Tiger Coalition's letter to Chinese State Forestry Administration Minister - 10th of July 2007

6 July 2007

Subject: International Workshop on Strategy for Tiger Conservation

Dear Minister Jia,

We write today with regard to the State Forestry Administration’s International Workshop on Strategy for Tiger Conservation, 2-7 July, which members of the International Tiger Coalition (ITC) were interested in attending. We had welcomed SFA’s idea of organizing a comprehensive review of China’s tiger trade ban, and many of our members had hoped to participate fully. That “open and transparent” review was mentioned publicly by China’s delegation, during Committee II and Plenary discussions, at last month’s 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in The Hague.

Unfortunately, key experts were unable to attend the workshop for various reasons. First, the dates of the workshop were only confirmed in mid June during the second week of the CITES meeting. For this reason, ITC representatives had little time for arranging their schedules and flights, registration, visa applications and payment of fees in the two weeks between the end of the CITES meeting and the beginning of the workshop. Second, others among the coalition’s most qualified experts could only join the workshop during the discussion phase in Harbin (for personal or logistical reasons), but they were informed that they could not participate in the discussion workshop itself if they had not attended the associated tours of tiger farms. Third, we were disappointed that some of those ITC representatives best qualified to offer relevant professional input were not given permission to attend.

By contrast, we note with concern the participants hosted by the SFA and believe it is unfortunate that some participants with a wider range of knowledge and experience, in tiger conservation specifically, were turned away.

We note that the Government of China provided the necessary funding and logistical support for some economists of SFA’s choosing to participate, but other representatives of civil society with decades of tiger conservation experience and economic expertise had very little time to find the necessary funds, arrange visas, or were told that it was “too late” for them to register.

Finally, we are concerned that the workshop itinerary includes venues which have been alleged to be selling tiger products either directly or through the internet in ontravention of China’s laws and which are strong proponents for relaxing China’s tiger trade ban. This creates the impression of a conflict of interest which could further jeopardize the outcomes of the discussions being viewed as open and objective as had been hoped, and as was the stated intent of your government.

In summary, the overall result is that the workshop cannot be the open, transparent and thorough policy review promised to CITES Parties at The Hague. Nevertheless, we remain fully committed to contributing to such a review.

The CITES Parties adopted a strong decision on the issue of tiger conservation, as you are aware. Thus, we write today to offer our assistance to work with SFA, and perhaps the CITES Secretariat, to convene later this year a more inclusive discussion of the best ways to ensure conservation of wild tigers across their range. We would welcome the chance to collaborate with you to ensure that the process is inclusive of a full array of experts and conducted with:

• Scientific rigor, so that the potential effects of any management actions on wild tigers are fully understood and considered by the international community on the basis of thorough research;
• Transparency, so that the international community can consider the methods and conclusions of this research;
• Conservation of tigers in the wild as a priority, as the world’s last wild tigers are at stake, and the international community has a core interest in ensuring that national and international policies support full conservation of all remaining wild tiger populations.

We hope that we will have an opportunity to discuss these matters with you in person in the near future. In the interim, we look forward to your reply.

With sincere regards,

cc:

• Chairman, CITES Standing Committee CITES Management Authority, Russian Federation
• CITES Management Authority, Bangladesh CITES Management Authority, USA
• CITES Management Authorities, Bhutan CITES Management Authority, Vietnam
• CITES Management Authority, Cambodia CITES Secretariat
• CITES Management Authority, China Executive Director, Global Tiger Forum
• CITES Management Authority, EU Member States IUCN Species Survival Commission
• CITES Management Authority, India Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China
• CITES Management Authority, Indonesia State Administration of TCM, China
• CITES Management Authority, Nepal State Forestry Administration, International Affairs