At the conference of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), delegates will examine some 70 proposals to amend the current wildlife trade system, which has been in place for 40 years.

“CITES is known for taking meaningful decisions that have an impact ‘on-the-ground,’” said the Secretary-General of the Convention, John E.Scanlon, adding that 2013 “will be of great significance to the future of many species of plants and animals.”

With 176 Member States, CITES is one of the world’s most powerful tools for biodiversity conservation, regulating international trade in close to 35,000 species of plants and animals, including their products and derivatives, ensuring their survival in the wild with benefits for the livelihoods of local people and the global environment.

Throughout the conference, which ends on 14 March, governments will consider 70 proposals submitted by 55 countries from across the world seek to improve the conservation and sustainable use of marine species – including several shark species – the vicuña population of Ecuador, polar bears, African elephants, white rhinos, freshwater turtles, frogs, crocodiles, ornamental and medicinal plants and many other species.

Delegates will also discuss how CITES can further enhance efforts to combat the illegal trade in elephant ivory and rhino horn; the potential impacts of the Convention’s measures on the livelihoods of the rural poor, who are often on the frontlines of using and managing wildlife; and whether the Convention should request the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to serve as its financial mechanism for CITES, among other measures.

“As over-exploitation of the world’s critical natural resource base puts countries on an unsustainable path, ever more pressure is being exerted on species,” said the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Achim Steiner.

“Yet CITES, alongside many other international agreements, provides a wealth of examples where countries are seizing opportunities to pursue much more resource-efficient development pathways,” he added.

“Unless we can reverse this situation quickly, this will be a real setback for the conservation in Okapi Wildlife Reserve, home to the largest remaining population of forest elephants in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” the Chief of UNESCO’s Special Projects Unit, Guy Debonnet, said in a news release. “We can’t let those poachers kill rangers and hunt wildlife with impunity.”

According to UNESCO, the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, which is also a World Heritage Site, occupies about one-fifth of the DRC’s Ituri forest. It also contains threatened species of primates and birds, and about 5,000 of the estimated 30,000 okapi – a rare forest giraffe – surviving in the wild.

The Reserve’s headquarters, located in Epulu, a small village, came under attack on 24 June by poachers armed with AK-47 rifles and led by a notorious elephant poacher known as Morgan – seven people were killed, including two rangers, and buildings were torched and equipment destroyed. As well, 13 okapi were killed in the raid.

The emergency appeal, by UNESCO and Fauna and Flora International, hopes to raise $120,000 by 20 July, to help the families of the victims and repair the Reserve’s headquarters.

“Unless the facility can be restored very soon, these poachers will have met their objective: to move freely about the reserve in their search for elephant tusks,” UNESCO said.

It noted that funds from the campaign will be used to protect the Reserve’s elephants, whose population has been declining rapidly because of the ivory poaching, and to help re-establish the Reserve’s successful okapi breeding programme.

“Buildings will be rebuilt and equipment repaired or replaced. Perhaps most importantly, the families of those who were killed will be supported,” UNESCO added.