wildlife Crime (2010) Questioning Wildlife Smugglers A Technique for Investigating Wildlife Crime (2010) Wildlife Smuggling Concealment Case Study Handbook (2010) developed by INTERPOL, CITES Secretariat and WCO. the material is available online to authorized users at the CITES virtual college.

24 CITES Enforcement Authorities Forum to be integrated with ENVIRONET 28 The CITES Enforcement Authorities Forum has been integrated with the WCO s CENcomm ENVIRONET to facilitate communication between enforcement officers. ENVIRONET contains CITES Alerts, templates of CITES permits, manuals, handbooks, identification materials and enforcement-related messages etc. Can be used by registered enforcement officers to post messages or seek information and assistance from their counterparts around the world.

25 International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime 29 ICCWC - coordinated action to combat wildlife crime

26 Analysis of national response ICCWC Wildlife and Forest Crime Analytic Toolkit (lead by UNODC) A tool that assist countries complete a national assessment of their responses to wildlife and forest crime Helps identify capacity building needs _english.pdf ICCWC indicator framework for wildlife and forest crime (lead by CITES) national self-assessment to measure and monitor the effectiveness of law enforcement responses to wildlife and forest crime FW-Assessment_guidelines_and_template.pdf

27 Implementation of ICCWC Toolkit 32

28 Using knowledge & innovation Building national capacity World Wildlife Crime Report (lead by UNODC) Provides data on illegal trade in wildlife, which will greatly assist to further inform decisions on measures to be implemented to fight wildlife crime. Best Practice Guide on Forensic Timber Identification (lead by UNODC) Wildlife and anti-money laundering training program (ongoing, led by the World Bank)

29 Thank you for your attention