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This weekend a marathon meeting, the first of its kind in nearly three years, will seek to review rules governing the trade in wildlife ranging from elephants and leopards to orchids and cactus threatened by over-exploitation. Some 2,500 delegates will gather in The Hague on Sunday as part of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, which is signed by 171 countries. Legal and illegal trade in wild fauna and flora -- whether live specimens or by-products like tiger-bone medicines, ivory or coral jewellery and exotic-wood furniture -- generates tens of billions of dollars in revenue every year, not even counting commercial fishing and the timber industry. A report looking ahead at the two-week meeting, where the stakes for world wildlife are enormous.
