Import permits: CITES meeting upholds ban on export of protected mammals

Dismisses several matters on agenda

ISLAMABAD: The CITES Management Authority (CMA) has decided to continue its ban on commercial export of protected mammals and reptiles from Pakistan.

The move came after a meeting of Convention on international Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Management Authority (CMA) was held at the Ministry of Climate Change on Friday to discuss multiple issues .

The timing of the meeting raised a few eyebrows.

“CMA usually holds its meetings before the start of the trophy-hunting season in August or September, but this year’s meeting was convened after the start of hunting season,” animal conservator Fakhare  Abbas told The Express Tribune. He said that hunting season stretches from October to April, and for “some reason”, this year’s CMA meeting was not held on time, requiring trophy hunting to be allocated according to the previous year’s statistics.

Sources told The Express Tribune that seven parties had applied for import permits for various mammals.  Among them were an influential member of the Punjab Assembly (MPA) from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (N), who had applied for a permit to import a Siberian tiger

Sources said the MPA ‘convinced’ Climate Change Minister Zahid Hamid to convene the meeting so that his application could be considered and expedited.

At the meeting, Hamid had suggested that a survey should be conducted to check the exact population of Markhor in Pakistan so that a case to increase the trophy hunting for Pakistan can be put forward at the next CITES Conference of Parties.

Sources said that the representatives of the provinces felt that the of Markhor population had increased enough to justify such a request in next CITES Conference of Parties to increase the hunting quota Markhor for Pakistan.

The ministry suggested that the survey should be conducted with the help of provincial wildlife departments, World Wide Fund for Nature, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and Higher Education Commission-approved universities which have zoology and wildlife departments.  A suggestion was also made for provinces to inform the centre if their respective annual quotas for trophy hunting were not fully utilised so that the unutilised quota could be transferred to other provinces upon request.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28^th, 2016.