The 18th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES CoP18) opened on Saturday, 17 August 2019. Speakers at the opening session expressed condolences for the terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka, which had resulted in the CITES CoP18 being moved to Switzerland, and Ms. Ivonne Higuero, CITES Secretary-General, led participants in observing a one-minute silence in honor of the victims of the attacks.
Dr. Alain Berset of Swiss Federal Council and Federal Department of Home Affairs, expressed Switzerland’s ongoing commitment as the host country of the CITES Secretariat, as well as to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda. He highlighted Switzerland’s proposal, made three days earlier, for stricter domestic measures to address illegal trade in flora and fauna. Ms. Inger Andersen, Executive Director, UN Environment Programme (UNEP), called for “effective multilateralism” to resolve wildlife challenges, emphasizing the importance of the 10-year strategic vision on the table at CoP18, the value of CITES as a science-based decision-making body, and the need for collective action across processes beyond CITES to address the drivers of biodiversity loss from factors such as over-harvesting of natural resources and poorly planned infrastructure. She urged all concerned to “stay at the table” of multilateralism and drew attention to global events in 2020 on oceans, biodiversity, and implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate.
