The Permanent Secretariat of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (PS/ACTO) hired a specialized consultancy to guide, train and support the Amazonian Countries in the development of Non-detriment Findings, resulting from the inclusion of Cedrela sp. in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This action is part of the regional cooperation process promoted by ACTO within the Bioamazon Project. There will be a regional workshop for Amazon Countries this month.
On August 28, 2020, the inclusion of Cedrela odorata, as well as the inclusion of all other species of the genus Cedrela (for reasons of similarity) in Appendix II of the CITES with Annotation #6 (Neotropical populations) entered into force, whose proposal was presented by Ecuador and adopted at the eighteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP 18) held in 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland.
One of the fundamental requirements established in the text of the CITES Convention for the regulation of trade in specimens of species included in Appendix II, a Scientific Authority of the State in each party to the Convention declares that an export, import and/or re-export will not harm the survival of a CITES-regulated species. These analysis and evaluation mechanisms have become collectively known as “non-detriment findings” (NDF).
Duration and Products
The consultancy contracted by ACTO began on September 22, 2020 and this will be concluded on January 21, 2021.
Its implementation will include the preparation of a base document on Non-detriment Finding (NDF) and the inclusion of Cedrela sp. in Appendix II of CITES; the holding of a Regional Workshop on NDFs in November 2020 through the Zoom Platform; advice for the formulation of NDFs in ACTO Member Countries and a report that will include a report on the progress of the inclusion of Cedrela in Appendix II in ACTO Member Countries. It is also part of the work to organize a base proposal for a Regional Action Plan for the inclusion of Cedrela in Appendix II, which will consider the needs and actions to be developed in terms of NDF (scientific aspects) and Legal Acquisition Findings (administrative aspects) to be made available to regional authorities and the CITES Secretariat.
The consulting products will contribute to the Forestry Technology Platform (FTP) and part of the key processes for its implementation will be carried out through the Integrated Information and Knowledge Platform (PRIC), both from ACTO.
Consultant
The work will be in charge of César Beltetón, Agricultural Engineer in Renewable Natural Resources, Master in Management and Conservation of Species in International Trade, with a Specialization in Forest Governance, who for more than ten years has been working within the framework of CITES with tree species, having chaired several working groups such as: 1) the working group on Broadleaf Mahogany (swetenia macrophylla) and Other Neotropical Timber Species; 2) the working group on production systems for tree species, plantations and definitions of “artificially propagated”, and 3) the working group on neotropical tree species.
In his experience, it is also highlighted that for nine years he served as the CITES Wood Flora Scientific Authority of Guatemala and is currently a member of the CITES Flora Committee representing Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Among his works related to the subject, he stands out as co-author ad honorem of the “Practical guidance for the preparation of Non-detriment Findings (NDF) for tree species included in CITES”.
