Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) committee meets in Cameroon
Yaoundé, Cameroon, 1st October 2010—the Technical Committee overseeing data collection for the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) met this week in Cameroon under the chairmanship of the Director of Fauna and Protected Areas (DFAP).
ETIS is a database of elephant product seizures (mainly ivory) that take place workdwide that is managed by TRAFFIC on behalf of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Under the Convention, Parties are obliged to report their data on a timely basis in order for an accurate oversight of ivory product flows to be established through robust analysis of the database ahead of main meetings of CITES.
The Committee noted the appointment of an ETIS focal point in Cameroon and that eight seizure datasheets had been verified and submitted in 2008. Another important development had been the publication of 500 copies of an ETIS Manual, to be distributed to MINFOF and Customs staff.
