Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1998 14:03:26 -0400 From: Madeleine Groves <m.groves@mindspring.com> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2763$foo@default> Subject: Herbarium specimens
Dear All
In response to the debate about CITES permits for herbarium specimens, it
is up to the Management and Scientific Authorities to decide whether you
can apply for a permit at the species level or the family level. In the UK
they usually ask you to name the species if you can or for a species list
once you arrive home so they can check and see what's been collected. This
isn't that great as you could have collected anything and everything and
not declare a lot of it. Sometimes they'll ask for an inspection upon arrival.
I don't know the history behind herbarium specimens being covered by CITES,
but it's probably got something to do with CITES covering the various forms
in which plants and animals are traded, whether it be medicines, statues,
herbarium specimens, etc. This is to stop the unsustainable use of a
natural resource and the smuggling of plant specimens and parts. If a
proposal to list a species/family is well written then it will take all
these forms into consideration and add an annotation to the listing so
they're not covered (as with many of the new medicinal plant listings).
Back to reality, write a proposal to remove herbarium specimens from the
Appendices and find a proponent country to propose it at the next CITES
Conference of the Parties or break the law(s). These are your options at
present. Many institutions/individuals often do not realise specimens are
covered by CITES and a lot of illegal loans are sent out or collected and
bought home.
Contributing to the CITES Checklist of Carnivorous Plants or a review of
cps on CITES is one way to help because then the species true conservation
value can be assessed and changes made to their listing. That and the
hiring of 15 grillion more customs officers, the halt to land mismanagement
worldwide and a ban on herbicides and we should be set!
Best wishes
Mad
________________________________________________________
Madeleine Groves
Conservation Programme Coordinator
Atlanta Botanical Garden
P.O. Box 77246
Atlanta
Georgia
30357
Tel:(404) 876 5859 (voicemail 503)
Fax:(404) 876 7472
E-mail: m.groves@mindspring.com
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