On Tuesday, March 16, Committee I began by taking up several agenda items related to plants submitted by the Plants Committee for consideration. Of particular interest to the U.S. is the discussion on the control of the international trade in bigleaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla). A working group had been formed after the last CoP to review management plans in the range States for bigleaf mahogany and analyze the non-detriment findings of these range States in issuing permits for the trade in bigleaf mahogany. A range State is the term used for a country in which the species occurs.

Benito Perez, Chief of Law Enforcement joins John Sellar, Enforcement for CITES at press event

The CITES conference divided into the two main working committees. Committee I that deals with species listing decisions and Committee II that deals with implementing the Convention. These Committees will continue to meet daily throughout the course of the meeting and these updates will highlight the key issues that are important to the U.S. delegation over the next two weeks.

Jane Lyder intervenes for the U.S. accompanied by Craig Hoover

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Department of Justice were awarded the Animal Welfare Institute’s prestigious Clark R. Bavin Law Enforcement Award at a reception sponsored by the Species Survival Network for their highly successful, multi-year (2004-2010) undercover investigation of unlawful international trafficking in sea turtle parts and products.

Benito Perez, Chief of Law Enforcement accepts award from Willem Wijnstekers, Secretary-General of CITES

The CoP15 representatives met for the second day of the conference on Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m. local time. Sunday is not a weekend day in Qatar – the weekend is Friday and Saturday - so delegates convened for a full day of business. The meeting began with a plenary session in the great hall where the delegates adopted the agenda and working program for the two week meeting. The agenda has many substantial issues, including 42 species proposals. The plenary session also featured reports from the technical committees for CITES which includes the Animals Committee and the Plants Committee. These committees manage the substantive scientific work of CITES and an impressive body of work has been addressed by these 2 committees since the last CoP.

	Jane Lyder interviews with reporter from Gulf Times
	Lyder joins Rosemarie Gnam and Craig Hoover from FWS for NGO briefing
	Jane Lyder speaks to delegates at polar bear briefing

Yesterday, the U.S. delegation to the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES joined more than 175 other countries’ delegations in Doha, Qatar for the opening ceremonies. Qatar, a small, oil-rich nation along the Persian Gulf is host to this important international wildlife trade convention that last occurred three years ago in The Netherlands. This is the first time that CITES has met in the Middle East and the State of Qatar is demonstrating its commitment to CITES by investing substantial financial resources to host the meeting.

	Entrance to Sheraton Hotel, site of CoP15, Doha, Qatar
	Plenary Session, Opening Ceremony, Doha, Qatar
	Jane Lyder, Acting Head of U.S. Delegation with Head of Chinese Delegation
	Qatar Entertainers, Opening Ceremony