[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 161 (Monday, August 22, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51441-51443]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-18049]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-HQ-IA-2021-0008; FXIA16710900000-FF09A30000-223]
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES); Nineteenth
Regular Meeting; Provisional Agenda; Announcement of Virtual Public
Meeting
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The United States, as a Party to the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(CITES), will attend the nineteenth regular meeting of the Conference
of the Parties to CITES (CoP19) in Panama City, Panama, November 14-25,
2022. Currently, the United States is developing its negotiating
positions on proposed resolutions, decisions, and amendments to the
CITES Appendices (species proposals), as well as other agenda items
that have been submitted by other Parties, the permanent CITES
committees, and the CITES Secretariat for consideration at CoP19. With
this notice, we announce the provisional agenda for CoP19, solicit your
comments on the items on the provisional agenda, and announce a virtual
public meeting to discuss the items on the provisional agenda.
DATES: Virtual public meeting: The virtual public meeting will be held
on September 6, 2022, at 1:00 p.m. EDT.
Comment submission: In developing the U.S. negotiating positions on
species proposals and proposed resolutions, decisions, and other agenda
items submitted by other Parties, the permanent CITES committees, and
the CITES Secretariat for consideration at CoP19, we will consider
written information and comments you submit if we receive them by
September 21, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Virtual public meeting: The virtual public meeting will be
held on the Zoom videoconferencing platform. For more information about
the meeting, see ``Announcement of Virtual Public Meeting'' under
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
Comment submission: You may submit comments pertaining to items on
the provisional agenda for discussion at CoP19 by one of the following
methods:
(1) Electronically: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments on FWS-HQ-IA-2021-0008 (the docket
number for this notice).
(2) U.S. Mail: Submit by U.S. mail to Public Comments Processing;
Attn: Docket No. FWS-HQ-IA-2021-0008; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service;
MS: PRB (JAO/3W); 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
We will not accept email or faxes. Comments and materials we
receive, as well as supporting documentation, will be available for
public inspection on https://www.regulations.gov.
[[Page 51442]]
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information pertaining to
resolutions, decisions, and other agenda items, contact Naimah Aziz,
Branch Manager, Division of Management Authority, at 703-358-2028
(telephone); 703-358-2298 (fax); or [email protected]
(email). For information pertaining to species proposals, contact
Rosemarie Gnam, Chief, Division of Scientific Authority, at 703-358-
1708 (telephone); 703-358-2276 (fax); or [email protected]
(email). Individuals in the United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard
of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or
TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services. Individuals
outside the United States should use the relay services offered within
their country to make international calls to the point of contact in
the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
Fauna and Flora, hereinafter referred to as CITES or the Convention, is
an international treaty designed to control and regulate international
trade in certain animal and plant species that are or may be affected
by trade and are now, or potentially may become, threatened with
extinction. Species are included in the Appendices to CITES, which are
available on the CITES Secretariat's website at https://cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php.
Currently there are 184 Parties to CITES--183 countries and 1
regional economic integration organization, the European Union. The
Convention calls for regular biennial meetings of the Conference of the
Parties, unless the Conference decides otherwise. At these meetings,
the Parties review the implementation of CITES, make provisions
enabling the CITES Secretariat in Switzerland to carry out its
functions, consider amendments to the list of species in Appendices I
and II, consider reports presented by the Secretariat, and make
recommendations for the improved effectiveness of CITES. Any country
that is a Party to CITES may propose amendments to Appendices I and II,
as well as resolutions, decisions, and agenda items for consideration
by all the Parties.
This is our fourth in a series of Federal Register notices that,
together with the announced virtual public meeting, provides you with
an opportunity to participate in the development of U.S. negotiating
positions for the nineteenth regular meeting of the Conference of the
Parties to CITES (CoP19). We published our first CoP19-related Federal
Register notice on March 2, 2021 (86 FR 12199), in which we requested
information and recommendations on animal and plant species proposals
and proposed resolutions, decisions, and agenda items for the United
States to consider submitting for consideration at CoP19. We published
our second CoP19-related Federal Register notice on March 7, 2022 (87
FR 12719); that notice described proposed resolutions, decisions, and
agenda items that the United States might submit for consideration at
CoP19 and provided information on how U.S. nongovernmental
organizations can attend CoP19 as observers. In our third CoP19-related
Federal Register notice, published on April 26, 2022 (87 FR 24577), we
responded to recommendations received from the public concerning
proposed amendments to the CITES Appendices (species proposals) that
the United States might submit for consideration at CoP19 and invited
public comments and information on these proposals.
The three prior CoP19 Federal Register notices are in the docket
(FWS-HQ-IA-2021-0008) at https://www.regulations.gov. A link to these
notices, along with information on U.S. preparations for CoP19, can
also be found at https://www.fws.gov/program/cites/conference-parties-cites. Our regulations governing this public process are found in title
50 of the Code of Federal Regulations at 50 CFR 23.87.
On June 17, 2022, the United States submitted to the CITES
Secretariat, for consideration at CoP19, its species proposals,
proposed resolutions, proposed decisions, and other agenda items. These
documents are listed on the CITES Secretariat's website at https://cites.org/eng/cop19.
Announcement of Provisional Agenda for CoP19
The provisional agenda for CoP19 is available on the CITES
Secretariat's website at https://cites.org/eng/cop/19/agenda-documents.
The working documents associated with the items on the provisional
agenda, including proposed resolutions, proposed decisions, and
discussion documents, can be found at that location. To view the
working document associated with a particular agenda item, locate the
particular agenda item on the provisional agenda, and click on the
document link in the column titled ``Files.'' The proposals to amend
Appendices I and II can be accessed at https://cites.org/eng/cop/19/amendment-proposals/provisional.
Announcement of Virtual Public Meeting
We will hold a virtual public meeting to discuss the items on the
provisional agenda for CoP19. The virtual public meeting will be held
on the date specified in DATES. We will post additional information
regarding the virtual public meeting on our website at https://www.fws.gov/program/cites/conference-parties-cites, including how to
register for the meeting, access the meeting via computer or telephone,
and indicate if you intend to provide comments during the meeting. The
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is committed to providing access to this
virtual meeting for all participants, and closed captioning will be
provided.
Public Comments
We will not consider comments sent by email or fax or to an address
not listed in ADDRESSES. If you submit a comment via https://www.regulations.gov, your entire comment, including any personal
identifying information, will be posted on the website. If you submit a
hardcopy comment that includes personal identifying information, you
may request at the top of your document that we withhold this
information from public review. However, we cannot guarantee that we
will be able to do so. We will post all hardcopy comments on https://www.regulations.gov.
Future Actions
Through another notice and website posting in advance of CoP19, we
will inform you of the tentative U.S. negotiating positions on species
proposals, proposed resolutions, proposed decisions, and agenda items
that were submitted by other Parties, the permanent CITES committees,
and the CITES Secretariat for consideration at CoP19.
Author
The primary author of this notice is Anne St. John, Division of
Management Authority, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Signing Authority
Martha Williams, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
approved this action on August 11, 2022, for publication. On August 16,
2022, Martha Williams authorized the undersigned to sign the document
electronically and submit it to the Office of the Federal Register for
publication as an official document of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
[[Page 51443]]
Authority
The authority for this action is the Endangered Species Act of
1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
Madonna Baucum,
Chief, Policy and Regulations Branch, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-18049 Filed 8-19-22; 8:45 am]
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