CITES Standing Committee 66, Geneva

(Photo Credit: Simon Chew)

Sophie and I travelled to Geneva for the 66th meeting of the CITES Standing Committee, where dozens of country representatives and NGOs met in preparation for the 17th Conference of Parties in South Africa later this year.

Our blog, "Meeting the Decision Makers" at CITES, on the Lancaster Enviornment Centre website.

CITES, the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species, is an agreement among 181 countries to regulate the international trade of more than 35,000 species of flora and fauna.

Sophie refined her Masters research project, looking at the CITES species "up-listing" process, and also considered career options in global conservation arena. I focused on issues related to captive breeding for trade, with particular interest in the Committee's decision to request more research on the "underlying CITES policy assumptions" on captive breeding.