Motion 136

Biodiversity is the fabric of life on Earth. Humans depend on the food systems, clean air, climate, and freshwater provided by healthy ecosystems. But our ability to sustain life as we know it is in jeopardy. Approximately one million species are threatened with extinction, many within decades, and the risk of ecosystem collapse grows.

According to scientists, ecologically unsustainable exploitation of wild species is the leading driver of biodiversity loss in our ocean and the second leading driver on land. Subsequent research suggests that exploitation is overtaking habitat loss as the leading driver of the crisis in the Americas and Africa.

However, important global efforts to increase ambition in addressing the biodiversity crisis, such as the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, have so far focused on protecting habitats and tackling climate change. The direct exploitation of threatened species and its role in fueling the biodiversity crisis has not yet been adequately addressed and is a critical piece of the challenge that requires urgent attention.

Countries and stakeholders must work collaboratively and increase their level of ambition by working at the national level as well as through biodiversity-focused international forums to ensure that wild species are protected from overexploitation and recovered, in alignment with Goal A and Targets 4 and 5 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, before it is too late.

A recent study found, for example, that the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is decades behind in providing meaningful protections for hundreds of species facing extinction – CITES listing most often comes a decade or more after species in international trade are classified as “facing a high risk of extinction” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, if at all. Another study conducted by IUCN, UNEP-WCMC and Oxford University found that there over 900 at-risk species that are threatened by international trade, yet remain unprotected under CITES, and hundreds more may be under-protected based on the criteria for listing species agreed to by Parties to the treaty.

The IUCN motion “Addressing the Direct Exploitation of Wild Species” calls on IUCN State Members to work together to ensure that all threatened wild species are identified, monitored, and adequately protected from overexploitation under international multilateral agreements designed to protect species from unsustainable harvest, use and trade, as well as domestic law, and restored through effective recovery interventions, with the full support of IUCN and its members. It urges government and other stakeholders to mobilize resources to eliminate ecologically unsustainable, illegal, or unsafe exploitation of wild species, which will increase food security, protect local livelihoods, contribute to sustainable development, help prevent global pandemics caused by diseases of zoonotic origin, and respect cultural identity, traditional beliefs and a deep-rooted connection to the environment enshrined in many cultures for future generations.