Horizons

Saving species: Hundreds of delegates from all over the world - including Ireland - will meet in Santiago, Chile, tomorrow for the 12-day Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) conference.

These annual CITES conferences are important for the protection of wildlife as they put in place worldwide species trade controls.

"The Santiago conference is an opportunity to ensure that trade does no harm to plant and animal species. It will also address national efforts to conserve species that are not traded because they have become threatened or endangered," says CITES secretary-general Willem Wijnstekers. This year, 59 proposals to amend the list of species subject to trade controls will be considered.

These include a proposal to introduce trade controls on Asia's declining freshwater turtles, which are collected and traded as pets, food and medicinal preparations. Another high-profile item on the agenda is the African elephant. In 1997 - after an eight-year ban on ivory sales, CITES agreed to allow Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe to make one-time sales from their existing legal stocks of raw ivory. Funds from the sales were used for elephant conservation activities. This year, the three countries plus South Africa and Zambia are proposing one-off sales of ivory to be followed later by annual quotas. A proposal from India and Kenya, however, seeks to ban all ivory sales. See www.cites.org

What a hoot

The magic and mystery of Irish owls will be explored in "Give a Hoot about Wildlife", an exhibition which opens in ENFO on St Andrew Street, Dublin, on Wednesday. Mounted by Birdwatch Ireland, the exhibition focuses on the ecology and conservation of owls but also offers information on the owls that appear in the Harry Potter stories and movies.

A series of hour-long free workshops for primary school children run twice daily (10 a.m. and 11.30 a.m.) during the exhibition. Booking essential. Tel: 1890-200191. ENFO is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Saturday. The exhibition continues until December 13th.

Beautiful bogs

The Irish Peatland Conservation

Council is marking the 20th anniversary of the Save the Bogs campaign with a new publication, Celebrating Boglands. The book features contributions from 36 artists, wildlife experts, environmentalists, poets and writers including David Bellamy, Michael Viney, Remco de Fouw, Seamus Heaney, Trevor Sargent and Imogen Stuart. Copies are available from the IPCC, 119 Capel Street, Dublin, for €37 (including post and packing). A series of free lectures on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Ireland's Bogland Heritage continues until December 11th at the National Museum, Kildare Street, Dublin. Tel: 01-6777444 for details.

Woodlands lecture

As part of the Seed Collection Season

2002, Conservation Volunteers Ireland has organised a free public lecture entitled, The Future of Native Woodlands and Urban Forestry next Saturday at

2 p.m. in ENFO, St Andrews Street, Dublin. Tel: 01-4952878 or e-mail info@cvi.ie for more details.