Guardian of world wildlife

ONE OF South Africa’s most remarkable achievements in recent times has been the leading part it has assumed on global environmental issues. The latest example is the choice of Joburg as the venue for next year’s meeting of CITES (the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).

Setting off the trend was the World Summit on Sustainable Development held here in 2002. Being the follow-up to the groundbreaking Earth Conference in Rio de Janeiro back in 1992, it truly put us in the international conservation spotlight.

We were at that point still basking in the afterglow of the Mandela era, and it no doubt helped that care of the natural environment formed so much part of the great man’s broadness of spirit.

There followed the World Parks Congress in Durban in 2003 which gave the world’s leading conservationists first-hand insight into the natural wonders that make South Africa rank with the top biodiverse countries, like Brazil and Indonesia.

Adding to this burgeoning vanguard role in conservation there was COP17 that once more saw representatives of government and nongovernmental organisations from all parts of the world gather in Durban in 2011 for vital environmental deliberations.

Next year’s CITES conference could in its own way come to represent a defining moment in the history of conservation. It will be happening at a time when the world over, wildlife is under assault, not least by criminal interests that are exploiting modern technology to the hilt in making fortunes from nature’s bounty. And the worrying truth for South Africa is that we find ourselves right in the middle of this macabre theatre, with reports coming in regularly about more rhino killings and canned lion hunting and other sickening hunting practices.

Being the conference host will put an even bigger obligation on South Africa to, at the hand of its own gruelling experience, come up with well-considered ideas on what CITES should do to stem this terrible tide. In preparing for that, we should ensure that nothing other than the best interests of wildlife protection enter the equation.