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IWC

IWC

The IWMC Opening Statements presented at the most recent International Whaling Commission (IWC) meetings are witness to the deficient status of the IWC. IWMC believes strongly that the IWC should base its decisions on the concerns of people and the merits of science-based management. Unfortunately, too often the IWC has failed to acknowledge cultural traditions when making life-changing decisions about the regulation of non-endangered species that could be harvested sustainably.

IWMC World Conservation Trust Opening Statement

VSM/2109/OS/NGO/03 IWMC World Conservation Trust Opening Statement IWMC World Conservation Trust wishes to express its gratitude to the Chair of the Commission and its appreciation

IWC Reform is Long Overdue

We have a major challenge ahead of us here in Brazil. Does the IWC possess the courage and capability to reform itself? Or will it

CITES CoP18

CoP18

Final remarks CoP18

Mr. Chair, I know there are many people here who see a listing in CITES appendices as an end in itself. They don’t care about

CITES CoP17

IWMC CITES CoP17 Documents

I. Recommendations on Proposals for amendments to the Appendices II. Position paper on sharks and rays proposals 17.42; 17.43; 17:44 III. Position paper on African

IWMC Feature

Conservation Influencers

Conservation Influencers is a searchable directory of the animal activist, environmental and ecological lobby. It examines the history, mission, methodology and reputation of NGOs to assess their impact on the global conservation cause.

Franz Weber Foundation

From 1990 until 2015, Franz Weber Foundation (FFW) managed the Fazao-Malfakassa National Park in Togo, which was, according to an in-depth investigation by Duke University, ‘established by forcing the local communities off their land and without taking into consideration their point of view’. That same study cited convincing evidence from reports published in 1990, confirming that competition for land use was already ‘creating conflict between the local communities and park managers’. In 2015 Togo refused to renew FFW’s contract because, the report says, ‘local communities were still excluded from the management of the natural resources of their land’ and FFW had ‘failed to fulfil its contract’. Franz Weber Foundation plays a major role within CITES because it funds and manages from Switzerland the African Elephant Coalition (AEC), which represents 32 African range states, some of which have barely any elephants and others none at all. Contrary to the wishes of the range states in Southern Africa, which manage most of the world’s wild elephant populations, the AEC at CITES’ CoPs repeatedly tables proposals to put all of the world’s elephants in appendix I. And the AEC uses its voting power to keep in place prohibitions on ivory sales and all other trade in elephant-related derivatives, including skins and hair, which Southern African nations wish to legalise.

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