The Forestry Commission (FC) is participating in a 3-week Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Conference of the Parties (CoP) at the Panama City, Panama in South America.
FC is being represented by Mr. Musa Iddrisu; Deputy Chief Executive of FC (in charge of Wildlife Division), Mr Bernard Asamoah Boateng Executive Director (ED) of Wildlife Division (WD), of FC, who is also the focal point of CITES in Ghana; Prof. Samuel Kingsley Oppong, FC Board Member and the focal point of Scientific Authority of CITES in Ghana and Dr. Richard Gyimah, Director of Stakeholders and Ecotourism, WD.
The CITES CoP is a biennial meeting of States who are party to the Convention to discuss among others international trade in wildlife and its effect on biodiversity conservation.
The meeting always strives to find a balance between trade improvement and sustainable biodiversity for a sustainable human wildlife coexistence.
The first week of the Conference is targeted for committee work. Ghana was nominated into a working group on some wildlife species alongside USA, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Japan, Switzerland, Norway and South Africa.
Mr Bernard Asamoah Boateng led a five-member panel discussion on CITES and Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) work in Ghana with particular reference to Mole and Kakum Parks’ experiences.
The 19th meeting in the CoP series brings together about 7,000 participants from 125 nations of the world.
