Wildlife meet mulls trade rules to counter 'unprecedented' species declines

Amid growing alarm over accelerating extinctions, a major international conference opened in Geneva on Saturday aiming to tighten rules on tre in elephant ivory and or endangered animal and plant species.

Thousands of conservationists and policymakers from more than 180 countries will meet for 12 days to evaluate regulations and species protection listings under Convention on International Tre in Endangered Species (CITES).

"Business, as usual, is longer an option," CITES Secretary-General Ivonne Higuero said at start of meeting, warning that "nature's dangerous decline is unprecedented." 

treaty, created more than four deces ago, regulates tre in over 35,000 species of plants and animals and contains mechanisms to help crack down on illegal tre and sanction countries that break rules.

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meeting follows warnings about rapid species decline, with a UN report in May indicating that one million species are being pushed to brink of extinction.

"My fear is that we are... w really on edge," Higuero told AFP ahe of conference, saying she hoped delegates in Geneva would "make what we call transformative change." 

Inger Anderson, who hes United Nations Environment Programme, echoed her sense of urgency, warning conference that "we are losing species at a rate never seen before."

But she voiced confidence in effectiveness of CITES treaty in protecting vulnerable species by ensuring all tre in m is sustainable.

"We need to find a workable balance between people and nature," she said.

devastation caused to many species by poaching and booming illegal wildlife tre will be in spotlight during meeting, as will new challenges arising from illicit commerce increasingly moving online.

plight of African elephants is expected to dominate discussions.

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Some countries are calling for stronger protections for all African elephants, while countries in sourn Africa, where populations are better protected and healthier, are requesting resumption of ivory stockpile sales.

One of 56 proposals on meeting's nda aims to prevent traffickers from passing off illegal elephant ivory as coming from mammoths, by listing long-extinct mammals as a threatened species and thus subject to regulated tre.

Sourn white rhis, American crocodile and a range of shark and ray species are also on nda, as is African giraffe, amid warnings that gentle giant is facing a "silent extinction." " future of biodiversity is at stake but .. we have a unique opportunity to change course," Andersen said.