Sad commonality between Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein: Both countries prefer to use the trade in endangered species rather than protect the species in accordance with the international CITES conservation agreement. Greenpeace calls on the government of Liechtenstein to implement a distinct species conservation policy. Therefore a dozen Greenpeace activists protest with a twelve-meter-long inflatable whale in the River Rhine. Liechtenstein has currently, as the only country in the world, delegated the responsibility for the protection of species to another country: Switzerland. For the next CITES conference, held in Nairobi from 10 to 20 April 2000, the Principality of Liechtenstein has ceded his voice to the Swiss delegation again. A fatal decision, has history taught us. Liechtenstein has made a reservation concerning 43 plant and animal species at the international Conservation Agreement "Conference on International Trade in endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora" (CITES). This means that trade in these endangered species is allowed in Liechtenstein despite international protection efforts. But Switzerland, which represents Liechtenstein during the conference, surpassed its eastern neighbor with 52 of such reservations. Of the 146 CITES member states only 17 ever made reservations.
Since the February 28th, 1980, the Principality of Liechtenstein has implemented the decisions of CITES into its national legislation. However, since Liechtenstein is a party of the CITES treaty, the country has passed its responsibility of the legitimate import or export on to the Swiss Federal Veterinary Office in Bern. This contradicts the rules of the treaty: As a member of CITES, each country is obliged to appoint a national CITE-authority and an agency for scientific support. With a petition, Greenpeace is calling on the government of Liechtenstein to take an independent position, to appoint an authority responsible for the protection of endangered species, and to actively and openly support a consistent species protection program.