Event: Taking Stock of CITES-listed Tree Species [viewed]
The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) is convening this workshop to discuss the results and lessons learned from the first phase of the ITTO-CITES programme and provide recommendations for the implementation of its second phase. The purpose of the programme is to ensure that International Trade in CITES-Listed tropical timber species is consistent with their sustainable management and conservation, as well as to enhance the implementation of CITES listings of tropical tree species. Main themes for discussion at the workshop include an overview of the ITTO-CITES programme in Africa, Asia and Latin America with case studies presented from Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaysia and Peru. Also on the agenda is timber tracking technologies and the identification of possible regional activities for the second phase.
24 December 2012: In a presidential statement issued on 19 December, the UN Security Council “strongly condemned the ongoing attacks and atrocities carried out by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)” in Central Africa, and called “on the United Nations and AU to jointly investigate the LRA's logistical networks and possible sources of illicit financing, including alleged involvement in elephant poaching and related illicit smuggling.”
2 January 2012: The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) Secretariat has announced the accession of Swaziland, as the 118th Party to the Convention, on 1 January 2013.
26 December 2012: The Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has announced a decision by Tanzania to withdraw its proposal to downlist the African elephant from Appendix I to II. 
21 December 2012: The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution on “Promotion of ecotourism for poverty eradication and environment protection." By the text (A/67/441), adopted on 21 December 2012, the Assembly calls for optimizing ecotourism's benefits particularly in African countries, the least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing States (SIDS).
21 December 2012: The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization – International Hydrological Programme (UNESCO-IHP) has released a book linked to its Water and Cultural Diversity project, titled “Water, Cultural Diversity and Global Environmental Change: Emerging Trends, Sustainable Futures?”
20 December 2012: The Global Mechanism of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), in collaboration with the OSLO (Offering Sustainable Land-use Options) Consortium, the Government of Rwanda and the Land Policy Initiative, recently organized a sub-regional Knowledge Exchange and Capacity Building Workshop for Eastern Africa on the Economic Valuation of Land and Ecosystem Services. 
20 December 2012: The Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention) has reported on a workshop to trial a newly-developed Arabic language wetland management planning training programme.
