Alejandra GoyenecheaNovember 25, 2014Santa Marta, Colombia

Defenders of Wildlife

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Strategic Plan

Mission: Defenders of Wildlife is a national, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to the protection of all native animals and plants in their natural communities.

Conservation Vision:

Diverse wildlife populations in North America are secure and thriving, sustained by a network of healthy lands and waters.

Conservation Approach:

• Prevent species and their habitats from becoming imperiled• Protect endangered and threatened species and their habitats• Restore the health of once-vulnerable species and their habitats

Defenders of Wildlife

Attorneys at Defenders of Wildlife

•Domestic law (litigation,

advocacy)

•International law

•Legislation and lobbying

Congress

•Policy analysis

•Field office staff

Defenders of Wildlife

International Laws

• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Latin America: Plants, Amphibians, Marines)

• Convention on Migratory Species (Marine species)

• International Whaling Commission• Inter-American Tropical Tuna

Commission (Sharks)• International Commission for the

Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (Sharks)

Sharks and rays• Present in CITES assisting Parties• Worked on marine proposals since 2000• Present in CMS assisting Parties• Co-Chair of the Species Survival

Network (SSN) Shark and Amphibian Working Group

Shark Finning

• Support Parties on finning bans/fins attached

• Large sharks are overfished globally

• For many species of large sharks, populations are down by 90+%

Shark Finning

Shark Identification Guides

2013: Defenders co-organized workshop in Brazil for 28 countries on identifying shark

fins

Defenders and Shark Conservation – U.S.

Defenders and Shark Conservation – U.S.

• Endangered Species Act – can list U.S. or foreign species

• In 2014, National Marine Fisheries Service lists four distinct population segments of scalloped hammerhead sharks outside U.S. waters under ESA

• Defenders works for strong fishing regulations to prevent bycatch

ESA Campaign

• Building ESA political support is fundamental to: accelerating species recovery, increasing funding and defending the Act in Congress

Co-existence

Practical nonlethal tools

Questions?

Defenders of Wildlife

For more information about Defenders of Wildlife, visit www.defenders.org