Exemptions

During the eighth Conference of the Parties (COP8) to the Protocol concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) held in Cartagena, Colombia on December 9th, 2014, the Parties approved the guidance document relative to the criteria and the evaluation process to assess exemption under the article 11 (2) of the SPAW Protocol according to the recommendation IV of the sixth meeting of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC6). This guidance document recover the appendix III of the Report of the working group to develop the criteria and the evaluation process of the exemptions under the article 11 (2) of the SPAW Protocol SPAW (UNEP(DEPI)/CAR WG.36/5).

The reporting format that the Contracting Party will have completed to submit her request of exemption to the protection of a species hasn’t been aproved yet and will be transmited for examination by the Paties and observers at the 7th STAC Meeting (STAC 7) of SPAW before the final adoption at COP 9.

In the article 11(2), the SPAW Protocol autorizes Contracting Parties to adopt exemptions to the prohibitions prescribed for the protection and recovery of the species listed in Annexes I and II. This article expose eligibility criteria of exemption request in general terms : Parties can adopt exemptions for scientific, educational or management purposes necessary to ensure the survival of the species or to prevent significant damage to forests or crops once they don’t jeopardize the species. The report submitted by Interested Parties must contains a detailed information concerning the forbidden activity, a detailed explanation of the way the forbidden activity may contribute to the survival of species or to prevent significant damage to forests, crops or the ecosystem.

A request of exemption for the protection of 4 species of corals recently added in the Annex II of the Protocol SPAW, has been made by the government of Curaçao. A study of this request will be very realized soon during the STAC7