Wildlife trade talks end with surprises

[Judi Lynn]

Source: MSNBC/Associated Press

Wildlife trade talks end with surprises
Red, ping coral won't get protections; some see politicized process

Updated: 26 minutes ago
THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Elephants emerged safer and tigers won a vote of support, but sharks and corals failed to win protection at a two-week wildlife trade conference that ended Friday.

The conference also saw a shift in conservation politics, with ministers throwing their weight behind negotiations.

China emerged for the first time as a major player at the triennial meeting of the Convention on Trade in Endangered species, or CITES, surprising delegates with its activism.

The signatories of the CITES treaty, adopted in 1975 to rescue rare plants and animals threatened with extinction, turned their attention as never before to common timber and fish vital to the economies of many nations.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19252028/