17th CITES CoP

New Ph.D. student, Amy Collis, and I have just returned from 2 weeks in South Africa, attending The 17th Conference of the Parties to CITES--the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Over 150 countries met to discuss topics such as the destruction of elephant ivory, the legalisation of a trade in rhinoceros horn, and new restrictions on trade in taxa such as pangolins, the African Grey Parrot, sharks and timber. We were there to learn more about how to engage our research with this important policy process, and in preparation for Amy's Ph.D. on the conservation and livelihood implications of captive breeding for trade.