SCI Attends CITES Animal Committee Meeting

Last week, SCI staff attended the 32nd CITES Animals Committee meeting (AC32) in Geneva, continuing SCI’s long commitment to engage on CITES issues and work to ensure international trade in hunting trophies.  Fortunately, the Committee did not initiate any actions that directly implicate trade in trophies, a welcome relief from the typical and unnecessary hyper-focus on African charismatic megafauna.  Nevertheless, relevant to SCI’s interests, African lion and leopard conservation guidance documents, which have been in development for several years, will be updated with range state input and submitted later for consideration by the Animals Committee.  Additionally, the Animals Committee recommended that CITES recognize two species of African elephant, splitting one species into two.  The southern African range states, SCI, and other pro-sustainable use groups support splitting elephants into two species, so this is a positive development.  Although AC32 was relatively quiet, SCI will stay vigilant and continue to represent the interests of the hunting community worldwide.