The CITES Secretariat is pleased to announce that the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP) will take place in Johannesburg, South Africa from September 24 to 5 October 2016.
The decision follows an offer by South Africa to host the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP17) which was accepted by acclamation at the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties in Bangkok, March 2013.
Africa is home to a vast array of CITES-listed species and South Africa is globally recognised for ‘the Big Five’.
This will be the fourth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES held on the African continent since CITES came into force on 1 July 1975, but the first on the continent since 2000.
Environmental Affairs Minister, Edna Molewa says: “Four decades since South Africa became a Party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the 17th Conference of Parties to CITES will take place on South African soil.
We look forward to welcoming CITES Parties and observers to our beautiful country.”
The name of the host city will be announced soon.
