With the final adoption of proposals to regulate the trade of requiem sharks and hammerheads as governments conclude the 19^th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES CoP19), the following statement was issued by Luke Warwick, Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society Shark and Ray Program:

Rare, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced the launch of Solution Search: Changing Unsustainable Trade, a crowdsourcing contest to identify organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean with innovative approaches to reducing illegal or unsustainable trade of wildlife.

The Government of Mozambique approved by Resolution of Council of Ministers, the National Strategy for the Management and Conservation of Coral Reefs.

A CITES CoP19 committee has agreed by consensus to provide international commercial trade protections for all glass frogs, the family Centrolenidae, by listing them in in Appendix II. Final adoption in CITES Plenary is expected by end of week.

CITES CoP19 Parties agreed by consensus to a proposal to protect both matamata turtle species, Chelus fimbriata and Chelus orinocensis, whose populations are threatened as the turtles are prized by the pet trade. Final adoption in Plenary is expected by end of week.

CITES CoP19 Parties voted to list requiem sharks and hammerheads on CITES Appendix II. Final adoption in Plenary is expected in the coming days.

The following statement was issued today by Sue Lieberman, Vice President of International Policy for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), at CITES CoP19 on the role of CITES member governments in reducing risk of future pathogen spillover and potential zoonotic disease emergence associated with live wildlife trade.

The European Union (EU) announced a 25.5 million euro investment in the protection and sustainable use of the Five Great Forests of Mesoamerica, and the Indigenous Peoples and local communities that risk their lives as their frontline defenders.

WCS is issuing the following statements concerning the revised EU Action Plan Against Wildlife Trafficking.

WCS Brasil and the State of Amazonas agreed to work together to develop the first pilot areas for a new high integrity forest investment initiative designed to pay the stewards of high integrity tropical forests for the ecosystem services those forests provide, including their CO2 absorption, which helps cool the planet. The agreement was signed at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Climate Conference.