The eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (COP 11) will be held in Nairobi, Kenya in April 2000. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora is an international treaty designed to regulate international trade in species threatened with extinction or species that may become threatened with extinction unless trade is subject to strict regulation. These species are listed in the Convention's Appendices I and II respectively.

The meeting will be a particularly important one regarding marine living resources. Proposals related to the downlisting of whale species and the listing of a number of fish species will be considered. The whale stocks proposed for downlisting have been confirmed to be abundant by the IWC Scientific Committee but, contrary to CITES own criteria, they are still listed on Appendix I. The discussion of these issues will test the credibility of CITES, an organization that should base its decisions on science and the principles of sustainable use rather than emotion, misinterpretation or exaggerated application of the precautionary approach, or unnecessary total protection of non-endangered species.

Furthermore, adoption of the Government of Japan's whale downlisting proposals would demonstrate the willingness of the parties to objectively apply the criteria adopted by CITES in its Resolution Conf. 9.24. At the 9th Conference of the Parties a resolution (Res. Conf. 9.24 with Annexes) was adopted. It specified criteria for listing species in Appendices I and II as well as the precautionary measures related to the amendment of these Appendices.

These whale downlisting proposals are a part of the broader issue of sustainable use of resources and the application of science as important principles for the management of all living resources. CITES thus has an important role to play, along with other international resource management treaties, national legislation and the work of intergovernmental organizations such as FAO.

Together with a science based approach to management, these proposals provide the basis for the sustainable use of living resources as envisioned in the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development Agenda 21 which is now accepted as the world's standard.

Whale Downlisting Proposals The Government of Japan is proposing that the Okhotsk Sea-West Pacific stock of minke whales and Southern Hemisphere stock of minke whales as well as the Eastern Stock of North Pacific gray whales be transferred from Appendix I to Appendix II.

It is important to emphasize that none of these stocks is endangered or in any way threatened with extinction. In fact, the Scientific Committee of the IWC has agreed that all of them are at high levels. Worldwide there are more than 1 million minke whales and the Scientific Committee has agreed that the population in Antarctic is more 760,000 animals during summer. The Scientific Committee has further noted that under the highly conservative Revised Management Procedure (RMP) developed to set quotas for commercial whaling of baleen whales, 2,000 minke whales could be harvested from the Antarctic each year for the next 100 years without any threat to the stock. Further, none of these stocks meets CITES own criteria for listing in Appendix I, and the precautionary measures specified by CITES in its Resolution Conf. 9.24 are satisfied.