Dispatches
"The North Wants In": Mary Simon Launches 2010 Year of the Inuit with Release of The North Poll
CITES Uplisting: Unwarranted, Unnecessary, and Unacceptable
The United States has, unfortunately, decided to propose up listing polar bears from Appendix II to Appendix I of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
As people may not be aware of what CITES is, it is an international body created to regulate trade in wildlife species with the goal of ensuring that the trade of a given species does not present a threat to the continued survival of that species.
The current Appendix II listing means that polar bears are not necessarily threatened with extinction but that trade must be controlled to avoid trade not compatible with their survival.
Up listing polar bears to Appendix I essentially states that their survival is threatened with extinction and that their trade should be permitted only in exceptional circumstances.
Nothing could be further from the truth.



