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The only international treaty for protecting endangered species has shown its limits recently. Critics say the treaty has flaws, but supporters urge that it’s still a vital tool in the battle against extinction The World’s Gerry Hadden reports.

• CITES convention
• Int’l Year of Biodiversity
• International Union for Conservation of Nature

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MARCO WERMAN: Along with food, the fate of the world’s plants and animals was also on the UN’s agenda this week. Delegates to the General Assembly in New York took on the topic of biodiversity. Scientists say species are disappearing at an alarming rate. And the UN has been struggling to find a way to stem the extinction crisis. The most powerful global tool for protecting species in trouble is a treaty called the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES. But as The World’s Gerry Hadden reports, recent experience has shown the treaty to be a highly imperfect tool.

GERRY HADDEN:  Many nations have endangered species lists. But wildlife, and the trade in wildlife, don’t respect political borders. That’s why CITES was created. When a plant or animal is in trouble, CITES has the power to regulate international trade in the species or ban it altogether. Each year CITES considers new flora and fauna. And this year, the Atlantic blue fin tuna seemed like a shoe in. Studies show that stocks have declined by more than 80% since the 1990s. Yet when it came up for a vote earlier this year, a motion to ban trade in Atlantic tuna failed. Jordi Tudela, of the World Wildlife Fund, largely blames Japan, the world’s largest bluefin consumer.

JORDI TUDELA:  The lobby from Japan was so strong that they change the minds of many, many, many delegations.

HADDEN: But Japan denies it was acting out of self interest. Japanese officials acknowledge that the Atlantic bluefin is in trouble. But Japan’s CITES delegate Masanori Miyahara says CITES listings are too inflexible.

MASANORI MIYAHARA: If listed, you cannot get out forever. But for the real management we have to change the measures from year to year in accordance with science.

HADDEN: Instead, Miyahara says, tuna should be managed through regional groups like the Spain-based International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, or ICCAT. The problem is that up till now, ICCAT itself has failed to protect the bluefin. And it’s failures like that which led to the creation of CITES to begin with, says Chris Rogers with the US Commerce Department. The US lobbied for the tuna trade ban.

CHRIS ROGERS: In the event a regional organization is not effectively managing, then there may be a role to control the trade as a means to backstop that organization.

HADDEN: The US also supported CITES bans on several other high profile species this year, from sharks to corals. None of them won enough support from CITES members either. But CITES general secretary John Scanlon says that doesn’t mean the process is broken. Scanlon acknowledges the legitimate fear of a species getting stuck on the “ban list” forever. But he says the process is open and democratic.

JOHN SCANLON: Now there are going to be occasions where some people are unhappy with the decisions. But there’s nowhere else in the international community you can carry forward an issue like we had with Atlantic bluefin tuna, with sharks, with polar bears, and address them in an open, science based manner.

HADDEN: Scanlon points out that historically CITES has been very successful. Over the last 35 years, he says, CITES has regulated or banned trade on over 34,000 species.

SCANLON:  Based upon all the evidence we have available to us, since CITES came into [SOUNDS LIKE] force, no species has become extinct as a result of international trade.

HADDEN: And it’s important to remember that trade is just one on a long list of threats to species, including disease, habitat loss and climate change. Take the Polar Bear. Like these feeding on dead whales in Alaska recently. There’s wide consensus that the bear is in trouble. Yet CITES rejected an outright ban on commercial trade in polar bear skins this year. Margaret Williams, with the WWF in Anchorage, says tabling the proposal was the right call.

MARGARET WILLIAMS: It’s not going to solve the problem with polar bears. The main threat for polar bears is climate change. Climate change, climate change, climate change. And that’s where we need to put our efforts.

HADDEN: And that’s something that CITES has no control over. Still, Williams says, despite its problems, CITES remains the world’s most effective wildlife treaty. But its efforts have gotten more complicated, she says, now that more commercial species are in trouble.

WILLIAMS: So for example blue fin tuna, timber, species which are backed by very, very powerful industry opposing new regulations.

HADDEN: Williams says CITES is still learning to deal with that pressure. But even CITES’ decisions not to act in some cases may lead to positive change, some activists say. The WWF’s Jordi Tudela says the bluefin decision, for instance, might finally bring a move towards stronger regional action.

TUDELA: Japan committed to lead the process toward the recovering the species in ICCAT. Should this happen of course this would be a side effect of CITES.

HADDEN: And CITES head Scanlon argues the global treaty is more relevant now than ever. The world’s population has grown more than 50% since CITES was ratified. International trade has also skyrocketed. All of which make it likely that more and more species may need CITES  protection. For The World, I’m Gerry Hadden in Barcelona.

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