On the morning of December 20, 2018, Dr. Zhou Jinfeng, the Secretary-General of CBCGDF, together with his team, had a video conference with Ms. Fabiana F Spinelli, a consultant from the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)’s Wildlife and Forest Diversity sector. The video conference was held in-depth exchanges on the implementation of the “Sustainable Wildlife Management” initiated by the CBD and communicated on topics of common interest such as CBCGDF’s related work.
In the beginning, Cathelina from the international affairs department of CBCGDF introduced Ms. Spinelli on the CBCGDF efforts toward saving the endangered species such as pangolins and bluefin tuna, under the background of the domestic and international markets driven by the popular economic consumption chain, and blindly promoted the consumption of these endangered species. It has taken a lot of effort and hardship for CBCGDF to save them from the edge of extinction. These efforts include: through policy guidance, mobilizing the vast number of non-governmental volunteers to conduct unannounced visits to the black market for illegal trade, and filing environmental public interest litigation (EPIL) case, which has effectively attacked the illegal trade of endangered species such as pangolins.
Cathelina also mentioned: In response to the public's ignorant consumption of the endangered species bluefin tuna, through negotiations and campaigns, CBCGDF and other organizations have stopped the largest e-commerce platform JD.com’s promotion and sales of bluefin tuna in time.
Ms. Spinelli first introduced Sustainable Wildlife Management and its voluntary guidelines and led to the Guidance for a Sustainable Wild Meat Sector. The guidelines were drafted by the 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP14), which was just concluded in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, and was drafted by international organizations and partners including UN Environment, CITES, TRAFFIC, and CMS during the meeting.
She then detailed the Second Wildlife Forum's achievements. The Forum took place on 21 November 2018, on the sidelines of CBD COP14 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt: More than a dozen international institutions around wildlife conflicts, sustainable trade, and how communities contribute to the CBD were discussed. It aimed to achieve strong sustainability in the wild meat sector through assessments, capacity building workshops, and information and support for relevant departments and organizations to facilitate the implementation of the guidelines.
Mr. Spinelli stated that they were trying to study how to identify the guidelines in addition to areas outside the tropics. The efforts of CBCGDF are impressive and closely related to their research. She recommended that CBCGDF communicate with relevant departments to promote the extraordinary cases in a wider range of fields for others to take reference and study.
In the second half of the video conference, Dr. Zhou expressed CBCGDF's willingness to work through various forms, including organizing workshops, promoting events related to wildlife protection, the power of volunteers, and the Good Food Fund of CBCGDF, strengthen collaboration with colleagues at home and abroad, and jointly promote the Sustainable Wildlife Management and its guidelines. Ms. Spinelli showed her strong interest in this.
(Photo credit: CBD)
(Photo credit: CBCGDF)
(Ms. Fabiana Spinelli on the Second Wildlife Forum. Photo credit: enb.iisd.org)
By / Cat Edited / Niu Jingmei