Cites concluded its two-week-long conference here yesterday, with members agreeing to take decisive action to protect wild animals and precious plant species from over-exploitation.
Representatives of 170 governments endorsed 55 proposals to enforce strong measures to fight wildlife crime at the triennial meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites).
The conference unanimously agreed to improve trade controls on hundreds of new timber species, along with a number of tortoises and turtles and a range of plants and animals, including manta rays and five shark species.
The member states declared March 3 as World Wildlife Day and accepted South Africa's invitation to host the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties, to be held in 2016.
"This is a big day for Cites and for the world's wildlife," said John E Scanlon, Cites secretary-general.
"It takes enormous effort to negotiate treaties and then make them work. The international community has today decided to make best use of this pragmatic and effective agreement to help it along the path to sustainability in our oceans and forests."
The Cites chief said all countries implicated in the illegal ivory trade have agreed to draw up action plans to protect and preserve elephant species.
Members also agreed to consider stricter domestic measures to regulate the re-export of rhino horns from any sources, and to develop and implement demand reduction strategies to reduce illegal movement and consumption of rhino horn products.
"It is a historical moment in which we have shared one voice to fight against illegal poaching of elephants and rhinos. We have agreed on deploying resources of technology, financing and better intelligence to overcome organised crime," Mr Scanlon said.
Unprecedented levels of international cooperation to combat serious wildlife crime resulted in past differences being set aside to stop the poaching of elephants and rhinoceroses for their ivory and horns, he said.
These international commitments will now be turned into national action, with the Cites Standing Committee to review progress made in this regard between now and the next meeting.
The United Nations Environment Programme affirmed in its closing statement it would provide full financial support to deal with illegal wildlife crime.
Despite Cites' claims of historic achievements, wildlife activists expressed disappointment.
Steven Galster, director of Freeland, an organisation combating wildlife trafficking, said it was disappointing that more was not done to protect certain species.
"Cites is a community, it’s a trade treaty of 178 governments, so compromise is sometimes inevitable. However, for some species there is no room for compromise, like tigers, elephants and rhinos. Cites parties had the power to shut the door completely on trade in these species, yet they left the door open for negotiations," he said.
"We have seen many experts push hard to legalise the rhino trade as they believed that legal trade will reduce pressure on the illegal trade of the species. But in fact, there has been no sign that illegal wildlife poaching is reducing," Mr Galster said.
He cited the case of legal rhino hunting in South Africa, where a hunter is issued a licence allowing the hunting of one rhino a year.
Hunting game has become a legal loophole that allows organised crime syndicates to buy hunting licences through legal channels and even sponsor the hunters themselves, Mr Galster said.
Corrupt officials have made the situation worse by obstructing law enforcement against wildlife crime, he said.
Mary Rice, executive director of the Environmental Investigation Agency, also expressed disappointment at the meeting's outcome. "I am quite shocked a Chinese official told the meeting the country couldn't identify the difference between legal and illegal ivory trade. We need to close the market for ivory and tiger products," she said.