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.

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

WCS issued the following statement today from CITES CoP19 being held in Panama City, Panama

Researchers with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) announced the results of an international investigation finding that online trade of jaguar parts are openly detectable on multiple online platforms, representing an emerging and serious threat to jaguar populations across the range of this Latin American wildlife icon.

The 19th meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES CoP19) is taking place in Panama City, Panama from November 14-25, 2022.

Tanzania's Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism (MNRT) released the results of a second ever landscape wildlife survey confirming that elephant numbers have stabilized in an area that was amongst the hardest hit by ivory poachers in the last decade.

WCS EU has issued the following statement from Dr. Janice Weatherley-Singh, Director, EU Strategic Relations:

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) will livestream on Sept. 27, 28, and 29th (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) a great wonder of nature, from a river along the border between Brazil and Bolivia as thousands of giant South American river turtles (Podocnemis expansa) gather on sandbanks to lay hundreds of thousands of eggs.