As 2,500 people converge on Panama for the World Wildlife Conference from November 14, two leading international officials responsible for ensuring sustainable trade in wildlife outline how both to protect endangered species and to ensure efficient trading. In a guest column for AllAfrica, Ivonne Higuero, Secretary-General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and Shamika N. Sirimanne, Director of Technology and Logistics at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), advocate the wider use of digital technologies to help conserve the planet's endangered species.
Earlier this year, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on world leaders to end the "senseless and suicidal war against nature".
Technological advancements have now created solutions to help stop this war and improve humanity's relationship with the natural world. Digital technology exists to help us to know what is happening in the world and to make better informed decisions about how to live in harmony with our rich but fragile ecosystems.
Take wildlife trade for example. Much has changed since the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) came into force in the early 1970s to prevent the world's commercially-traded wildlife species from becoming extinct. Back then, many people were unaware of many of the species which lived in faraway places, or of how the purchasing decisions they made could impact those species.
Over time, we have become collectively better educated about the need to preserve the multitude of species on our planet. Many now understand why it's important to conserve biodiversity to ensure future generations can also benefit from nature.
How digital permits help protect endangered species
CITES regulates and controls trade in various species of animals and plants, according to their status in the wild, with strict restrictions against commercial trade in endangered species while allowing a controlled and monitored approach for others. The process to regulate the export or import of wildlife requires both transparency and rigour at national borders to allow legal trade to proceed while preventing illicit trade.
However, for many countries – exporters and importers alike – border control may still be a process which depends on human resources, with the paperwork to process the transfer of species from one territory to another done by hand.
As countries implement what we call the national "single window" approach for trade controls in general, some countries are digitalizing the process. In addition, the automation of issuing trading permits has been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic having posed challenges for in-person trade processes.
As well as reducing processing time and simplifying procedures, the use of technology improves the quality of risk assessment and inspection by border agencies, including customs offices, so helping combat illegal trade in wildlife specimens.
But how does this work in practice? Consider customs officers presented with an animal or plant that appears to be exotic, maybe a protected species. How do they know that the certificate accompanying the animal or plant in front of them is legal or that the species being traded is the same as the one the paperwork claims it to be?
Since many countries currently rely on traditional paper-based means to process permits, human error can creep in, allowing the fraudulent trade in endangered species.
But an electronic permit system linked to a customs management system can help customs officers, importers and exporters ensure the right species are traded in the right quantities. It facilitates coordination between customs and the government agencies responsible for CITES matters. Furthermore, the data generated from electronic permit systems allows accurate reporting of trade in CITES-listed species, allowing informed decision-making for sustainable, legal and traceable trade.
Today, the parties to CITES – 183 countries and the European Union – are looking into an electronic permit system and exploring solutions that would be cost-effective and inter-operable among countries. These would help customs officers spot illegal attempts to trade in protected species and enforce international trade laws.
One such solution is the eCITES@ASYCUDA base solution. Developed by the CITES Secretariat and the UN Conference on Trade and Development's Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA) programme, the system allows a streamlined and automated flow of CITES trade at each step, from permit application, review and issuance to border validation. The result is that trade in regulated animals and plants is done in a legal, traceable and sustainable manner in the country.
In Sri Lanka, the first country to implement the solution, piloting the digital system has increased annual approval rates for permits by 17 percent from 2020 to 2021. This shows that the system facilitates legal trade while helping curb illicit trade, therefore boosting the conservation of CITES-listed species in Sri Lanka.
The average processing time for permits in Sri Lanka has fallen from 120 hours in 2020 to 39 hours today. Adopting such a solution also provides better data for improved analysis and monitoring. Prior to the roll-out of the solution in 2020, no statistics were available.
Beyond Sri Lanka, the system is also being piloted in Mozambique, where similar improvements are foreseen, as well as in a few other countries that are testing the system.
Global problems require global solutions
Global problems require global solutions and international cooperation is essential for the conservation of wild animal and plant species against over-exploitation through international trade.
The more countries around the world that use electronic permitting solutions, the more sustainable international trade in wildlife species can be, and the greater the level of protection for endangered species globally.
Digital systems can also facilitate the exchange of electronic permits and information across borders, improving international cooperation, increasing transparency and preventing the use of fraudulent permits.
Such systems are particularly useful in developing countries, which are home to many valuable and threatened species, but may not have adequate staff for administering permits and enforcing border controls, and need access to systems that are efficient and effective as they fight the criminals seeking to bypass those controls.
The international community has an important role to play in testing and moving towards innovative technological solutions that are available to all countries, so that we improve the conservation and sustainable use of our natural resources together, while leaving no one behind.
As the UN Secretary-General has said several times, our health and the health of the natural world – and indeed, our planet – are all intricately linked.
Using digital solutions to support nature conservation is fundamentally an act of human interest and at the same time, our responsibility to leave a healthy planet for future generations.
