In this photo taken Friday, March 1, 2013 photo, a waitress waits for customers at the entrance of a restaurant displayed with dried shark fins in Bangkok. Conservationists at a global wildlife conference on Monday, March 11, 2013 voted to regulate the trade of shark species that have been threatened because their fins are used to make expensive delicacies in Asia. Delegates at the triennial meeting in Bangkok of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna adopted the proposals to put the oceanic whitetip, hammerhead and porbeagle sharks on a list of species whose trade is closely controlled. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
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In this photo taken Friday, March 1, 2013 photo, a waitress waits for customers at the entrance of a restaurant displayed with dried shark fins in Bangkok. Conservationists at a global wildlife conference on Monday, March 11, 2013 voted to regulate the trade of shark species that have been threatened because their fins are used to make expensive delicacies in Asia. Delegates at the triennial meeting in Bangkok of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna adopted the proposals to put the oceanic whitetip, hammerhead and porbeagle sharks on a list of species whose trade is closely controlled. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
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In this Friday, March 1, 2013 photo, a woman holding a boy walks in front of a restaurant displaying dried shark fins to attract customers in Bangkok, Thailand. Conservationists at a global wildlife conference on Monday, March 11 voted to regulate the trade of shark species that have been threatened because their fins are used to make expensive delicacies in Asia. Delegates at the triennial meeting in Bangkok of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna adopted the proposals to put the oceanic whitetip, hammerhead and porbeagle sharks on a list of species whose trade is closely controlled. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
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FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2011 file photo, Somali fishermen carry a hammerhead shark to market on their shoulders in Mogadishu, Somalia. Conservationists at a global wildlife conference on Monday, March 11, 2013 voted to regulate the trade of shark species that have been threatened because their fins are used to make expensive delicacies in Asia. Delegates at the triennial meeting in Bangkok of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna adopted the proposals to put the oceanic whitetip, hammerhead and porbeagle sharks on a list of species whose trade is closely controlled. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh, File)
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FILE - In this Jan. 18, 2012 file photo, people are silhouetted against the glass of an aquarium while a Giant Manta Ray swims past at the Resorts World Sentosa's Marine Life Park in Singapore. Elephants, rhinos, sharks and manta rays are among the animals that could be getting more international protection at the triennial meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)
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FILE - In this Oct. 27, 2005 file photo, a hammerhead shark swims in a large tank at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. Elephants, rhinos, sharks and manta rays are among the animals that could be getting more international protection at the triennial meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)
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FILE - In this Dec. 3, 2012 file photo, one-horned rhinoceroses graze inside the Kaziranga National Park, a wildlife reserve that provides refuge to more than 2,200 endangered Indian one-horned rhinoceros, in the northeastern Indian state of Assam. Elephants, rhinos, sharks and manta rays are among the animals that could be getting more international protection at the triennial meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
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FILE - In this April 17, 2009 file photo, polar bears, Bill, right, and Lara, react each other at their first meeting at the Zoom Erlebniswelt Zoo in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Elephants, rhinos, sharks and manta rays are among the animals that could be getting more international protection at the triennial meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Polar bears have already lost out, and for animals such as the crocodile the push is actually for fewer restrictions. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)
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FILE - In this Dec. 13, 2012 file photo, a herd of African elephants drink water at a dam inside the Addo Elephant National Park near Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Elephants, rhinos, sharks and manta rays are among the animals that could be getting more international protection at the triennial meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam, File)
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FILE - In this June 24, 2006 file photo, Peruvian highland protected vicunas run on an Andean plain near Ayacucho, 205 miles (330 kilometers) southeast of Lima, Peru. Elephants, rhinos, sharks and manta rays are among the animals that could be getting more international protection at the triennial meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The CITES meeting agreed to a proposal from Ecuador to ease controls on its national population of vicuna, an animal native to the Andes and a relative of the llama. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia, File)
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FILE - In this May 1, 2007 file photo, a rare baby Arakan forest turtle is shown at Zoo Atlanta in Atlanta. Elephants, rhinos, sharks and manta rays are among the animals that could be getting more international protection at the triennial meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The U.S., China and Vietnam have proposed trade restrictions for 44 species of freshwater turtles. (AP Photo/Gene Blythe, File)
Wildlife meeting gives 100s of species protection
BANGKOK (AP) — A 12-day global wildlife conference concluded on Thursday after granting better protection to hundreds of threatened animal and plant species.
More than 1,000 delegates at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora voted to introduce trade regulations for vulnerable animal species such as sharks, manta rays, tortoises and turtles, and rejected proposals that would have allowed three species of crocodiles to be traded internationally.
CITES meets every three years to discuss how to regulate trade in plants and animals to ensure the survival of more than 35,000 species. CITES delegates represent 178 governments, businesses, non-governmental organizations and groups speaking for indigenous peoples.
CITES Secretary-General John Scanlon said this year's conference in Bangkok was "a watershed moment" for the organization in realizing the seriousness of wildlife crime and toughening measures against it.
Five shark species are under severe threat because of the voracious market for shark fins, an expensive delicacy in Asia.
"This is a major win for some of the world's most threatened shark species, with action now required to control the international trade in their fins," said Susan Lieberman of The Pew Charitable Trusts, a non-profit organization. "Today was the most significant day for the ocean in the 40-year history of CITES."
Conservationists also placed controls on a range of rosewood and ebony wood from Asia, Central America and Madagascar that are exploited by illegal logging.
Not all proposals for protecting animals were adopted. A U.S. proposal to ban the international trade of polar bears failed to garner the two-thirds of votes needed to pass, while the convention was criticized for failing to issue strong measures against elephant poaching.
Host country Thailand and seven other Asian and African nations were criticized by CITES for failing to adequately crack down on the ivory trade and were asked to come up with "national action plans" with targets to curb the trade across and within their borders. They must meet those targets or face trade sanctions next year.
"Any discussions on legalizing trade in wildlife products — be it ivory, rhino horns, or tiger parts — accomplishes only one thing, which is stimulating demand," Mary Rice, executive director of the British-based Environmental Investigation Agency, said in a statement. "Such rhetoric must cease immediately if we are to reverse the trend toward extinction of these and other species."
The next meeting is to be held in 2016 in South Africa.
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