On March 18, the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) gathered in Doha, Qatar and voted not to give greater protection to the polar bear. The U.S. proposal would have banned the international commercial trade of polar bear parts and products.
With great disappointment Peter Jenkins, Defenders of Wildlife Director of International Conservation, delivered the following statement:
“We were proud the United States made this ground-breaking proposal, the first attempt within CITES to clearly confront the looming threat of global warming and its impact on an iconic animal like the polar bear. The U.S. effort has already stimulated more protections to be put in place by Canada in terms of a reduced harvest quota for a key bear population.
“From now on, the Parties to CITES will be taking a much closer look at the connections between mortality of animals due to climate change and mortality due to commercial demand. While climate change is the major threat to polar bears, trade exacerbates the situation. We will continue to work within CITES to stop this unsustainable luxury-item trade in polar bear skins and parts.”
Jeff Flocken, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) DC Director, added, “CITES parties have turned their backs on this iconic species. With only 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears remaining, CITES Parties have chosen to ignore the latest science, which predicts the population will decline by two-thirds by 2050.
"No one argues against the fact that climate change is the biggest threat to the long-term survival of the polar bear. However hundreds of bears are killed each and every year to supply an unnecessary commercial trade in polar bears such as skins, claws and jaws.
"Parties had an opportunity to take action to save more than 3,000 polar bears from commercial trade over the next decade – yet they turned their backs.
"In years to come, people will look back on this moment with great shame."
The final CITES vote was 48 votes in favor of the new safeguards for polar bears, 62 against, and 11 Parties abstained.
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